HHS boys head to Conrad

The Havre High boys basketball team was minutes away from a four-game losing streak. But one comeback victory over CMR changed all that and now the Blue Ponies are looking to start another win streak.

Havre will look to start that winning streak tonight on the road in Conrad against the Cowboys. The game, which will start at 7 p.m., will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. HHS was victorious in the first go-around 37-33.

The Ponies, who will be playing on the road for the fourth time in the last five days, will not only be looking for a season-sweep of their Class B foe, they will also be out to earn their 10th win of the season.

"We just need to come out and play hard from the start of the game until the end," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "We need come out and play with intensity and offensively, we really need to have good ball movement. When you move the ball well, good things happen."

Good things definitely happened in the second half for the Ponies in their 17-point come-from-behind win over CMR last Saturday. Havre scored a total of 35 points in the second half, including a whopping 22 in the fourth quarter. Leeds attributed much of that to better ball movement, which is something he hopes to see against Conrad.

The other positive development for the Ponies against CMR was the emergence of Nate Rismon and Jerod Boles on the offensive end. Rismon, who is third on the team in scoring, has scored in double figures in back-to-back games, including 13 against CMR, while Boles had 12 in the win.

"As good as Dane (Warp) is, we need more than one person who can score," Leeds said. "So that has been big for us to get both Nate and Jerod going a little bit offensively."

While Leeds is correct in the fact that Warp cannot do it alone, it never hurts to have one of the top scorers in the state on your team, which is exactly the luxury the Ponies possess with Warp, who is second in Class A in points per game with 23.5. Yet, as dangerous as Warp is as a scorer, when the players surrounding him are knocking down shots, he becomes an equally difficult threat as a distributor.

"When he attacks the basket, he just draws so much attention," Leeds said. "Then he can kick it out to an open guy or find someone for a layup. He just has such great court vision."

Yet, as good as the Havre offense has been, it has been the defense that has been the real backbone of the Ponies and with the emergence of Ivar Aageson, who forced four key turnovers late in the win over CMR, the HHS defense could be even better.

"He just always brings a lot of energy," Leeds said. "He might make some mistakes, but he just gives us so much energy that it gets us going."

In the first meeting between the two teams, the Ponies held Conrad to just 33 points and leading scorer Clark Judisch to just six, which is a feat the Ponies will look to achieve once again.

Havre and Conrad will go head-to-head tonight in Conrad at 7:30 p.m. It's Havre's only game this week.