Pony boys sweep rivals

Last season, Belgrade was the nemesis of the Havre High boys basketball team. Especially after the Panthers beat the Blue Ponies four times, including wins at the Central A divisional and Class A state tournament.

But Friday night, the Ponies exorcised their demons and notched a key road win in Central A conference play by knocking off the Panthers 40-36 in Belgrade. Then, Saturday night, the Ponies closed out their weekend with a dramatic 82-77 win in double overtime over Livingston.

The two wins improved Havre to 4-0 overall but, more importantly, HHS is now 2-0 in the Central A with two road wins under their belt going into the holiday break.

"I thought our boys played pretty well," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "Just the first two quarters of the Livingston game, we were not really ourselves and didn't execute very well. But other than that, we played really well."

Against the Panthers, the game got off to a strange start when Belgrade's Brayden Konkol was called for a technical foul before the game even started. Dane Warp made a free throw but Konkol responded by scoring five straight points to give Belgrade a 5-1 lead.

By the end of the first quarter, the Panthers' lead had been trimmed to 13-11. Normally, the Ponies rely on the scoring of Warp to win games, but Friday night, it was the defense that spurred Havre to victory.

In the second quarter, the Havre defense held Belgrade to just four points using its 2-3 zone and it allowed the Ponies to take a 24-17 into halftime over the Panthers. In the third quarter, the Ponies scored just seven points, four of which came from Warp. Havre led by by nine at one point, but a 4-0 run from Belgrade to close the quarter reduced the Havre lead to 31-27.

In the final stanza, HHS got a huge effort from Jerod Boles, who scored seven of Havre's final nine points, which helped seal the four-point victory for the Ponies. Nate Rismon was the leading scorer in the win for Havre with 10 points. Warp and Michael Bakke each had nine, while Boles finished with seven.

"Dane didn't score a lot of points, but he still played a great offensive game," Leeds said. "He did a really great job of distributing the ball, and he was involved on a lot of the points we scored."

Konkol led all scorers in the game with 17 for Belgrade in a losing effort. Koby Ruff also contributed with 10.

"I think beating Belgrade is big confidence booster for us," Leeds said. "Especially beating them on the road."

Saturday, the Ponies made their way to Livingston in search of a second straight win over a Central A opponent. And even though the win proved hard to come by, Havre escaped with an 82-77 triumph over Livingston.

Early on, it appeared as though the Rangers might run away with it. Livingston held a 13-12 lead after the first quarter but used a 22-point second quarter to take a 35-23 edge into intermission.

Havre responded with a big quarter of its own in the third, outscoring the Rangers 24-9 and taking a 47-44 lead into the fourth quarter.

However, the Ponies couldn't put the game away and two 3-pointers late in the game from Ladan Ricketts gave the Rangers a 60-59 lead over Havre. But, a free throw by Warp tied the game up in the final seconds and sent it into overtime.

In the first overtime, Livingston built a three-point lead late in the game, but Warp nailed a clutch three to tie things up, which forced a second overtime. In the second extra frame, the Ponies grabbed an early advantage and held on late thanks to three late free throws from Boles, which sealed the 82-77 win.

"We didn't really execute great on defense and we let their best shooter get a couple of 3-pointers on us," Leeds said. "But we kept our composure and ran some really good offensive sets in overtime. Dane made a big three to get us into a second overtime and Boles hit some big free throws there at the end."

Warp had his second 30-point game of the season, with a game-high 33 points to lead Havre. Rismon added 18 points. Bakke had 17 and Boles finished with 12. Ricketts had 21 points in the loss for Livingston. Jordan Lehrer also pitched in with 20.

The Ponies are now 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Central A. They will be off during the holiday break but we will back in action Jan. 2 and Jan. 3 with back-to-back road games against Great Falls High and Malta.

Havre 40, Belgrade 36

Havre 11 13 7 9 - 40

Belgrade 13 4 10 9 - 36

Havre - Jerod Boles 3 0-0 7, Nate Rismon 3 1-3 10, Nate Korb 0 0-0 0, Dane Warp 3 3-4 9, Jacob LaBrie 0 0-0 0, Michael Bakke 3 3-4 9, Wyatt Lindbloom 1 1-3 3, Jase Kato 0 2-2 2. Totals: 13 10-16 40.

Belgrade - Dawson Fowler 0 0-0 0, Brayden Konkol 6 4-5 17, Koby Ruff 4 0 0-0 10, Tanner Campbell 0 0-0 0, Ethan Turner 0 0-0 0, Chase Roebecker 1 0-0 2, Keldon Lamb 1 1-2 3, Morgan Eitel 1 0-0 2, Daniel Tanascu 1 0-0 2, Baxter Roys 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 5-7 36.

3-point goals: Hav 4 (Rismon 3, Boles 1), Bel 3 (Ruff 2, Konkol 1). Fouls: Hav 11, Bel 18. Fouled out: none. Technicals: Konkol.

Havre 82, Livingston 77, 2OT

Havre 12 11 24 15 22 - 82

Livingston 13 22 9 16 17 - 77

Havre - Jerod Boles 12, Nate Rismon 18, Dane Warp 33, Michael Bakke 17, Jase Kato 2.

Livingston - Rydell Floyd 8, Connor Amsk 13, Jordan Lehrer 20, Jakim Ricketts 8, Ladan Ricketts 21, Jory Overstreet 7.