Back-to-Back Beeters

It has been two years since the Chinook Sugarbeeters lost a game in the District 9C and after a championship game against Fort Benton that was more coronation than competition, it's clear the Beeters are now kings of the 9C.

Chinook's 60-48 win over Fort Benton in the District 9C championship game Saturday night inside the HHS gymnasium capped another remarkable run for the Beeters, who went undefeated in the 9C for the second straight season. In fact, the win over Fort Benton, which clinched a second straight district championship, was the 36th in a row in the 9C for Chinook, which last lost a district game back in the 2017 semifinals to Hays-Lodge Pole.

"It's very hard," Chinook head coach Mike Seymour said of going undefeated in the 9C. "It's a very competitive league and that just goes to show how hard our kids have worked. I couldn't be more proud of my team."

After the way his team crushed Fort Benton, Seymour should be. While Fort Benton had plenty of fight in it early on, jumping out to a 10-5 lead thanks to a fast start from Damon Bird that included a 3-pointer, it didn't take long for Chinook to take over and near the end of the first quarter, Isaac Bell asserted himself offensively, scoring seven straight points. His first 3-pointer of the night gave the Beeters a 12-10 lead. A buzzer-beater by his brother, Ethan Bell, made it 14-10 after the opening eight minutes.

"It feels pretty good," Bell said. "We didn't really know we won that many games in a row until a couple of weeks ago. It's not something we were shooting for, but it's a great accomplishment to have."

In the second quarter, as part of a 16-0 run, Brendan Edwards scored a couple of times inside as the Beeters built a 21-10 lead, which also included a stretch where the Longhorns went more than six minutes without a point. That stretch ended midway through the second quarter, but soon after, Bell hit again from downtown, putting Chinook in front 29-13.

"Defense is what we have been working on all year," Bell said. "We just picked it up and that is what got the job done."

Fort Benton made a run to close the first half and outscored Chinook 10-6 during the last minutes of the second. Hayden Diekhans also nailed a step-back three as the final seconds ticked off in the first half to cut the Chinook lead down to 33-23.

In the third quarter, however, Chinook started to pull away for good. After Bell scored 14 points in the first half, the Beeters pounded the ball inside to Cord Schneider and Edwards, who both finished in double figures with 14 points and 11 respectively. Chinook scored 21 points total in the stanza and when it was over, Fort Benton trailed 54-32.

"We have to make sure that we are fundamental on defense," Fort Benton head coach Tyler Pasha said. "We know we are playing really good teams and so we just have to make sure that we are doing the little things right."

For much of the night, Schneider was matched up with Fort Benton big man Garrett Diekhans, as the two All-State forwards went head-to-head. Yet, Schneider clearly won the day, finishing with a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Diekhans, who was 2-of-11 from the field, managed just four points and six rebounds.

"It feels good," Schneider said. "It was the last year for a lot of us so we really wanted to get this one. We just really tried to focus in on what they do well."

Against Chinook, Fort Benton wasn't able to do much of anything well offensively. The Longhorns scored just 40 points and 29 of those came from Bird, who finished with 15 and Hayden Diekhans, who ended up with 14. As a team, Fort Benton shot just 36 percent from the field and turned the ball over 17 times. They also shot just 16 percent from deep, compared to the Beeters, who finished 4-of-5 from long range.

"That's two Saturdays in a row we have done that to a team with two pretty prolific scorers," Seymour said. "And it wasn't just one guy."

Hunter Neibauer also helped salt the game away in the second half and overall, after making 7-of-8 shot attempts from the field, he finished with a game-high 16 points. Ethan Bell also pitched in with nine.

"It feels really good," Senior Chinook captain Trajan Hannum said. "We worked really hard and this is a really good group of guys."

In order to get to the championship game, Chinook first had to take out North Star in the semifinals and the Beeters did exactly that Friday night in Havre, defeating the Knights 74-34. Chinook jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the first quarter and led 36-12 at the half. Isaac Bell finished with 17 points and connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the win for Chinook but he wasn't even the top scorer on his own team as Schneider went off for 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Reese Elliot also added 13 points and eight rebounds off the bench.

Fort Benton also cruised to a 64-52 win over Hays-Lodge Pole Friday night, clinching its berth in the championship game and the Northern C Divisional. The Longhorns got 18 points and 10 rebounds from Garrett Diekhans, to go along with 12 from Hayden Diekhans and 16 from Bird, who knocked down three 3-pointers. Kyle Young Jr. had 15 points in the loss for HLP.

Chinook (21-0) will head to Great Falls for divisionals this week as the top seed from the 9C and the Beeters will play Thursday at against Sunburst or Winnett-Grass Range at 11 a.m. Fort Benton (18-3) will play Roy-Winifred Wednesday night at 8:30 and HLP (15-7) will also play Heart Butte Wednesday night at 7. All games will be played in the Four Seasons Arena.

Chinook 68, Fort Benton 40 (1st)

Fort Benton 10 13 9 8 - 40

Chinook 14 19 21 14 - 68

Chinook - Isaac Bell 14, Ethan Bell 9, Hunter Neibauer 16 Trajan Hannum 2, Riley Kellam 2, Brendan Edwards 11, Cord Schneider 14. Totals: 27-51. 10-14. 68.

Fort Benton - Damon Bird 15, Stephen Gannon 2, Ethan Pfile 2, Hayden Diekhans 14, Logan Giels 3, Garrett Diekhans 4. Totals 13-36 12-18. 40.

3-Pointers: Isaac Bell 2, Hunter Neibauer 2, Damon Bird, Hayden Diekhans. Fouls: Chinook 15, Fort Benton 14. Fouled out -- none.

Chinook 74, North Star 34 (SF)

North Star 3 9 12 10 - 34

Chinook 13 23 15 23 - 74

North Star - Bailey Spicher 5, Caden Rettig 6 Garrett Spicher 10, Hayden Massar 12, Gavin Spicher 1. Totals: 7-23 14-27. 34.

Chinook - Isaac Bell 17, Ethan Bell 2, Hunter Neibauer 4, Reese Elliot 13, Ethan McLeod 4, Brendan Edwards 8, Cord Schneider 26. Totals: 24-44 20-31 74.

Fort Benton 64, Hays-Lodge Pole 52 (SF)

HLP 13 11 16 12 - 52

Fort Benton 19 16 16 13 - 64

Fort Benton - Damon Bird 16, Hayden Diekhans 12, MAx Lane 8, Logan Giles 8, Nolan Ullery 2, Garrett Diekhans 18. Totals 16-38 11-14 64.

HLP - Gilbert Snow 6, Jeffrey Stiffarm 8, Jeremy Pretty Paint 11, Kenneth BlackCrow 10, Kyle Young 15, Tyshawn Shambo 2. Totals: 21-44 8-13. 52.