Rocky Boy, C/J-I keep district leads

Chris Peterson Havre Daily News [email protected]

It has been a long season for the Chinook boys basketball team and it got even longer when the Sugarbeeters took on the highly-touted Harlem Wildcats in an interclass contest Thursday in Harlem. The Wildcats, who are the top team in the District 2B improved their overall record to 11-2 with an easy 85-27 victory over Chinook. Eric Plummage led the way for the Wildcats in the win with a game-high 22 points. Isiah Martin contributed with 13 points. Taylor Erskine led the Beeters with six points. On Friday the Beeters continued with their difficult schedule as they played host to Class B rival Malta. Chinook managed to score only six points in the first half of the game, which led to a 58-28 loss. Dylan MacLean hit three treys to notch 11 points in the victory. The Beeters are now 1-13 on the season. In a battle for second-place in the 9C, the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds were able to take down a short-handed Big Sandy team by the score of 84-50 in Big Sandy on Friday night. Shane Main had a game-high 21 points to lead HLP to victory. Junior guard Cole McCabe also pitched in with 19 points, while Lenny Gray added 13. Patrick Louvar and Taylor Ophus had 20 and 15 points, respectively in the loss for Big Sandy. The Chester/J-I Hawks continued their strong play this season with a 70-52 route of Valier on Friday night in Valier. Dillon Hayes had a stellar game for the Hawks with 24 points. Anthony Markuson contributed with 14 points, while Callan McKinley also had 10 points in the win. In other 9C boys basketball action, the Turner Tornadoes went on the road to take on the North Star Knights and walked away with a 54-45 victory. Turner built a 25-23 lead at halftime and a 36-24 advantage after three quarters of play. But the Tornadoes pulled away from the Knights in the final stanza, after outscoring them 18-11 to seal the victory. Taylor Fouts and Ryan Haugen combined for 28 points, with 16 and 12, respectively to spark Turner to victory. Adam Chvilicek was the Knights' leading scorer with 12 points. The only other North Star player to score in double figures was Cody Jurenka with 11 points. The Rocky Boy Stars put their unbeaten record in 9C play on the line, when they played host to Box Elder Friday in Rocky Boy. Box Elder trailed by only seven points at the half, but the Stars pulled away in the second half for the 83-67 victory. Rocky Boy got 19 points from Jarod Parker, as well as 13 points from Rodney Turntoes and 12 points from Mike Sangrey in the win. JC Hawk had 17 points in the loss for the Bears. Daniel Nault also pitched in with 13 points. In a crucial District 2B showdown, the Harlem Wildcats were handed their first loss in district play in Plentywood Saturday night. Harlem led the game 34-30 going into the fourth quarter, but Plentywood outscored the Wildcats 14-5 in the final period to grab a 44-39 win. Eric Plummage and Isiah Martin had 14 and 10 points each in the loss for the Wildcats. The loss dropped Harlem's record to 11-3 overall, as well as 7-1 in district play. C/J-I brought an 11-game winning streak into their home game against Class B foe Fort Benton on Saturday night. However, the Longhorns won by a narrow three-point 45-42 margin to snap the Hawks' winning streak. Dillon Hayes had another outstanding game for C/J-I (11-3 overall, 9-0 conference) notching 24 points, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers. The struggling North Star Knights dropped their second-consecutive game of the weekend, this time to Sunburst by the score of 61-48 in Sunburst on Saturday. The Knights (4-9 overall, 3-5 conference) got 15 points from Kellen Warren as well as 10 points from Jurenka in the loss. The short-handed Big Sandy Pioneers also lost their second straight game to a stout Winifred team by the score of 86-33 in Winifred Saturday. Ophus had another strong game with 13 points to go along with eight points from Louvar. Rocky Boy and HLP both closed out the weekend with district victories, as the Stars (12-2 overall, 9-0 conference) defeated Turner (6-8 overall, 3-5 conference) by the score of 87-50. HLP also knocked off Box Elder 67-54. HLP improved to 11-2 overall as well as 7-2 in the 9C. Meanwhile, with the loss Box Elder fell to 6-8 overall and 2-8 in the district play.