Pony boys split tough road games with Bison, Mustangs

Despite some mixed results, it would be hard to call the past weekend anything but a success for the Havre High boys basketball team. While the Blue Ponies did lose their first game of the season, they also earned a road win and proved they can compete with one of the top teams that Class AA has to offer.

In the first of two games over the weekend, Havre went on the road to take on Great Falls High Friday night. And for four quarters, the Ponies gave the favored Bison all they could handle before falling 68-58. The win ensured the Bison will once again retain the Ole' Goat Trophy.

Then, in the wake of their first loss of the 2014-15 season, the Ponies paid a visit to Class B foe Malta and completed the season sweep of the Mustangs with a 53-46 win Saturday night.

The Ponies came in as underdogs against AA rival Great Falls, but after hanging tough for most of four quarters, Havre pulled within one point late in the game and trailed the Bison 57-56 with over four minutes left to play. Yet, Great Falls answered with a Matt Wyman jumper and a 3-pointer from Lukas Vining to go back up 62-56. Havre never got any closer.

"I thought we played a pretty good game," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "Even though we lost by 10 points, it was mostly around a two-point game for around 29 of the 32 minutes, so I thought our kids competed really well. We just went away from our identity in the last few minutes. We stopped attacking the hoop and started settling for jump shots. And that made a difference toward the end but overall, I was pleased with how our boys played."

The game was tied 32-32 at halftime following a strong first-half performance from Dane Warp, who jumped out of the gate with 16 points. Behind Warp's play the Ponies had an opportunity to pull the upset, but a defensive adjustment by the Bison changed the game.

Great Falls changed how they were guarding Warp which paid huge dividends as the Bison held Havre's leading scorer to just two points in the second half, and without a field goal for the game's final 16 minutes.

"(Great Falls) came out in a box-and-one in the second half," Leeds said. "They really guarded Dane heavily and that is something we are going to see quite a bit. We got a little stagnant. We needed to move more and attack more."

Wyman put an exclamation point on the game with an emphatic slam dunk in the final minute and scored a total of 19 points to help the Bison to victory. Brendan Howard was the game's high scorer with 21 and Vining added 18.

Warp had a team-high 18 points in the loss for Havre. Michael Bakke contributed with 12. Jacob LaBrie pitched in with 11 and Jerod Boles had 10.

Following the loss to Great Falls, the Ponies went to Malta for their fourth consecutive game on the road. The Ponies knocked off the Mustangs earlier in the season and even though the second meeting was closer, Havre still controlled the game throughout and in the end won by seven.

"Saturday was a long day for us because we got stuck in Great Falls Friday night," Leeds said. "So we had to go back to Havre, then turn around and go to Malta. I thought our players handled the adversity really well with all we went through Friday and played pretty well."

HHS led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and 27-19 at halftime. Then, in the third, Havre had its most productive quarter on offense, scoring 18 points and extending its lead to 45-30 heading into the final stanza.

Malta outscored the Ponies 16-8 in the fourth quarter, which made things interesting but in the end Havre held on the for the 53-46 victory.

Warp hit two treys on his way to scoring a game-high 20 points. It was the fourth time in six games this season he has scored 20 or more. Boles and Nate Rismon each added eight points. Jase Kato finished with six.

Nate Costin had a solid outing for the Mustangs in defeat scoring 18 points. Tyson Carney was also impressive with 17.

By splitting their games against Great Falls and Malta, the Ponies are now 5-1 on the season. HHS will be back in action on Friday when it travels to Conrad. Tip-off will be at 7:30 p.m. The Ponies will then return to the HHS gymnasium Saturday to take on Lewistown in Central A conference action which is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

"I think we are taking steps in the right direction," Leeds said. "We are shooting the ball better and playing with more confidence. We still have some things that we need to work on defensively but it's hard to play two games on the road after Christmas break and not being in school and I thought our boys played well this weekend."

Great Falls High 68, Havre High 58

Havre 18 16 13 11 – 58

GFH 16 18 16 18 – 68

Havre – Jerod Boles 4 0-2 10, Nate Rismon 2 0-0 5, Dane Warp 7 3-4 18, Jacob LaBrie 4 0-0 11, Michael Bakke 5 2-4 12, Wyatt Lindbloom 1 0-0 2. Totals: 23 5-10.

GFH – Lukas Vining 7 2-2 18, Daniel Silverstein 1 0-0 2, Brendan Howard 8 5-8 21, Matt Wyman 9 0-0 19, Lester Johnson 1 0-0 3, Jake Wetzel 2 0-0 5. Totals: 28 7-10.

Total fouls – Havre 11, GFH 10. Fouled out – none. 3-pointers – Boles 2, Rismon 1, Warp 1, LaBrie 3, Vining 2, Johnson 1, Wyman 1, Wetzel 1.

Havre 53, Malta 46

Havre 14 13 18 8 -- 53

Malta 11 8 11 16 -- 46

Havre – Jerod Boles 8, Nate Rismon 8, Nate Korb 2, Dane Warp 20, Jacob LaBrie 3, Michael Bakke 2, Wyatt Lindbloom 4, Jase Kato 6. Totals: 21 6-8.

Malta – Nate Costin 18, Tyson Carney 17, Jeremy Costin 5, Allen Williamson 6. Totals: 15 10-12.

Three pointers – Boles 2, Warp 2, LaBrie 1, N. Costin 1, Carney 4, J. Costin 1. Total fouls – Havre 13, Malta 16. Fouled out – Carney.