Knights, Longhorns advance

Thursday morning was about staying alive for a pair of teams at the District 9C boys basketball tournament. And that's exactly what the North Star Knights and Fort Benton Longhorns did.

North Star bounced back from Wednesday's narrow loss to Chinook with a dominating 97-12 win over Big Sandy Thursday morning in the Havre High gymnasium. The Knights ran out to a 29-3 lead in the first quarter, and used a suffocating defense to limit the winless Pioneers to just 17 percent shooting on the day.

Though Big Sandy fought hard, North Star just had too much firepower as the Knights led 56-5 at halftime, and shot a sizzling 67 percent from the field while also forcing 35 Big Sandy turnovers.

North Star (12-8) also had five players score in double figures led by 16 from Jimmy Snow and 14 by Matthew Helmbrecht. In what was Big Sandy's final game of the season, Laurence Alderdice paced the Pioneers with six points.

In Thursday's other elimination game, Fort Benton edged Turner 45-37. The Longhorns led wire-to-wire, including building a 26-17 halftime advantage. Turner fought back in the fourth period, but couldn't get any closer than five points.

The Longhorns (5-15) shot 38 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Tornadoes 50-28. Ty Hasbrouck paced Fort Benton with 15 points, while Turner, which finished the season at 4-16, got 12 points from Eddie Harmon and another 10 from Tyler Humphreys.

North Star plays Hays-Lodge Pole in a loser-out game today, while Fort Benton battles Chinook.

North Star 97, Big Sandy 12 (LO)

Big Sandy 3 2 3 4 – 12

North Star 29 27 19 22 – 97

Big Sandy – Tevin Haugen 2, Eric Schawrzbach 2, Laurence Alderdice 2, Jordan Schwarzbach 6. Totals: 5 2-4 12.

North Star – Dylan Miller 6, Shea Sizemore 2, Cade Chvilicek 4, Dane Miller 8, Willie Gilead 2, Gavin Spinler 12, Jimmy Snow 16, Payton Peterson 8, Devin Miller 12, Keevan Borlaug 11, Matthew Helmbrecht 14, Thomas Nerta 4. Totals: 42 8-12 97.

3-pointers: Spinler 2, Snow 2, Helmbrecht 1. Fouls: North Star 7, Big Sandy 12

Fort Benton 45, Turner 37 (LO)

Fort Benton 9 17 11 8 – 45

Turner 6 11 14 6 – 37

Fort Benton – Damon Bird 3, Ty Hasbrouck 15, Taylor Arganbright 3, Eli Toon 8, Andy Giles 7, Javan Christensen 8, Jace Pimperton 1. Totals: 18 6-13 45.

Turner – Cody Welsh 6, Tyler Humphreys 10, Bret Van Valkenburg 7, Eddie Harmon 12, Tace Hellig 2. Totals: 15 4-12 37.

3-pointers: Bird 1, Giles 1, Humphreys 1, Van Valkenburg 1, Harmon 1. Fouls: Fort Benton 15, Turner 12.