Eastern A Preview: Improving Pony boys look to leave their mark in the Metra

The Havre High boys basketball team has shown plenty of improvement throughout the 2018-19 season, but the ultimate test of how far the Blue Ponies have come will be this week's Eastern A Divisional tournament.

And it will be a test for a couple of reasons. For starters, Havre will get a shot at another elite team in Class A and that will come in Thursday's quarterfinals as the Ponies will take on Billings Central, the returning state runner-up, inside the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings (noon).

Taking on, and beating teams like Billings Central is one of the next challenges for Havre boys basketball, however, the more important task for HHS is reaching the Class A state tournament, which the Ponies need two wins to get, whether they beat the Rams Thursday or not.

"You are going against a team that has been in the state championship three years in a row," HHS head coach Walynn Burgess said. "So you are just hoping you can have a better showing than we did at the beginning of the year. We want to be able to knock some jitters out and see what happens. They are a top team in the state for a reason, but it's a good way to open up and get the tournament legs underneath you. But our focus all week has been two wins. We don't care how we get there, we just know we need two wins."

While Billings Central (16-2, 9-1) is a tough draw, the one thing that might offer some help for the Ponies is the fact that Havre has already played the Rams this season. The two teams met in the season opener in Billings, and even though Havre was blown out 94-53, it did hang with the Rams for much of the first half before an onslaught by the Rams.

What killed the Ponies in the first loss to the Rams was the domination by Billings Central at the 3-point line. After connecting on 17 3-pointers, Billings Central scored 51 points from beyond the arc, compared to Havre, which scored 27 points on nine triples.

Kellen Detrick was a driving force behind Havre's effort in that game, scoring 18 points, and he will enter as Havre's leading scorer (14.1 ppg) and rebounder (8.1 rpg). In addition to Detrick, the Ponies will also rely heavily on Jake Huston, Tommy Brown and Mason Rismon for scoring. Tysen Sangrey, Austin Delarosa and Clint Owens are also three guys Havre will use to battle the Rams inside.

Billings Central will counter with three players that average double figures in Sam Gray (12.9 ppg), Chrishon Dixon (12.4 ppg) and Cade Herriford (10.7 ppg). As a team, the Rams average 66 points a game and are allowing 48, while the Ponies come in scoring 52.9 points but give up nearly 60 a game.

The winner of Billings Central and Havre will advance to the semifinals to play either Lewistown or the winner of Sidney-Miles City. Sidney (4-14) is the sixth-place team out of the East, and they will take on the Cowboys of Miles City (7-11) who finished fourth. The winner of that game (Wednesday) will take on Lewistown (13-5), the top seed out of the Central A which boasts two of the top individual performers in Class A in Jaden Graham and Tanner Trafton.

Both Trafton (19.5 ppg) and Graham (17.8) rank among the top-10 in scoring in Class A and the Eagles, who closed out the season with a win over Livingston to win the Central A regular season title, appear to be state title contenders after reaching the state semis a year ago. If Sidney plays Lewistown, it will bring Bridger Larson into the contest, one of the top shot blockers in Class A, while Miles City has a pair of double-digit scorers in Kaden Stradley (14.2 ppg) and Steven Ray (13.0 ppg).

The first semifinal of the tournament will be Friday night at 6:30 and on the other side of the bracket, which features Livingston, Laurel, Belgrade, Glendive and Hardin, the two semifinalists will play Friday at 8 p.m.

The first game on that side of the bracket will be today as Belgrade (4-14) and Glendive (5-13) will meet to get into the quarterfinals against Hardin (17-1), the top seed from the East and the defending Class A state champs. Easton Page will lead Belgrade in that opening round matchup but the Red Devils will counter with Stephen Steinborn, who averages 16.4 points per game.

The team that wins will have to turn around and play Hardin, which boasts the top scorer in Class A boys basketball in Famous Lefthand, who is averaging 21.5 points per game. Lefthand shoots 38 percent from three and is a big reason why the Bulldogs lead the state in points scored. Yet, what makes Hardin so tough to stop is that the weaponry goes far behind Lefthand, as Trae Hugs scores 17.3 per game and Andrew House also averages 11.3. The Bulldogs also notched 245 steals this season compared to just 152 turnovers for the entire season, which is only 8.4 per game.

"I think it's going to be an interesting tournament," Burgess said. "There are going to be some really good teams that come out of there."

If Hardin is able to make it past Belgrade or Glendive, the Bulldogs will face either Livingston, the second-place team from the Central A or Laurel, the No. 3 team from the East. Brendon Johnson (18.7 ppg) will lead the way for Livingston (9-9). John Waddell and Morgan Rosberg are other key contributors for a team that was one win away from winning the Central A.

Laurel (12-6) is more of a defensive team and finished second in the state in points allowed (42.6) but still has two players, Gaje Leischner (11.4 ppg) and Colter Bales (11.1 ppg) scoring in double figures. Laurel's defense against Johnson and the Rangers offense is the game within the game and the winner of that particular matchup will likely advance to face Hardin.

The two teams that win the semifinal games will advance to the championship game Saturday night (8 p.m.) but more than that, each team will clinch a spot at the state tournament. However, the two teams that lose in the semis will have to turn around and play the two teams remaining from the loser-out bracket Saturday morning with the winners going to the consolation game Saturday night and the state tournament.

Since the Eastern A sends four teams to state, for Havre to advance, the math is pretty simple: win two games and you are in, no matter what side of the bracket.

"We have been talking about that all week," Burgess said. "It doesn't matter how we do it or whatever, we just need two wins. We have been trying to tighten things up and trying to sharpen everything up and make sure we are doing all the little things. If we can do that and play with a lot of energy, I think we have a shot. I think the boys have really bought into what we are doing."

Havre will start its quest for two wins Thursday against Billings Central at noon. If the Ponies win, they will play Friday night at 6:30. However, if they lose, they will play Friday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in loser-out action. The Eastern A championship game is Saturday at 8 p.m.