It's Time: Experienced Ponies are ready

At the beginning of the 2014-15 boys basketball season, Havre High head coach Curt Leeds pronounced that his Blue Ponies were good enough to play Saturday night at the Class A state tournament. Now, with the start of the tournament upon them, the Ponies have their shot at doing just that.

In order to achieve their objective, and play on Saturday night at state for the first time since 2004 when Havre finished third, the Ponies will need to take care of business against their first-round opponent: the Billings Central Rams, who will take on HHS tonight at 8 in Bozeman at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

One thing that will aid the Ponies in their quest to knock off the Rams tonight and advance to the semifinals Friday is experience. All five of Havre’s starters played at state a season ago, when the Ponies went 1-2. And now they can put that experience to use against a Billings Central team that is one of just two teams in the tournament that were not there a season ago.

“Last year you could tell we were nervous,” Leeds said. “We made some mistakes early on and didn’t have confidence shooting the ball. I think being back again, we won’t be as nervous, we will be ready to play and that will be a huge advantage for us.”

While Havre (14-7) has experience on its side, it also has Dane Warp, who is arguably the best player in Class A basketball. During the season, Warp averaged a stellar 23.9 points per game but when the postseason rolled around, the two-time All-State performer was even better. In three games he averaged more than 26 ppg in the Central A divisional in Great Falls. That included one of the top performances by any player at any level of Montana high school basketball this season as he poured in 41 points in a double overtime loss to Belgrade in the Central A title game Feb. 28.

Yet, the Ponies will need more than just another standout performance from Warp if they are going to get past the Rams and make a run at the state championship.

In addition to Warp, HHS has a slew of other talented scorers such as Jerod Boles, Nate Rismon, Jacob LaBrie and Nate Korb on the perimeter, as well as Jase Kato and Michael Bakke inside. At times, all six have hit key shots or made key plays, now they just need to do it consistently if the Ponies are going to make a run.

“We just need everybody to be shooting the ball with confidence,” Leeds said. “Teams are probably going to focus on Dane defensively, so that will give us some open looks, and we just need to be confident and shoot the ball. We have had times this year when those shots have gone in and other times when they haven’t and we just have to be confident and know that some of those shots are going to fall.”

While the Ponies will need to knock down shots to take down Billings Central, they will also need to be stingy on the defensive end, and in particular on the boards. The Rams (14-6), who come in as the champion of the Eastern A, are no stranger to success at state. Just two years ago, they were playing for the state championship and with a lineup that features 6-7 forward Dillon Meyer as well as Holden Ryan, who is 6-3 and 6-2 guard Zac Hosler, rebounding will be essential for HHS to claim victory.

“I think rebounding the ball is going to be a huge key for us,” Leeds said. “Generally, when we outrebound teams we have won this year. So if we can do a good job on the boards and do a good job of taking care of the basketball and limiting our turnovers, then I think we will have a great chance.”

If the Ponies are able to beat the Rams tonight, they will advance to the semifinals, where they would take on either Dillon (19-1), the champion of the Southwest or Polson (10-11), the second-place team from the Northwestern A. The Beavers and Pirates play prior to Havre and Billings Central tonight at 6:30.

The other side of the bracket also features three teams that played at state a season ago, headlined by the Columbia Falls Wildcats, who are not only the champion from the Northwest A but also the defending state champs.

The Wildcats (17-3) will take on Butte Central (14-8) in the first round as the Maroons join Billings Central as the only other newcomer to the tournament from last season. Columbia Falls and Butte Central play today at 2 p.m. and will play the winner of Belgrade (15-6), the champion of the Central A and Laurel (14-6), the second-seeded team from the Eastern A. That game will tip-off the tournament at 12:30.

The first semifinal game will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday night with the second set for 8 p.m. The winners Friday night will advance to the state championship on Saturday at 8 p.m.

While all eight teams are gunning to play in that Saturday night spotlight, Havre has its sights set squarely on it and at this point, anything less than that will classify as a disappointment

“Playing on Saturday night would be a successful tournament for us,” Leeds said. “We got to state last year and were able to win a game, but this year, our goals are a little bit higher. We want to play on Saturday and that’s our expectation going in.”

Tonight’s game between Havre and Billings Central, which met in the 1994 Class A state championship game, won by the Blue Ponies, will tip at 8 inside the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.