Ponies knock off Maroons in first round of Central A divisional

Heading into Thursday night's first-round game with Butte Central, veteran Havre High boys basketball coach Mark West was a little anxious.

But West can relax for at least a moment because his Ponies were able to open the 2004 Central A boys divisional basketball tournament with a solid 65-40 win over the host Maroons on Thursday night at the Butt Civic Center.

"I was a little nervous because last year the kids just didn't relax in the first game," West said. "And Butte Central is one of those teams that just scares you because they have nothing to lose.

"But the kids came out loose and played great basketball," West added. "We executed our offense well and we took advantage of our size inside which is exactly what we wanted to do."

Havre jumped out to a quick 14-4 lead and the Maroons were never able to really get into the contest offensively, according to West. By the time the first half came to an end, the Ponies were comfortably ahead 32-14.

"We wanted to be up by at least 10 points before we took a three-point shot tonight," West said. "So went inside to Tyler (Hedalen) and Bret (Magelssen) early on and we just really took control of things."

"By halftime I thought the game was out of reach because we were in a flow offensively and our zone defense really took them (Butte Central) out of what they were trying to do against us."

Even though the Maroons outscored Havre 17-15 in the third period, the Ponies easily put the contest away in the fourth. In that final stanza, Havre finished the game on a 18-9 run to advance to tonight's semifinal round.

Hedalen and Marc Mariani led the way for the Ponies with 14 points apiece. Cory Brothers added 10 points. Matt Pokorny paced the Maroons with a team-high 11 points.

Havre will now face Dillon tonight in the semifinals. The winner of that game will be assured of a spot in the Class A state tournament in Belgrade in two weeks.

"Dillon looked very good today," West said. "It is obvious that they are playing their best basketball of the season right now."

"This is going to be a very tough game for us because of their size and athleticism," West added. "But we are playing good basketball too and tonight's win really helped. We will be well prepared to play and hopefully we can get another win."

The game between Havre High and Dillon will tip off at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Butte Civic Center. The game can once again be heard in Havre on 610 KOJM-AM.

Havre 65, Butte Central 40

Havre 14 18 15 18 - 65

Butte Central 4 10 17 9 - 40

HAVRE (13-6)

Patrick Wirtzberger 2-3 0-0 4, Marc Mariani 6-6 1-1 14, Trent Normandy 3-4 0-0 6, Cory Brothers 5-11 0-0 10, Gary Wagner 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremy Giardina 2-7 0-0 5, Tyler Hedalen 6-10 2-2 14, Bret Magelssen 3-4 0-0 7, Jared Weigel 2-3 1-3 5, Tyson Parman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-48 4-6 65.

BUTTE CENTRAL (6-13)

Jake Stagnoli 4-7 0-1 8, Jeff Staudinger 1-2 0-4 2, Shaughn McKeon 1-5 3-4 5, Geoff Peterson 0-0 0-0 0, Matt McKeon 3-6 2-6 8, Kevin O'Leary 0-0 1-2 1, Matt Pokorny 4-11 1-4 11, JT MacIntyre 1-1 0-0 3, Steven Burns 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Curry 0-1 0-0 0, Alex Murphy 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 15-39 7-21 40.

Three-point goals - BC 3-12 (Pokorny 2-5, MacIntyre 1-1), Havre 3-13 (Mariani 1-1, Magelssen 1-1, Giardina 1-4). Rebounds - BC 16 (Pokorny 5), Havre 30 (Magelssen 8, Mariani 7). Assists - BC 5 (S. McKeon 2, Pokorny 2), Havre 15 (Mariani 4, Giardina 4). Steals - BC 6 (Stagnoli 2), Havre 9 (Mariani 2, Wagner 2). Turnovers - BC 18, Havre 17. Total fouls - BC 12, Havre 18. Fouled out - none.