Ole Goat in reach: Ponies thump GFH

It has been 24 years since the Havre High boys basketball team has won the Ole Goat trophy. But Monday night, the Blue Ponies earned the chance to win it back.

On an electric night inside the HHS gymnasium, the Ponies played inspired basketball and, in the process, outplayed the Great Falls High Bison from start to finish en route to a wire-to-wire, 69-55 victory.

"They are a (Class AA school) and we look up to them, but we go out every game knowing that we are the best team out there," Havre senior Jerod Boles said. "I don't know, there is just something about that Ole Goat trophy not being in Havre for a long time. That adds something to it."

If Boles and the Ponies were motivated by a chance to win back the trophy, they played like it early.

Boles drained a 3-pointer 38 seconds into the game to set the tempo for HHS and after eight straight points from Dane Warp, Havre was up 11-0 with 5:06 left in the first quarter.

Yet, Great Falls High star Brendan Howard brought the Bison back, sparking an 8-3 run to pull within three with just over a minute left in the quarter, but Isaac Warp answered with a trey that put Havre up 19-13 after one.

However, behind Howard, the Bison would creep back in it again.

First the junior notched an old-fashioned three-point play, then found teammate Blake Thelen for a triple that trimmed the Pony lead to 26-24, the smallest it would be all night.

With Great Falls High threatening, Havre turned to Dane Warp and, like he usually does, the senior answered the bell, scoring eight points in the final 2:06 of the half to push the Havre lead back to 33-27 at the intermission.

"I think we just have kids that have been around a while," Warp said. "When we are in tight games, we aren't afraid to hit big shots or whatever needs to happen to win. We just try to keep our composure and keep playing hard."

Warp opened the second half like he finished the first and connected on a three to put the Ponies up eight. Howard answered minutes later with a trey of his own, but a three-point play by Warp and another 3-pointer by Boles late in the stanza, helped HHS maintain a 49-41 lead heading to the fourth.

In the fourth quarter, the Bison made one last push to overtake Havre and pulled within four points twice with less than six minutes to go. But on both occasions, Jacob LaBrie answered with a triple, the second one coming with 5:38 left, which put the Ponies ahead 55-47 and effectively put the game on ice.

"I think that all our kids know that they can shoot," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "So they aren't afraid to when they have the chance."

Yet, despite getting a great offensive performance that included 31 points from Warp, 13 from Boles and 10 from Nate Rismon, the key to the win for Havre was defense.

"You know (Brendan Howard) is going to score some points," Leeds said of Howard, who scored 29 points in the loss. "But, I would like to think that was the hardest he ever had to work for 29 points.

"We came out and competed our (butts) off," Warp said. "I thought we played great defensively and that's what we want to do every night, whiter it's Class AA, Class A or Class B.

"It would be nice to win it back," Warp said of the Ole Goat. "But it's not as important as trying to win a conference championship."

With the victory, the Ponies, who were spurned on by a raucous crowd inside the Pony Corral, will get their chance to win back the trophy, which would require a season sweep of the Bison to reclaim. The two teams will met on Jan. 28 in Great Falls in a rare winner-take-all game in the rivalry.

"It was a great atmosphere out there tonight," Leeds said. "We did a great job of getting our student body to come out for the game. It was great to have that support from the community and it will be exciting to have a chance to win the Ole Goat, I just don't want that to define our season."

The Ponies are now off for the holiday break, but will return to host Malta Jan. 2.

Havre 69, Great Falls High 55

GFH 13 14 14 14 -- 55

Havre 9 14 16 20 -- 69

GFH - Kendall Kynett 3, Blake Thelen 3, Kody Torgerson 7, Kellan Romsa 3, Reece Green 5, Riley Watt 2, Brendan Howard 29, Keaton Burcham 3. Totals 19 11-14 55.

Havre - J. Boles 13, N. Rismon 10, N. Korb 2, D. Warp 31, J. LaBrie 6, I. Warp 3, M. Loftus 2, B. Bibean 2. Totals 21 19-26 69.

3-point goals - Kynett 1, Thelen 1, Torgerson 1, Romsa 1, Romsa 1, Howard 2, Boles 2, Rismon 1, D. Warp 2, LaBrie 2, I. Warp 1. Total fouls - GFH 18, Havre 14. Fouled out - none.