Hi-Line Boys Roundup: Stars roll to a 1B title; Hawks advance

While the district 9C boys basketball tournament brought several local teams to Havre, three other Hi-Line squads were also taking on postseason action over the weekend.

In the second half of the season the 1B Rocky Boy Stars turned into the team to beat, and proved to maybe even be a strong contender for another state title. The Stars took that one step further in Cut Bank when they were crowned district 1B champions Saturday. The Stars defeated Fairfield 72-65 in the championship, putting the finishing touches on a weekend of dominance. In a first-round game Thursday, the Stars defeated Conrad 85-67. And Friday in the semifinals, the Stars also dominated Choteau 87-65.

The chipper was dominated by the Stars after a tight start. Rocky Boy held just a lead of 19-18 after the first frame, but managed to outproduce Fairfield’s 20 points through the second and third quarters. In the same time frame the Stars gained a comfortable lead with 31 points in 16 minutes. The Eagles did outscore the Stars 27-22 in the fourth quarter, but the Stars still came away with solid win and the title.

Fairfield did get four kids in double digits, including 20 from Trevor Schenk. But the Stars got two standout performances from Skylar Parisian and Junior Day Child. Both finished with 26 points each and four 3-pointers each.

Day Child also led the Stars, with 18 points, in the win over Conrad in the first round. Isiah Murie finished with 15, Parisian finished with 14, Cecil LaFromboise finished with 13, and Desmond Parker finished with 12. And in the win over Choteau in the semifinals, Day Child had his first 26-point outing of the weekend. LaFromboise scored 16, while Parisian finished with 13, and Parker finished with 10.

With the 1B title in hand, the Stars will now take on the Northern B this weekend in Glasgow. Rocky Boy’s first game will be Thursday at 6:30 p.m. when the Stars take on the 2B Harlem Wildcats. The Wildcats took fourth place in the 2B.

In the 10C ranks, the Chester/J-I Hawks took on the rest of the district field in Conrad. Only the top two teams advance to the Northern C from the 10C, and things didn’t quite go as planned for C/J-I early on, but the Hawks rallied.

Wednesday, the Hawks defeated Heart Butt 64-34 in the first round. They looked poised to go on a championship run, but suffered an upset loss onFriday when Simms stunned the Hawks 54-53 with a last-second shot. The Hawks were back in action Saturday, and rebounded nicely with two more wins. A 68-39 win over Valier put the Hawks in the consolation finals where they then defeated Dutton Brady 59-27.

The win over Dutton-Brady forced a Monday challenge game as Simms defeated power 52-44 in the championship game. And the Hawks came through. C/J-I defeated the Pirates 54-46 to advance to the Northern C Wednesday. In the challenge game, C/J-I jumped out to a 10-2 lead, and though Power, the 10C regular season champions, scored 22 in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t enough to overtake the Hawks.

In the huge win for C/J-I, Justin May poured in a game-high 26 points, while Tim Stokes chipped in with 11.

In the consolation finals Saturday night, the Hawks put together an impressive outing to keep their season alive. The offense started hot, but not to be outdone, so did the defense as C/J-I led 28-7 at the halfway point. Justin May had a huge game as he led all scorers with 30 points. Nine total players scored for the Hawks as they routed Dutton-Brady with a 31-20 second half. Sian Norick also scored seven points for the Hawks, while Steven May added six.

C/J-I allowed just one Dutton-Brady player to finish in double digits as Chase Rossmiller finished with 11 points.

Dell Harmon also led the Hawks with 11 in the win over Heart Butte on Wednesday. Sion Norick finished with 10. And Friday against Simms, Tim Stokes grabbed 16 points, while Justin May paced C/J-I with 22. Saturday, in loser out action Justin May led with 17, followed by Klayton Lohr and Stokes’ 13 each, Harmon’s nine, and Steven May’s seven.

Harlem also made it out of the 2B and will join Rocky Boy at the Northern B. But escaping districts with a fourth-place finish, the Wildcats now know they will have the daunting task of facing Rocky Boy in the first round of the Northern B divisional tournament. The Stars and Wildcats will face off on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

The Wildcats earned a first-round win in Malta when they defeated Wolf Point 49-36. But in the semifinals it was Glasgow that defeated the Wildcats 54-39. Harlem did bounce back on Saturday in loser-out play, defeating Poplar 73-45, keeping the Wildcat season a live for at least one more weekend.

In the big win over Poplar, the Wildcats were in control from start to finish. Tristin Gone’s 15 points led Harlem, while Isaiah Lawrence added 10 and Clay Doney added 12.

In the loss to Glasgow, the offense wasn’t as productive as they fell behind early and couldn’t keep up. Lawrence did grab 16 points, followed by 10 points from Gone. Gone and Irvine also had 10 points each Thursday against Wolf Point. Lawrence and Gray also had nine each.

MONDAY

Chester/J-I 54, Power 46 (2nd)

C/J-I 10 14 16 14 - 54

Power 2 11 11 22 - 46

C/J-I: Dell Harmon 5, Tim Stokes 11, Steven May 4, Sion Norick 4, Troy Harmon 4, Justin May 26. Totals: 22 8-16.

Power: Drew Carlsson 2, Tarren Lee 15, Kyle Schmidt 7, Ryan Gunderson 3, Martin Antos 2, Hunter Smoot 1, Seth Kitchin 16. Totals: 18 8-15.

Total fouls: CJI 18, Power 18. Fouled out: Lee, Schmidt. 3-pointers: Stokes, J. May, Kitchin 2.

SATURDAY

Rocky Boy 72, Fairfield 65 (1st)

Fairfield 18 8 12 27 - 65

Rocky Boy 19 16 15 22 - 72

Fairfield - Tanner Mayer 11, Dalton Palmer 4, Yancy Gagne 2, Morgan Schenk 13, Trevor Schenk 20, Joel Beck 15. Totals: 22 18-29.

Rocky Boy - Bubby Gopher 6, Isiah Murie 2, Levi Olson 4, Skylar Parisian 26, Junior Day Child 26, Desmond Parker 8. Totals: 26 10-17.

Total fouls - FF 16, RB 25. Fouled out -- Gopher. Technical foul - Parisian. 3-pointers - Mayer, T. Schenk 2, Parisian 4, Day Child 4, Parker 2.

Chester/J-I 59, Dutton-Brady 27 (3rd)

Chester/J-I 15 13 19 12 - 59

DB 5 2 8 12 - 27

Chester/J-I - Dell Harmon 4, Tim Stokes 3, Steven May 6, Cody Ramberg 2, Sian Norick 7, Troy Harmon 2, Casey Kinyon 2, Klayton Lohr 3. Justin May 30. Totals: 24 5-9.

Dutton-Brady - Chase Rossmiller 11, Austin Storle 2, Matthew Hitchcock 7, Lawrence Bryant 2, Braxton Hasner 2, Andru Fick 3. Totals: 10 5-16.

Total fouls – C/J-I 13, DB 11. 3-pointers - Stokes, Norick, Lohr, J. May 3, Hitchcock, Fick.

Harlem 73, Poplar 45 (lo)

Harlem 16 18 18 21 - 73

Poplar 12 7 8 18 - 45

Harlem - Dutch Helgeson 6, Stanley Irvine 4, Jordan Snow 8, Isaiah Lawrence 10, Anthony Gray 3, Tristin Gone 15, Tyler Doney 2, Clay Doney 12, Cory Stiffarm 5, James Chandler 8.

Poplar - TJ Tuttle 1, Louie Iron Bear 12, Brock Day 6, Devin Sadler 12, Brent Lester 4, Waylon Youpee 8, Orlando Young 2.

Chester/J-I 68, Valier 39 (lo)

C/J-I 17 19 17 15-- 68

Valier 13 10 7 9 - 39

Chester/J-I - Dell Harmon 9, Tim Stokes 13, Steven May 7, Sion Norick 2, Matt Woods 3, Brandon Thiel 2, Casey Kinyon 2, Klayton Lohr 13, Justin May 17. Totals: 25 10-23.

Valier - Carter Miller 7, Cole Wagner 4, Cooper Hawke 6, Sean Brownell 13, Keegan Widhalm 5, Halsten Beck 4. Totals: 17 4-5.

Total fouls - CJI 10, VAL 17. Fouled out - Hawke. 3-pointers - D. harmon 2, Stokes 4, Lohr 2, Widhalm.

FRIDAY

Simms 54, Chester/J-I 53 (SF)

Simms 10 20 11 13 - 54

C/J-I 16 8 17 12 - 53

Simms - Codee Crumley 6, Logan Rushton 10, Erik Pschernig 14, Zeb Bloom 9, Jake Bloom 15. Totals: 22 3-9.

C/J-I - Dell Harmon 2, Tim Stokes 16, Cody Ramberg 4, Sion Norick 6, Casey Kinyon 3, Justin May 22. Totals: 18 11-18.

Total fouls: Simms 16, CJI 17. Fouled out: Stephen May, Z. Bloom. 3-pointers: Rushton 2, Pschernig 2, J. Bloom 3, Stokes 3, J. May 3.

Rocky Boy 87, Choteau 65 (SF)

Rocky Boy 10 21 26 30 - 87

Choteau 19 16 16 14 - 65

Rocky Boy - Bobby Gopher 8, Isiah Murie 6, Levi Olson 8, Skylar Parisian 13, Junior Day child 26, Desmond parker 10, Cecil LaFromboise 16. Totals: 34 18-32.

Choteau - Logan Crabtree 2, Liam Breen 11, Darien Garcia 3, Collin Achenbach 21, Derrek Durocher 13, Dylan Pannabecker 5, Logan Howard 10. Totals: 18 26-40.

Total fouls - RB 29, Chot 23. Fouled out -- Day Child, Parker, Achenbach, D. Pannabecker. Technical foul -- D. Pannabecker. 3-pointers -- Olson, Breen, Garcia, Durocher.

Glasgow 54, Harlem 39 (SF)

Glasgow 13 16 6 19 - 54

Harlem 10 11 10 8 - 39

Glasgow - Gage Legare 8, Jason Thibault 6, Lane Herbert 10, Jake Page 8, Chase Fossum 13, Keil Krumwiede 9. Totals: 22 7-10.

Harlem - Stanley Irvine 4, Isaiah Lawrence 16, Anthony Gray 3, Tristin Gone 10, Clay Doney 4, Cory Stiffarm 2. Totals: 17 1-2.

Total fouls: Glasgow 11, Harlem 12. Fouled out: none. 3-pointers: Lawrence 3, Gray, Thibault, Herbert 2.

THURSDAY

Rocky Boy 85, Conrad 67

Rocky Boy 25 19 15 26 - 85

Conrad 14 19 19 15 - 67

Rocky Boy - Bobby Gopher 8, Isiah Murie 15, Skylar Parisian 14, Junior Day Child 18, Lance Parker 5, Desmond Parker 12, Cecil LaFromboise 13. Totals: 35 11-20.

Conrad - Tyler Padilla 5, Blake Underdahl 14, Brett Peters 2, Shane Larson 12, Tristen Diedrich 4, Clark Judisch 12, Matt Missik 8, Kyle Murack 10. Totals: 22 17-24.

Total fouls - RB 20, CON 19. Fouled out - Parker, Underdahl. 3-pointers - Gopher 2, Parker 2, Padilla, Underdahl, Larson Murack 3.

Harlem 49, Wolf Point 36

Harlem 9 13 12 15 - 49

Wolf Point 10 7 8 11 - 36

Harlem - Dutch Helgeson 4, Stanley Irvine 10, Isaiah Laurence 9, Anthony Gray 9, Tristin Gone 10, Clay Doney 5, Cory Stiffarm 2. Totals: 19 6-13.

Wolf Point - Markell blount 3, Hayden Hanks 11, Trevor Hamilton 3,, Tyson Bridges 8, Tukker Toavs 11. Totals: 11 10-17.

Total fouls - Harlem 17, WP 9. Fouled out -- Dalton Hafner (WP). Technical foul -- Harlem bench. 3-pointers -- Irvine, Laurence 2, Gray 2, Blount, Hanks 2, Hamilton.

WEDNESDAY

Chester/J-I 64, Heart Butte 34

Heart Butte 7 4 5 18 – 34

C/J-I 17 19 19 9 – 64

Heart Butte – Tyler Still Smoking 6, Malique Aimsback 4, Chasen Kipp 5, Eric Denney 5, Will Horn 5, Austin Running Crane 7, Justin Aimsback 2. Totals: 15 1-7.

C/J-I – Dell Harmon 11, Tim Stokes 2, Bradee hawks 3, Steven May 8, Cody Ramberg 6, Sion Norick 10, Casey Kniyon4, Klayton Lohr 6, Brandon Richter 2, Justin May 12. Totals: 27 6-7.

3-pointers: Kipp, Denney, Running Crane, Harmon, Lohr 2, May. Fouls: Heart Butte 12, CJI 9. Fouled out: none.