District 9C 2022: Crowded 9C boys tourney is wide open

It's that time of year again as Hi-Line basketball fans gather at the Havre High gymnasium for the District 9C boys basketball tournament. In the coming days, basketball fans should get to see many exciting games. While teams such as Big Sandy and Chester-Joplin-Inverness are favored by some heading into the weekend, several Hi-Line coaches believe this year's tournament is open for the taking.

"I think the 9C is wide open this year and there is parity we haven't seen in a while," Box Elder head coach Jeremy MacDonald said. "There have been a lot of close games this season and you have to bring your A game every night. This tournament is going to be a lot of fun."

The tournament will get started Wednesday at 1 p.m. with a game between No. 1 seed Chester-Joplin-Inverness and No. 8 seed Turner. The CJI Hawks enter the tournament with the best conference record to earn the No. 1 seed while the Turner Tornadoes went winless in the 9C to finish last in the standings.

The Hawks went 2-0 against Turner over the course of the season. Back in December, CJI pulled out a 50-42 win on the road. Braden Mattson led the Hawks to victory with 20 points. Ryan Doyle scored 16 points for Turner in a losing effort. In January, the Hawks defeated the Tornadoes 64-23. Bryce Kammerzell led CJI with 14 points and all-conference player Kyle Harmon made an impact with 12 points.

As the tournament's No. 1 seed, the CJI Hawks have a strong chance to make a run into this weekend and qualify for the Northern C. If they are going to do that, they will just need to keep playing the way they have all season.

"We need to keep doing what we are doing. We are defending reasonably well and executing well," CJI head coach Joe Horel said. "The boys are looking forward to the tournament and will bring energy and enthusiasm to each game."

The winner of the CJI-Turner game will then face the winner of the game between Chinook and Fort Benton right after. The Chinook Sugarbeeters enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed while Longhorns earned the No. 5 seed.

The Sugarbeeters hope to continue playing great against the Longhorns as they went 2-0 against them in the regular season. In Fort Benton this past January, the Sugarbeeters dominated for a 61-25 victory. Oskar Pula made his presence felt with 21 points. While it was a closer contest in their second meeting, Chinook won 48-40 this past week.

In the rematch of last year's 9C championship game that Fort Benton won, the Longhorns will need players such as all-conference hooper Cody Evans to step up. Hoping to win a third straight game against Fort Benton, Chinook will need Pula and Toby Niederegger to continue making an impact. Their recent wins over the Longhorns show how Chinook has improved since the winter break and head coach Mike Jones hopes they can carry that into this week.

"We like where we're at right now and we have been much more competitive," Jones said. "We changed a few things up defensively and picked up some intensity. We depend on that defensive intensity to set the pace of our offense which will be key for us to be successful at tournaments."

Later on Wednesday night at 6 p.m., the tournament will continue with a game between No. 3 seed Box Elder and No. 6 seed North Star. Over the course of the season, the Box Elder Bears went 2-0 against North Star. Back in December, the Bears pulled out a 69-67 win on the road in Rudyard. All-state player Tyrus LaMere led the Bears with 22 points and Rhett Wolery scored 19 for North Star in the song effort.

A few weeks ago at home, the Bears won, 80-68, over the Knights. LaMere had another great game with 35 points while Gabe Saddler chipped in 14 points. Gavin Clawson led North Star with 20 points while Gavin and Garrett Spicher combined for 31 points in the losing effort. If the Bears want to make it three straight against the Knights, they just need to keep playing their way.

"We have to be fundamentally sound and work to play our tempo of basketball," MacDonald said. "The ball has to move on offense, we have to limit our turnovers and our defensive rotations need to create pressure and protect the paint."

In the last game of the opening day of the tournament, the No. 2 seed Big Sandy Pioneers will face the No. 7 seed Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. The Pioneers look to keep up their strong play as well as their winning ways against HLP. This past December, Big Sandy defeated HLP, 54-38, at home. Brayden Cline led the Pioneers with 27 points while Wylee Snapp chipped in ten on the scoreboard. Tyshon Shambo led the T-Birds with 18 points in the loss.

Earlier this month, the Pioneers went on the road and defeated HLP 81-49. Cline had another strong day with 30 points and Lane Demontieny played well with 20 points of his own. All-conference player Kody Strutz chipped in 12 points in the win. HLP was led by Shambo again with 27 points.

The week ahead should be tough sledding for every team as they try to grab those three spots for the Northern C. With a wide-open field heading into the week, it will come down to which team can execute when push comes to shove.

"The 9C has a number of teams capable of winning on a given night," Horel said. "If you keep the mistakes to a minimum and the execution and energy at a maximum, you will probably be pleased with the outcome."

The 9C boys tournament will start Wednesday and continue with loser-out games Thursday morning. The semifinals are slated for Thursday night, while the consolation game will be played at 7 p.m. Friday and the championship game Friday at 8:30 p.m. The top three teams from the 9C move on to next week's Northern C in Great Falls.