Blue Pony boys come up short in Great Falls

Road wins are always hard to come by in prep boys basketball. And unfortunately for the Havre High boys basketball team, they played well, but still couldn't find the win column away from home.

Thursday night in Great Falls, the Central A Blue Ponies took on the Class AA Great Falls High bison. But it was the Bison who grabbed the 56-46 win. The Bison also won the first meeting just a couple of weeks ago in Havre, 38-37.

"I thought our kids played really hard tonight, they battled all game long," Havre High head coach Andy Smith said. "The difference tonight was, every time we went on any kind of run to cut their lead to about four, Great Falls would hit a big three-pointer. But the kids did a great job of battling and they had an answer every time we would try to close the gap."

The first matchup between these two teams was a defensive battle that came down to the wire. But the second time around, both teams were able to gather a little bit of steam on the offensive end of the floor.

HHS got off to a good start, but just couldn't contain the Bison for the complete 32 minutes. After taking a 13-11 lead after the first quarter, the Ponies' defense had a let up, allowing the Bison to outscore them 19-8. The Bison led 30-21 at the half, and the Ponies jus weren't able to get over the hump, even with a 14-point fourth quarter.

On a positive note, the Ponies did take another step towards their goal of a balanced offense.

Brandon Smith led the efforts once again with his 22 points, and Rydell Ruff had his best night in a while with eight of his own. Ryan Brandt added seven, and Justin Jensen even threw in five-points into the mix. Thurman Holdsclaw has emerged as an offenseive threat over the last several games, but was held to four-points. The Ponies also shot over 40 percent from the field.

"Their defensive presser was a lot tougher this time around. They were aggressive and played a tough man defense," Coach Smith said.

HHS really limited the Bison the first time around, but the Bison showed they have done some improving as well. Skyke Smalls went off for 20-points and Dylan Tatarka added 16 to help lead the Bison. Smalls also had four treys.

"Smalls had five points when we played in Havre, but he went off for 20," Smith said. "He was the difference maker for their team and was tough to defend. When he is making those perimeter jump shots we really have to try to get out on him, but he is just so quick so then he takes it to the hole. He is extremely difficult to defend when he is hitting shots and getting inside, and he is the quickest kid we will defend all season long."

With the loss the Ponies overall record drops to 5-9. And the Ponies are back in action on Saturday night when they host the CMR Rustlers at 5 p.m.

Great Falls High 56, Havre 46

Havre 13 8 11 14 — 46

Great Fall High 11 19 14 12 — 56

Havre — Ryan Brandt 2-7 1-2 7, Rydell Ruff 3-6 2-3 8, Justin Jensen 2-3 0-0 5, Brandon Smith 9-17 1-4 22, Thurman Holdsclaw 2-10 0-0 4, Kade Rismon 0-0 0-0 0, Tyson Kultgen 0-0 0-0 0, Ramsey Drew 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-43 4-9 46.

GFH — Dylan Tatarka 5-10 4-4 16, Skyke Smalls 7-18 2-2 20, Tre Keels 0-2 0-0 0, Dylan Swandal 2-4 0-0 4, Jace Anderegg 3-5 1-2 7, Lukas Vining 1-4 0-0 3, Kolby Sukut 1-1 0-0 2, LaRance Racine 1-4 0-0 3, Dalton Cook 0-2 0-0 0, Lane Beyl 0-1 1-2 1. Totals: 20-51 7-8 56.

3-pt. goals — Havre 8 (Brandt 2, Smith 5), GFH 8 (Tatarka 2, Smalls 4, Racine 1, Vining 1). Total fouls – Havre 13, GFH 10. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – Brandt. Total turnovers – Havre 14, GFH 13.