Pony boys home to host Conrad tonight

No matter what the sport, few teams go a whole season without some sort of ups and downs and so far, the Havre High boys basketball team has experienced a few of each.

The Blue Ponies are 4-2 on the season, notching impressive wins over Great Falls High, CMR and Belgrade, while at the same time losing twice to Class B foe Malta. Havre's most recent loss to the Mustangs, came just last Saturday, which means HHS will look to get back on the winning track this weekend with back-to-back games against Conrad and Lewistown. The Ponies will host Conrad tonight at 7 in the HHS gymnasium, followed by a road game in Lewistown Saturday at 6 p.m.

"You are always going to have a few off nights," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "So far we have been lucky that those nights have come against non-conference opponents. But, last time we lost to Malta, we came out and won four straight games, so hopefully we can do something like that again."

Last season, the game between the Cowboys and the Ponies, which was down in Conrad, went down to the final seconds. Yet, in the end, Nate Rismon scored just before the buzzer sounded to give Havre the win.

Tonight, Havre will look to notch another victory over a Cowboys team that returns a number of veterans from last year's squad including All-Conference honoree Clark Judisch, as well as Myle Murack, Cordell Wittmer, Logan Garman, Trent Zimbelman and Eric Harwood. Thus far, the Cowboys are 4-3 on the season and are in the thick of the District 1B race.

If Conrad is going to have a chance to pull the upset over the Ponies, it will need a great defensive performance. Last Saturday, Malta held Havre below 50 points for the first time this season and if the Cowboys want to score a rare road win over a Class A opponent, it will need to put forth a similar effort.

Of course that will be easier said than done for the Cowboys, who will have to slow down an offense that averages north of 57 points per game and connects on 7.6 3-point field goals per game.

The biggest obstacle in stopping the Pony offense will certainly be slowing down All-Stater Dane Warp, who is averaging 23 points per game and 7.6 rebounds per game. If Conrad can slow down Warp, others such as Jerod Boles (9.3 PPG), who is knocking down 34 percent of his threes and Rismon (7.6 PPG) will need to carry more weight offensively.

"I think they will come out in a zone, but if we can knock down a couple threes, I would think they would have to get out of it," Leeds said of Conrad. "They might try to do some face guarding on Dane or some other things to try and limit his touches, but you can't do that to everyone and if they do guard him that way, that can open up something things for everyone else."

Yet, the biggest key to success for the Ponies this weekend will be their defense. Through six games, HHS is allowing just more than 51 points per game, but have held three of their last five opponents below 50 points, which is a trend the Ponies will want to continue against Conrad.

"We just need to get back to playing hard," Leeds said. "When we have played hard, we have done a lot of good things. We just have to get back to playing hard every night and we will be fine. If we can do that, we will have a good weekend."

After taking on Conrad, Havre will make the trek to Lewistown on Saturday for a Central A showdown with its bitter rival. The Eagles, unlike Havre, have started slowly in 2015-16 and come into the game with a 2-4 record overall and a 0-1 mark in conference play.

The biggest issue for the Eagles so far this season has been the team's inability to score. Lewistown averages just 44.5 points a night and doesn't have a player who averages more than Hunter Errecart's 11 points per game. McKye McCarthy is Lewistown's other top scorer and he is currently average an even 10 a game.

On the other hand, Lewistown has the best defense statistically in the conference, allowing just 45 points per game to opponents. And if the Eagles can stifle the Havre offense, it would provide them with their best chance of coming away victorious.

"Lewistown is under a new coach and they are learning some new things," Leeds said. "They will run a number of different defenses. It will be a good game for us. We will need to learn what defense they are in before we attack them and it will be good for us to see all those defenses because that will prepare for some of the different looks we could see later on in the year."

The conference battle is one that is equally important to both teams as the Eagles are looking to avoid an 0-2 start, while Havre eyes a 3-0 start in league play and after getting two wins at home to start conference play, a road win at Lewistown would be a nice feather in the cap of Leeds' team.

"It would be big for us, just because of the conference standings and how divisionals are this year," Leeds said. "It's always tough to win on the road in the Central A and it would help us build some more momentum going into the next weekend against Rocky Boy and Browning."

Havre and Conrad will tip-off their non-conference tilt tonight at 7, while the Ponies and Eagles will do battle in Lewistown Saturday at 6 p.m.