Thunderbirds battle back to finish third

There will be no challenge game in the District 9C this year, but both the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds and North Star Knights battled until the very end with the hopes of extending their season one more game.

In the 9C boys consolation game, the Thunderbirds and Knights battled for third place. And Saturday afternoon at the Havre High gymnasium, the Thunderbirds defeated the Knights 59-46.

“Yeah, this was a decent showing by our guys, but we were disappointed,” Hays-Lodge Pole head coach Charlie Ereaux said. “We felt like we should have been playing for the championship this weekend. That is what we all strive for, and we had our chances but just didn’t execute earlier in the week.

“There is always that chance for a challenge game, so that is why we needed to go out and play well and win,” Ereaux added. “That is why you play basketball, anything can happen and we had to give ourselves a chance.”

Out of the gate the ballgame was tight. And both teams were able to overcome a slow start, a the Knights held just a 4-3 lead with 2:45 left in the first frame. But as the offense started to get rolling the Knights made it to a 10-9 lead heading into the second quarter.

While both teams started to produce, the offense kept going for HLP, but slowed down for the Knights. The Thunderbirds outscored the Knights 12-6 in the second quarter and 20-12 in the third quarter, stretching the lead to 41-28 with one final frame left to play.

The Thunderbirds closed the third quarter with an 11-5 run. Bruce Denny drained a 3-pointer to get the run started for the Thunderbirds, and Nate Doney followed with two free throws to help stretch the lead.

Both teams did go off for 18 points in the final frame, and the Knights continually made the game interesting. With two minutes left in the game Gavin Spinler got the Knights within seven points, with a steal, a layup and the foul shot to follow. Spinler also kept the game close at 55-46 with just over one minute to play when he knocked down his third 3-pointer of the day. But despite the efforts, the Knights were not able to get any closer and suffered the loss.

Spinler finished with 16 for the Knights, followed by Cooper Spicher’s 12 and Quinn Spinler’s eight. The Knights also shot just over 32 percent from the field and hit five of their 18 3-point attempts.

“We mixed up our press a lot,” Ereaux said. “Sometimes we deny, deny, deny, and sometimes we backed off. That made North Star think a lot more than they wanted to. But we are deep with a lot of talented players, so we can press teams and still bring in fresh guys. We like to try and wear teams down, that way we can do what we need to do with our offense and defense.”

The Thunderbirds kept the lead even with the Knights pushing back, and Nate Doney led the way with 15 points. Codie Kirkaldie added 12, and Sterling White Cow added nine. Denny also had eight and Frank Runs Above added six.

But before the Thunderbirds could finish a third-place run, they had to get through the loser-out bracket with a dominating win over Turner. The Thunderbirds defeated the Tornadoes 80-56 in the consolation semifinals Friday.

Turner did get 11 points from Bret VanValkenburg and 13 from Tristan Billmayer, but Lucas Reed led the way with 19. In the win it was Kirkaldie who led HLP with 22 points. Tyson Shambo added 16 and both Runs Above and Denny scored nine each.

North Star also made light work of the Big Sandy Pioneers in the consolaition semifinals, Friday, winning 54-28.

Cooper Spicher scored eight, but Jaxon Simonson led the way with 12 for North Star. Cody Bailey scored 11 for Big Sandy, and Zachary Works finished with seven.

Hays-Lodge Pole 59, North Star 46 (3rd)

NS 10 6 12 18 - 46

HLP 9 12 20 18 - 59

North Star - Cooper Spicher 12, Quinn Spinler 8, Gavin Spinler 16, Payton Peterson 6, Jaxon Simonson 4. Totals: 16 9-21.

HLP - Andrew Cole 2, Codie Kirkaldie 12, Tyson Shambo 3, Damon Castillo 2, Nate Doney 15, Sterling White Cow 9, Frank Runs Above 6, Bruce Denny Jr. 8, Keenan Stiffarm 2. Totals: 21 14-24.

Total fouls: NS 21, HLP 16. Fouled out: C. Spicher 3-pointers : Q. Spinler 2, G. Spinler 3, Shambo, Denny Jr.

North Star 54, Big Sandy 28 (LO)

North Star 14 17 13 10 - 54

Big Sandy 4 7 8 9 - 28

North Star - Cooper Spicher 8, Quinn Spinler 6, Willie Gilead 2, Gavin Spinler 2, Jimmy Snow 3, Peyton Peterson 2, Sam Ulmen 6, Keevan Borlaug 1, Matthew Helmbrecht 7, Thatcher Smith 3, Chris Lavery 3, Jaxon Simonson 12. Totals: 22 8-17.

Big Sandy - Levi Edwards 6, Eric Schwarzbach 1, Cody Bailey 11, Zachary Works 7, TJ Alderdice-Shipp 3. Totals: 12 4-12.

Total fouls: North Star 11, Big Sandy 16. Fouled out: Allderdice. 3-pointers: Helmbrecht, Lavery.

Hays-Lodge Pole 80, Turner 56 (LO)

Turner 13 7 14 22 - 56

HLP 14 21 17 28 - 80

Turner - Dylan Walsh 4, Eddie Harmon 3, Tyler Humphreys 2, Tristan Billmayer 13, Bret Van Valkenburg 11, Lucas Reed 19, Reece Hutton 4. Totals: 22 9-17

HLP - Andrew Cole 3, Codie Kirkaldie 22, Tough Snow 1, Tyson Shambo 16, Damon Castillo 4, Nate Doney 8, Sterling White Cow 5, Frank Runs Above 9, Bruce Denny Jr. 9, Joe Stiffarm 1, Keenan Stiffarm 2. Totals: 25 23-36.

Total fouls - Turner 23, HLP 17. Fouled out: Humphreys, Reed. 3-pointers: Harmon, Billmayer 2, Cole, Kirkaldie 2, Shambo 3, Denny.