Wildcats trip Blue Ponies in Class A opener

GREAT FALLS — The last time a Havre High boys basketball team played on the first day of a Class A state tournament, the current Blue Pony roster was 10 years old or younger. So it was no surprise that the Ponies had some opening-game jitters in the first round of the 2014 Class A state tournament Thursday afternoon at the Four Seasons Arena.

But what Havre couldn’t do was shake off those opening-game nerves, at least not in time to catch the Columbia Falls Wildcats as Havre fell to the Northwest A champion Wildcats 50-36 Thursday afternoon in Great Falls.

The first quarter was a monumental struggle for the Ponies, who will now face defending Class A state champion Stevensville this afternoon in a loser-out contest. Havre shot just 11 percent from the field and committed five first-quarter turnovers in what amounted to a 4-2 deficit after the first eight minutes.

And while the Blue Ponies never let the Wildcats (17-4) run away with the game in the first 16 minutes, the first quarter set the tone for what turned out to be a rough return to the state tourney stage. Before Thursday’s loss to the Wildcats, HHS last appeared at the state tournament in 2006.

“We came out flat,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “Everything just seemed bigger than it really was to the kids. The 5-8 guys seemed like they were 6-0, the 6-0 guys seemed like they were 6-2 and the 6-5 guys probably seemed like they were 6-8. And then the basket probably felt a lot smaller than it really is. So yes, we were really nervous, and it just seemed like we had a hard time shaking that off.”

Havre did have a hard time adjusting to the state tourney atmosphere, but the Ponies were still very much in the contest early on. Second-quarter buckets by Dane Warp and Kade Rismon kept the Ponies within striking distance at halftime, trailing just 18-8. Havre committed 10 turnovers and shot just 21 percent in the first half, but the Ponies were very much alive at the start of the third quarter as the bigger Wildcats didn’t exactly set the first half on fire either.

Things got even closer for HHS when Nate Rismon opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and when he nailed his second triple of the game with 2:49 left in the stanza, Havre was within five points.

From there however, things started to slowly unravel for the young Ponies. The Wildcats, behind the dominant inside play of 6-5 Jared Trinastich and the heady play of point guard Ty Morgan, finished the third scoring five straight points, a run the Wildcats would eventually turn into an 11-2 spurt.

“We hit the first shot of the half,” Leeds said. “And I thought we had built some momentum. But later in the third quarter, I think we missed a couple of good looks in a row, and we followed those up with a turnover. That was just too many negative plays in a row, and that’s kind of where the game got away from us.

“Also, Columbia Falls is a very patient offensive team,” he added. “They did a really good job in the second half of moving the ball and executing their offense. I thought we played pretty well defensively today, but in the second half, they hit shots and, again, we didn’t.”

The 11-2 Wildcat run left the Ponies trailing 33-21 with 6:22 left in the game. Havre did pick up the offensive pace from there, but it was just too late as Morgan scored eight of the Wildcat’s final 10 points. Columbia Falls wound up shooting 54 percent from the field in the second half after shooting a struggling 29 percent in the first. The Wildcats also hit two key triples in the second half, while Havre turned the ball over on too many key possessions.

Morgan finished with a game-high 19 points, including going 8-for-8 from the free-throw-line. Trinastich added nine points and eight rebounds, while the Wildcats out-rebounded the Blue Ponies 36-27. The win pushed the Wildcats into tonight’s semifinal where they’ll face Laurel.

Meanwhile, Havre (7-14) got 15 points and eight boards from Warp, while Kade Rismon scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds. Nate Rismon added six points and Jase Kato chipped in with four. And while Havre played much better basketball in the second half, the Ponies just couldn’t overcome a difficult shooting performance, including going just 2-of-15 from three, and nerves played a big part in that.

“It felt really good to be playing in a state tournament,” the senior Rismon said. “None of us have ever experienced anything like this before. But I was pretty nervous — I think we all were. This is a big setting.

“But we still want to bring some hardware back home,” he added. “It would be great to show we did something great. So tomorrow (Friday), we just have to come out and execute better.”

Havre will need to get off to a better start in today’s tilt with Stevensville (13-9), which lost to Laurel in Thursday’s opener. And while the Yellowjackets will be another tough test for the Ponies, Leeds is confident his team will come out ready to go.

“We got to watch them (Yellowjackets) today,” Leeds said. “They kind of looked like we did. They were really flat early and they really never recovered from it. So the big thing for us, let’s come out and play relaxed. Let’s come out and be confident that this is just basketball now. It’s just another game.

“We have an excellent opportunity to get our first state tournament win in a long time,” he continued. “We just have to come out and play relaxed and believe we can win this game.”

Havre faces Stevi this afternoon, with the winner moving on to play in Saturday’s loser-out contest at 11 a.m.

In Thursday’s other first-round game, the Locomotives beat the Yellowjackets 61-41 setting up tonight’s semifinal against Columbia Falls at 6:30 p.m. Dillon took down Miles City 59-47 Thursday night, while Belgrade beat Polson 40-35. Dillon and Belgrade meet in tonight’s other semifinal at 8, while Miles City and Polson square off in a loser-out game this afternoon.

Columbia Falls 50, Havre 36

Havre 2 6 11 17 - 36

Columbia Falls 4 14 10 22 - 50

Havre - Jerod Boles 0-5 0-0 0, Nate Rismon 2-7 0-0 6, Jonathan Faber 0-1 0-0 0, Dane Warp 7-14 1-1 15, Michael Bakke 0-1 2-4 2, Jase Kato 2-4 0-0 4, Kade Rismon 3-12 3-4 9. Totals: 14-44 6-9.

Columbia Falls - Alex Presnell 3-9 0-0 6, Trevor Houston 0-2 0-0 0, Grant Stenger 0-1 0-0 0, Jayce Fagerland 1-6 1-4 5, Austin Kimmet 0-1 0-0 0, Nakia Alexander 1-3 0-0 2, Ty Morgan 5-12 8-8 19, Mason Gedlaman 0-1 1-2 1, Jared Trinastich 4-8 1-3 9, Grant Wallace 4-6 0-0 8. Totals: 18-49 12-16.

3-pointers: Havre 2-15 (Boles 0-4, N. Rismon 2-6, Faber 0-1, Warp 0-4), Columbia Falls 2-13 (Presnell 0-3, Fagerland 1-4, Alexander 0-1, Morgan 1-5). Rebounds: Havre 27 (Warp 8), Columbia Falls 35 (Trinastich 8). Total fouls: Havre 12, Columbia Falls 12. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: Havre 14, Columbia Falls 10. Assists: Havre 7 (N. Rismon 3), Columbia Falls 9 (Fagerland 5). Steals: Havre 6 (Warp 3), Columbia Falls 7.