Pony boys ready for rivals

The Havre High boys basketball team is coming off consecutive losses for the first time this season and how the Blue Ponies respond this weekend against a pair of conference opponents will go a long way toward defining their season.

The Ponies, who are the fourth-ranked team in Class A, are 3-1 in the Central A conference and 7-3 overall. After cruising to a 7-1 start, HHS suffered back-to-back defeats at the hands of Browning and Rocky Boy last weekend. Now, Havre will look to rebound against the Belgrade Panthers and Livingston Rangers, who will each visit the HHS gymnasium this weekend.

The Ponies will open the weekend tonight when they host Belgrade at 6:30. Saturday, the Ponies will take on the Rangers with tip-off scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

“These games are important for us,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “It would be really nice to be able to practice on the first day of (Central A Divisionals) instead of having to go down (to Great Falls) and play. And it would give us some momentum going into the rest of the season.”

Both games are critically important in the Central A standings as both the Panthers and Rangers trail the Ponies by a single game, as each team boasts a 2-2 record in conference play coming into the weekend. Havre was able to defeat both teams on the road earlier this season, knocking off Belgrade 40-36 on Dec. 19 and Livingston 82-77 in overtime the very next night. Yet, neither win was easy to come by and both teams will provide a test for the Ponies this weekend, starting with the Panthers.

Belgrade may not be the most explosive team in the Central A but that doesn’t make them any easier to beat. The Panthers average just over 51 points per game and their leading scorer, Keldon Lamb averages just 11.3 points per game. Seniors Brayden Konkol and Coby Ruff are also star players for the Panthers.While the Panthers may be the worst offensive team in the conference statistically, they are among the best on defense as they surrender just 44 points a game to opponents.

That means a big key in this game for Havre will be controlling the tempo. The Panthers may want to turn the game into a low-scoring grind but that’s the exact opposite of what Havre wants, especially when it possess the league’s top scorer in Dane Warp, who averages 24.6 points per game and is coming off a 38-point outing against Rocky Boy.

“Belgrade is a really good defensive team,” Leeds said. “So we are really going to have to execute to get the ball in the hole. And they rebound really well, so it will be key to keep them off the offensive glass. If we can execute and keep them off the glass, we should have a pretty good chance to coming out with the win.”

One thing that will help Havre in the rebounding department will be the return of Michael Bakke, who is the top rebounder in the Central A, grabbing over nine a game. He recently had to miss four games due to injury but is set to return tonight and, according to Leeds, the timing couldn’t be any better.

“Having Bakke is really going to help us on the boards and on defense,” Leeds said. “We have been missing him and some other guys, but we are finally going to have everyone back this weekend and that will help a lot.”

Bakke’s presence along with Warp, who ranks in the Top 5 in the Central A in rebounds, steals and blocks, should help the Ponies match Belgrade defensively. And while the Panthers struggle to score, Havre has no such problem, particularly with the emergence of Nate Rismon, who is seventh in the Central A in points with 10 per game and Jerod Boles, who averages 7.8.

Livingston, on the other hand, is the exact opposite of Belgrade as the Rangers are second in scoring in the conference with 62.7 points per game and first in 3-point shooting at 33 percent. The Rangers are sparked by the second-best scorer in the conference in Ladan Ricketts, who averages 17.4 points per game. Ricketts is deadly from beyond the arc and has connected on over 43 percent of his 3-point attempts this season. Slowing him down will be key but the Ponies also need to pay close attention to Jordan Lehrer, who also just over 10 points a night.

“We have to try and limit (Ricketts’) touches and we will need to play more aggressively on defense against Livingston,” Leeds said. “They can shoot the ball from the outside and put up some points. The key is taking away easy shots and make sure everything is contested against them.”

Regardless of what happens, the outcome of this weekend’s games in the HHS gymnasium will have a big impact on the final Central A standings. Havre and Belgrade will get the action started tonight at 6:30. Then, the Ponies will turn around and do battle with Livingston at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.