Perfect HHS boys visit Great Falls, Malta

The 2014-15 boys basketball season could not have started any better for the Havre Blue Ponies. They are 4-0 and look like a contender in Class A basketball. But after two weeks off for the holidays, Havre will come back to face quite possibly its biggest test of the regular season.

The Ponies, who have defeated Malta, CMR, Belgrade and Livingston this season, will look for their second win over a Class AA rival tonight in Great Falls when they square off against Great Falls High. Tip-off is set for 7 at the Swarthout Fieldhouse. Saturday, HHS will travel to Malta for a rematch of its season-opening win over the Mustangs. That game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.

Great Falls High, which defeated Havre twice last season, has as much talent as any high school team in Montana. Despite the Bison's 2-2 record, the trio of Brendan Howard, Matt Wyman and Lukas Vining will give the Ponies all they can handle in tonight's first salvo for the famed Ole' Goat Trophy. In order to win back the trophy, HHS must defeat the Bison twice this season.

"I think Great Falls High might be the best team on our schedule," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "They are a really talented offensive team, so we are really going to have to play well defensively."

Few teams are equipped to match the scoring power of the Bison, but one team that might be able to is Havre. The Ponies have a talented starting five led by junior Dane Warp, who leads the team with an average of 25.5 points per game. Yet, the HHS offense is not all about Warp. Michael Bakke has also been productive on the offensive end with an average of 10.2 points per game. The senior also leads the team with 10 rebounds per game.

A big reason for Warp's success has been his ability to knock down the 3-point shot. In four games, he has hit 12 treys and is shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc. While Warp has been good from deep, Nate Rismon has been equally as good, knocking down nine treys and connecting on 48 percent of his 3-pointers.

"It's important for us to have balance when it comes to scoring," Leeds said. "That is going to be something we need to do if we want to do well at the end of the season tournaments."

As important as it will be for Havre to get going on offense, it will need to do an even better job on the defensive end to slow a Bison team that is averaging 67 points per game. The Ponies are averaging 57 points a game coming in and will need to find a way to keep Howard, Wyman and Vining, who combined to average nearly 50 points a game a season ago, in check.

The game has added significance due to the Ole' Goat trophy that goes back and forth between the two rivals. The Bison currently possess the traveling trophy and just need to split their two games with Havre this season to retain it. That means if Great Falls beats Havre tonight, the Bison will retain the trophy. However, if the Ponies pull the upset, then they would have a chance to win it back in the next meeting between the two teams on Jan. 29.

"We have talked a little bit about it," Leeds said. "I don't think a Havre team has won it since the early 1990s with Tommy Reynolds and those guys. So it would be nice to win it but it's not really one of our goals. Our goal is to get better and play our basketball at the end of the season."

After taking on the Bison tonight, the Ponies will go on the road for the fourth straight time when they take on Malta, which HHS defeated earlier in the season by the score of 54-39.

Since their loss to Havre, the Mustangs have gone 2-1, defeating Lewistown and Poplar but falling to Glasgow. Malta is led by Jeremy and Nate Costin, who scored 10 and eight points, respectively to lead the Mustangs in the first game with the Ponies.

Even though Havre controlled much of the game against Malta, beating the Mustangs, or any team for that matter, for the second time in a month is no easy task. Making it even more difficult is the fact it will be the second game of a back-to-back on the road.

"It's always makes it more difficult when you have to go on the road," Leeds said. "But we are going to have to win games away from home at the end of the season so it will be a good test for our boys."

The Ponies will find out a lot about themselves tonight in Great Falls when they face the Bison at 7. Saturday night, HHS will close out its challenging weekend in Malta at 6:30 p.m.