A Sugarbeeter First

GREAT FALLS — In 2017, the Chinook boys basketball team went to the Northern C Divisional tournament, a young team with plenty of talent but little experience. In 2018, the Sugarbeeters had much higher hopes at the Northern C but were left heartbroken after a fourth-place finish.

Saturday night, however, a veteran Chinook team had no intentions of leaving the Four Seasons Arena a third time without the Northern C championship trophy. Instead, the undefeated Beeters ran roughshod over District 9C rival Hays-Lodge Pole on their way to the school’s first-ever Northern C championship, and its first divisional championship trophy in three decades.

In the 2019 Northern C boys championship game, Chinook ran and muscled its way to a 66-45 win over the Thunderbirds, putting a stamp on what has been a magical season to this point, a season that has included a 24-0 record, a second straight 9C title and Chinook’s first-ever berth in the Class C state tournament.

“It feels great,” Chinook senior Cord Schneider said. “This is our first divisional championship ever in Class C, and our first divisional championship in a really long time. So we’ve done something really special.”

Special indeed. Point of fact, a Chinook boys basketball team has not only never been to a Class C state tournament, but it hasn’t been back to a state tourney since the famed 1985-86 squad captured the Class B title. And while they already knew they were headed to state after their 60-24 thrashing of Belt in the semifinals Friday night, the Beeters weren’t going to be denied being Northern C champions.

“We came into this tournament with a chip on our shoulder,” senior Isaac Bell said. “We wanted this one. We’ve been working really hard for this, for a long time. And after last year, we wanted to come here and prove we could win this one.

“We’ve had some real heartache at this tournament the last couple years,” Chinook head coach Mike Seymour added. “Those games against Heart Butte and Belt last year, those really hurt. So I’m super proud of these kids for coming back this year, for working as hard as they have, for believing in each other. They’re great kids and we’re super stoked for this one. It’s a great feeling.”

No doubt, the Beeters made plenty of history Saturday night, and at times, throughout the Northern C, they made it look easy.

Hays-Lodge Pole, playing in its first Northern C title game since 2016, tried hard to stand up to the Beeters, with a couple of early buckets from Jeremy Pretty Paint. But, trailing 10-7, the Beeters started rolling, and they never let up. A 15-0 first-quarter run was sparked by two straight baskets from Brendan Edwards, and was capped by an Isaac Bell 3-point play as Chinook led 20-12 after one quarter.

HLP started the second stanza with a Gilbert Snow triple to stem the tide, but it was only momentary as Bell started a 19-2 Chinook burst with a three, one of two he would hit in the second as Chinook took a 37-20 lead into intermission.

“We felt good about playing Hays-Lodge Pole in this game,” Schneider said. “We know they’re a really good team, but I think it helped us not be nervous because we know them, we know their style, so I think we were a lot more relaxed tonight than we might have been if we were playing one of the teams from another district.”

Chinook did seem relaxed and confident. The Beeters also had no problem keeping their foot on the gas in the second half either as they started the third quarter with three straight buckets from Edwards, while Schneider was dominant in the interior, scoring eight points in the final four minutes of the quarter to help Chinook’s lead grow to as much as 23 points, and from there, the T-Birds, who took care of Roy-Winifred 54-45 in the semifinals Friday, could do little to claw back into the game.

“Hats off to Hays-Lodge Pole,” Seymour said. “They’re a team I’ve said has gotten better and better all year. And they’ve been playing great in this tournament. I’m really proud of those kids and coach Shambo. They’ve been really good.

“But I think what I’m most proud of our kids for tonight is their ability to stick to what we do, stay within our tempo,” he continued. “They (T-Birds) want to play fast, but our guys did such a great job of staying poised and staying with our game plan. That and the way our guys played defense this whole week. That’s been a huge focus for us, and I thought we have been very good defensively this entire tournament.”

Chinook has been dominant defensively. In three Northern C wins, the Beeters didn’t allow an opponent to reach 50 points, including the high-flying T-Birds. Chinook also used its size to overwhelm the Northern C, shooting 49 percent from the field, while out-rebounding HLP 41-27. Offensively, the Beeters’ bigs also came up big in the championship game. Schneider scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Isaac Bell finished with 17 points and eight boards, and Edwards added 10 points and eight rebounds of his own. Chinook’s stifling defense also frustrated the T-Birds, who shot just 36 percent, went 2-of-12 from beyond the arc and saw Pretty Paint’s 13 points as the only HLP player to reach double figures.

And that dominant effort by the Beeters (24-0) is why they’re the Northern C champions, and why they have high hopes moving forward.

“They (T-Birds) gave us tough games this year,” Bell said. “So we knew we had to play well defensively tonight. That was big for us. Playing good defense and rebounding, those were our keys and our whole team did a great job of that.”

“This feels great,” Edwards said. “The past couple years, we’ve been a young team at this tournament, but we’ve really grown up this year, and now we’re the ones on top, and it’s an awesome feeling.”

Chinook is on top, and in Great Falls, the Beeters did it in historic fashion, becoming the first Chinook boys team to ever go this far in the Class C ranks. And they’re not done just yet. Chinook will take its perfect record into the state tournament March 7-9 in Billings, and there the veteran Beeters will look to hoist one more trophy this season.

“This all means a lot,” Bell said. “It’s been 33 years since a Chinook team went to state. This team has been working towards this for a long time. This is just a really special team.

“It’s phenomenal,” Seymour added. “It’s indescribable. This is my eighth year, and this group, I’m just super proud of them. They work hard, they play hard and they’ve just continued to grow and grow. They’re a special group, and we’re really excited. The community is excited and we’re going to go back to work on Monday and get ready to keep this thing going.”

T-Birds going back to state

While Saturday night’s loss to Chinook was a tough one for the Thunderbirds, they didn’t have time to hang their heads. That’s because HLP turned right around and took on Winnett-Grass-Range in a Northern C challenge game Sunday afternoon in Great Falls.

The challenge game was originally set for Monday night, but with another winter storm set to hit Monday, the game was moved up to Sunday, and the T-Birds rebounded with a 65-56 win over the Rangers, vaulting them into next week’s state tourney.

“This team has come a long way this season,” HLP head coach Derrick Shambo said. “We were a pretty new team at the start of the year, and they’ve had their ups and downs. But they have really come together, and I think we’ve been playing really good basketball at the right time.”

The T-Birds were certainly good Sunday against the Rangers, who beat Belt on a last-second 3-pointer in the consolation game Saturday night. HLP came out strong, leading 15-7 after the first period and 32-25 at the half. Just as the Rangers did Saturday night, though, they made a run at the T-Birds in the second half. HLP led by eight after three, but the Rangers cut that lead down to four with just over two minutes left. From there, though, HLP wasn’t going to be denied and the T-Birds finished the game on a 7-2 run.

Gilbert Snow paced the T-Birds with 22 points, while Kenneth Black Crow added 14 in the game that sent the T-Birds back to state for the first time since 2016.

“It’s been a tough week,” Shambo said. “Pretty much our whole team has been sick, so we haven’t been able to play at the tempo we normally like to play. But this team has been tough this whole year, and we knew we could keep this going. We just have to play our style of basketball, and our guys have done that.”

With HLP’s win Sunday, the 9C will send two teams to next week’s state tourney in Billings. Fort Benton, the 9C runner-up, also made a strong run in Great Falls, beating Sunburst 58-34 in a loser-out game Friday, before losing a heartbreaker to Belt 51-49 Saturday morning.

The 2019 Class C state tournament will run March 7-9 at the Metra in Billings. Chinook will play Plenty Coups in the opening round while HLP battles Melstone.

Fort Benton 58, Sunburst 34, LO

Fort Benton 16 11 15 16 - 58

Sunburst 8 14 6 6 - 34

Sunburst: Cody Hanson 4, Stanley Jarvis 4, Mike Buckley 12, Lane Lerum 2, Josh Kearns 3, Cody Smith 9.

Fort Benton: Damon Bird 9, Jace Thompson 6, Ethan Pfile 5, Billy Ullery 1, Logan Giles 7, Daven Cook 2, Garrett Diekhans 16, Hayden Diekhans 12.

Hays-Lodge Pole 54, Roy-Winifred 45, SF

Roy-Winifred 8 7 13 7 - 45

Hays-Lodgepole 17 13 15 9 - 54

Hays-Lodge Pole: Ken Black Crow Jr. 12, Kyle Young Jr. 13, Tyshawn Shambo 1, Deshon Shambo 3, Jeffrey Stiffarm 2, Jeremy Pretty Paint 10, Desmond Shambo 2, Gilbert Snow 11.

Roy-Winifred: Tyler Fordyce 24, Brody Geer 5, Justin Stulc 9, Bryer Shultz 2, Ryan Russell 5.

Chinook 60, Belt 24, SF

Belt 2 4 12 6 - 24

Chinook 13 12 18 17 - 60

Chinook: Isaac Bell 14, Ethan Bell 2, Hunter Neibauer 4, Toby Niederegger 2, Riley Kellam 6, Brendon Edwards 14, Cord Schneider 7, Reese Elliot 11.

Belt: Aiden McDaniel 6, Brendan Wing 7, Garrett Metrione 5, Kaimen Evans 4, Hunter Vogl 2.

Belt 51, Fort Benton 49, LO

Fort Benton 15 10 12 12 - 49

Belt 10 13 13 15 - 51

Belt: Aiden McDaniel 10, Brendan Wing 24, Robert Gliko 4, Hunter Vogl 9, Kaiman Evans 2, Bridger Vogl 2.

Fort Benton: Damon Bird 6, Stephen Gannon 2, Garrett Diekhans 27, Hayden Diekhans 7, Ethan Pfile 5.

Chinook 66, Hays-Lodge Pole 45, 1st

Hays-Lodge pole 12 8 11 14 - 45

Chinook 20 17 16 13 - 66

Chinook: Isaac Bell 17, Ethan Bell 6, Hunter Neibauer 2, Trajan Hannum 3, Damon Hannum 1, Riley Kellam 2, Brendon Edwards 10, Cord Schneider 20, Reese Elliot 5.

HLP: Gilbert Snow 9, Ken Black Crow Jr. 4, Jeffrey Stiffarm 4, Kyle Young Jr. 9, James Brockie 2, Siris Grandchamp 2, Wyman Bringing Good 2, Jeremy Pretty Paint 13.

Hays-Lodge Pole 65, W-G-R 56, 2nd

Hays-Lodge Pole 15 17 14 19 - 65

Winnett-Grass Range 7 18 13 18 - 56

HLP - Gilbert Snow 22, Jeffrey Stiffarm 5, Jeremy Pretty Paint 8, Desmond Shambo 2, Kenneth Blackcrow 14, Kyle Young 10, Tyshawn Shambo 2, Wyman Bringing Good 2.

W-G-R - Caden McCarthy 1, Zane Stahl 7, Derrik Zimmerman 3, Charlie Keith 27, Caleb Hess 3, Ryan Drolinger 2.