Pony boys host Browning on senior day Saturday

It’s rare for late season conference games to have little or no meaning, but that’s exactly the situation the Havre High boys basketball team finds itself in ahead of Saturday’s home game against Browning.

Certainly, the Blue Ponies want to win, especially considering it will be senior day, and the final time that Michael Bakke, Jase Kato and Wyatt Lindbloom play inside the HHS gymnasium. But other than that, HHS will gain very little with a win over the Indians, who will do battle with the Ponies at 3 p.m.

The reason the game will have no real meaning in the Central A conference is that Havre (12-5, 4-3) and Browning (9-8, 4-3) are each guaranteed to finish second or third in the final standings. The winner of Saturday’s game will finish second, the loser third. But either way, it will not matter as the two teams will square off against each other in the semifinals of the Central A divisional next Friday in Great Falls, no matter who the victor is.

“We are really not going to play any differently,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “I think we probably will just be kind of vanilla and not do some of the things that we would normally do, like we won’t run a play to get a basket, we will try to get one out of our motion offense.”

Even though the Ponies cannot gain anything in the grand scheme of things by winning, HHS will definitely be motivated by the fact that it’s senior night as they hope to send the trio out with a bang in their final home game.

Havre will miss all of its seniors as they all play critical roles on the team. Bakke has developed into a key contributor, averaging 9.2 points per and 9.3 rebounds per game. He is one of the top interior players in the Central A and should receive consideration for postseason honors. Kato is a starter for Havre, who averages 2.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Lindbloom is also one of the first players off the bench and provides the Ponies with a solid presence on both ends of the floor, though he will likely miss the remainder of the season with an injury.

“Bakke has been one of the most improved players since I got here,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “He is the spark that ignites our team and it just goes to show what you can accomplish if you play hard.

“Wyatt has been a good addition to this team, we are lucky he moved here,” He added. “And Jase is the biggest Kato I have ever seen. He has a great head on his shoulders and will accomplish a lot after his HHS days are over.”

To get the win, the Ponies will need a big outing from Dane Warp, who leads Havre and the entire Central A in scoring with 23.3 points per game. Nate Rismon and Jerod Boles are two others that will have an impact for HHS.

Browning will counter with its own star player in Josh Monroe, who is third in the league in points with 17.7 per game and second in rebounds with 8.3 to Bakke, who is tops in the conference on the boards.

In addition to winning for the seniors, Havre will also want to avoid being swept in the regular season by the Indians, who knocked off Havre, 62-59, in Browning Jan. 14. Yet, the goal, as always for the Ponies, is just to keep improving and play well heading into divisionals.

“We kind of went through that lull, but we are picking ourselves back up and climbing the mountain again,” Leeds said. “We just want to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year, and I think we are working towards doing that.”

While the Havre boys will be at home, the Havre girls basketball team will be on the road against Browning in its final game before divisionals, which is held in Great Falls along with the boys tournament beginning next Thursday.

Like the boys, the Pony girls have little to play for in the standings as they have already wrapped up the regular season championship for the fourth straight year, along with it the top seed at divisionals with a 7-0 record. Yet, the one thing the Ponies could achieve for the first time under head coach Dustin Kraske is an undefeated season in conference play.

“It’s not something that we have talked about,” Kraske said. “We are just going to go down there and play like we always do. We know they (Indians) are probably going to pressure us and they will play their 2-3 zone, so it will be a good week of preparation for that.”

The Ponies will be led by Morgan Mazurkiewicz, who has made a strong case for Central A conference player of the year with a league-high 15.4 points per game scoring average. She also is tops in the conference in both assists and steals and also ranks in the top 10 in rebounds.

The Ponies also rely heavily on Naomi Terry, Dani Wagner, Ceyara Plante, Lindsey Kudrna, Rachel Majeres and Holly Purkett.

Browning (10-7, 5-2) is a difficult team to beat at home and boast two very solid players in Tiara Gilham (14.4 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Kaylea Skunkcap (13.2 ppg).

The win would be a good one for Havre in a game that could very well be a preview of the championship game at divisionals next weekend. The Indians and Ponies will tip-off at 5 p.m Saturday in Browning. The Havre boys will start their game against Browning at 3 p.m. Saturday at the HHS gymnasium.