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Havre cruises into Class A semifinals where the Blue Ponies will face Dillon tonight
Havre High's Dane Warp scored 25 points helping the Blue Ponies beat the Billings Central Rams in the first round of the Class A state tournament Thursday night in Bozeman.
The Havre Blue Ponies believe that they are good enough to win the Class A state boys basketball championship. And if they continue to shoot the ball as well as they did in the opening round against Billings Central, they may end up being right.
For the game, the Ponies shot 52 percent from the field, which is impressive — yet, they were even better from beyond the arc hitting 56 percent from 3-point range enroute to a 69-56 win over Billings Central Thursday night in Bozeman at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
The win gets HHS into the Class A semifinals, where the Ponies will take on their old Central A rival Dillon, which also happens to be the runner-up from a season ago. The winner gets into the championship game on Saturday night. The Ponies and Beavers will tip things off tonight at 8.
“The boys just had so much fire and then they came out and hit those shots and that just kind of wore on Billings Central I think,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “I really think our boys can compete with anyone here. They have a confidence that we haven’t had and it’s nice to see. You call a timeout and you could just see it in their eyes.”
Right from the start, Havre looked like a team on a mission as Dane Warp and Nate Rismon came out firing from 3-point range in the opening stanza. Rismon hit one, Warp hit a couple and by the end of the first quarter, the two-time All-Stater had 14 points and the Ponies held a 21-15 lead.
In the second quarter, the hot shooting continued. First Warp hit from three and then Rismon connected from deep for the second time, and all of a sudden the Ponies found themselves in front 27-17 and in the midst of a 14-4 run. The Rams battled back and trimmed the Havre lead to as little as five at 29-24, but Rismon answered with a long 2-pointer and HHS went into intermission on top 36-29.
In the third quarter, the Rams came out firing and canned a trey of their own to get within four at 38-34. However, the Ponies, as they did all night, had the answer and went on a 6-0 run to push the lead back to 10 and by the end of the quarter, Havre led 46-38.
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Warp found Jase Kato for the assist and the Ponies were in control at 53-40. The Rams stayed within striking distance until the final minutes of the game until a bucket by Rismon and two free throws by Warp pushed the lead to 63-49, effectively putting the win on ice.
Warp, who led Class A in scoring this year, demonstrated why with a 25-point outing that saw him connect on four 3-pointers in five attempts. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Rismon was equally good for Havre with 18 points, including a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the arc. And Kato also came up big with nine points and nine boards. He also was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field.
“Rismon should shoot and Dane should be aggressive. He was able to get to the basket and hit some shots. He played really well. I just have never seen someone split a defense the way he does, I don’t know how to explain it but I have haven’t seen anything like it,” Leeds said. “But, It’s good for our team to have those three guys playing well and if we can just get some other guys to match them we would be at a whole new level.”
Dillon Meyer had 18 points to pace the Rams in defeat, while Jacob Hadley had 12 and Colin Holetz added 10. The Rams will take on the Polson Pirates this morning in loser-out action.
The other winners on Thursday at the state tournament were Butte Central, 56-51 over Columbia Falls and Laurel over Belgrade. Laurel and Butte Central will play tonight at 6:30 and will meet the winner of Havre and Dillon on Saturday night for the state title.
“I think that this tournament is really wide open right now,” Leeds said. “And tonight the Havre Blue Ponies came out and shot the ball really well and if we can do that against Dillon and we will have open looks against their zone, then we will have a chance.”
Havre 69, Billings Central 56
BC 15 14 9 18 – 56
Havre 21 15 10 23 - 69
Billings Central – Michael Stanton 5, Jonah Studer 6, Ryan Holden 1, Colin Holetz 10, Jacob Hadley 12, Dillon Meyer 18, Micah Holt-Seavey 4.
Havre – Jerod Boles 2, Nate Rismon 18, Dane Warp 25, Michael Bakke 7, Jase Kato 9, Nate Korb 2, Jacob LaBrie 6.
3-pointers – Havre 9-16 (Warp 4, Rismon 3, LaBrie 2), Billings Central 7-25 (Studer 2, Hadley 2, Meyer 2, Stanton).
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