A successful Northern C day for Box Elder

GREAT FALLS — For the past couple of seasons, fans of Northern C boys basketball have wanted to see the Box Elder Bears and the Belt Huskies square off. And now, tonight, they will finally get to see the matchup we have all been waiting for.

Before facing the Huskies, who defeated Sunburst in the semifinals Thursday at the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls, the Bears took care of some business of their own, demolishing Denton-Geyser-Stanford 74-52 to clinch a spot in the Northern C championship game, which tips tonight at 8.

“I think basketball fans all across the state have been waiting a long time for this matchup,” Box Elder head coach Jeremy MacDonald said of the championship game. “We like basketball, and we like being challenged. They are a good basketball team, and they are going to challenge us. So we are looking forward to it.”

In the third contest between Box Elder and DGS this season, the Bears jumped out to 22-10 advantage. Jerrod Four Colors, who had his best showing of the postseason with 17 points, hit a 3-pointer and that pushed the lead to 31-17.

Yet Four Colors’ triple wasn’t the end of a Box Elder run, it was the beginning of one. Four Colors scored another quick two, then after buckets by Tristan Bernard, Brandon The Boy and Trey Henderson, with a bucket right at the buzzer, the Bears closed the half on a 9-2 run to lead 40-21.

“I thought we came out and played excellent tonight,” MacDonald said. “These kids have been thinking about this for 365 days since we lost to Highwood last year. We have talked about that for a year now and we are excited to be back at this level playing for the Northern C championship.”

In the second half, the Bears continued to put on the pressure and after Bernard knocked down a shot as time ran out in the third, the Box Elder lead was 59-31. In the fourth quarter, both teams played mostly bench players as they each rested up for another round of basketball tomorrow.

“They took out their starters,” MacDonald said. “They are getting ready to try and come through the back end tomorrow and that’s not as easy road to take. So there was no reason for us to keep our starters in there.”

In addition to Four Colors’ 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, The Boy added 11 points and four assists in the win, while Shane Ketchum and Bernard each had nine. Kordell Carpenter scored 17 to lead the Bearcats. Connor Bokma had 11.

With the win, the Bears are now 22-1 on the season and tonight, the 2014 Class C state champs will take on Belt, the 2015 state champs in a matchup that also features the last two Northern C champions.

“It’s going to be an electric atmosphere,” MacDonald said. “I think this is what people have been waiting to see and I think it should be exciting. We are looking forward to the challenge.”

Box Elder and Belt will battle it out tonight at 8 for the Northern C championship.

CJI wins 9C showdown

One more team from the District 9C was going to make it to the final day of the Northern C boys basketball tournament. The question was, would it be the Chester-Joplin-Inverness Hawks, or the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds.

In the end, CJI emphatically answered that question. The Hawks took out the T-Birds 76-57 in a Northern C boys loser-out game Thursday night inside the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls. The win pushed CJI into another do-or-die game this morning against the DGS Bearkats with the winner advancing to tonight’s consolation game.

“There’s always that worry in the back of your mind, when you beat a team three times, are they due,” said CJI head coach Spencer Satori. “Hays-Lodge Pole is so good. They have a lot of talent. So tonight was good. The boys played really well from the tip to finish.”

In the fourth meeting between the Hawks and T-Birds this season, CJI took control right away. Cory Richter hit two early 3-pointers and Justin May added another as CJI went on an 11-2 run. Behind a Tyson Shambo triple, the T-Birds fought back and closed the gap to 21-16 at the end of one, and things stayed tight in the second until May put the Hawks up 31-30 with a putback at the halftime buzzer.

And while CJI and HLP played three tight games this season, the last meeting wasn’t, regardless of the halftime score.

Troy Harmon opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, starting what would eventually become a 17-2 CJI run. Javin Miles also hit a trey during the run, and while HLP tried to fight back with eight straight points later in the period, Miles drilled a 35-foot shoot as the horn sounded on the third, and the Hawks led 54-40. Miles’ triple was also part of yet another big CJI run, one that carried into the fourth stanza, and when the 14-0 onslaught was over, CJI was ahead 61-40, and the season was over for the young T-Birds, who finished third in the 9C with just one senior.

The 3-point-line was big for the Hawks, who went 9-of-15 from beyond the arc, with Cory Richter making four and scoring a game-high 23 points. He also had nine rebounds, while Harmon scored 21 points and May added 17 as CJI (18-5) kept its hopes of making it back to Great Falls for next week’s Class C state tournament alive.

In order to do that however, the Hawks will have to win twice today, and hope 9C rival Box Elder loses to Belt in tonight’s championship game, so the Hawks could challenge the Bears. But for now, the Hawks are only focused on staying alive this morning.

“DGS is very similar to Belt,” Satori said. “They are very disciplined, and they are very good defensively. They are athletic and strong. So we have to be disciplined ourselves. We need to be patient and execute. We just need to take this one game at a time, one possession at time. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

HLP, which got 17 points from Thane Helgeson, as well as another 22 combined from Jace Shambo and Tyson Shambo, got to its fourth game against CJI by ousting Heart Butte Thursday morning.

The T-Birds led the Warriors just 11-9 after one quarter, but scored 18 points in the second, before exploding for 54 points in the final 16 minutes to win 73-57. In what was HLP’s last win of a 14-9 season, the T-Birds were paced by 28 points from Jace Shambo and another 21 by Helgeson.

The Northern C boys tournament will wrap up today, with the consolation game set for 7 and the championship game slated for 8:30. If a challenge game is needed, it will be played at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Box Elder still unbeaten

Make that 22 straight for the Box Elder Bears.

Thursday morning inside the Four Seasons Arena, the Box Elder girls opened the Northern C tournament with a test, but a test the Bears passed with flying colors, as they were able to fend off Roy-Winifred 56-46. The win pushed the Bears, whose last loss came at last year’s Northern C, into tonight’s semifinal against upstart Centerville, coached by former Havre Blue Pony Chris Daniel.

The Bears, who rolled to the 9C title last weekend, were the final first-round game of the tournament, and they appeared nervous early on. Box Elder led just 8-6 after the first eight minutes, but the offense got rolling in the second, as the Bears scored 17 points and took a comfortable margin into halftime — and it was a margin the Bears, who play a suffocating pressure defense, were able to hold onto the rest of the way.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Box Elder head coach Joel Rosette said. “Roy-Winifred’s a tough team. We knew they were going to be tough matchup, and we did what it took, I guess. It wasn’t pretty.”

As usual, Box Elder’s depth and balance paid off against the Outlaws, the No. 3 team from the 8C. While Jude The Boy had a big morning for the Bears, scoring 15 points, Box Elder also got eight each from Tia Russell, Tyrah Gopher and Lillian Gopher, while Minnie The Boy added seven. Box Elder also forced the Outlaws into 25 turnovers.

And while it wasn’t a pretty start to the tournament, the Bears are exactly where they want to be, one game away from the Northern C championship, but more importantly, a mere 32 minutes from a trip to the Class C state tournament. And, though they’ll be heavy favorites against the Miners tonight, they won’t take anything for granted.

“I think every game we have something to prove, no matter what,” Rosette said. “There’s good teams here on out, even in our district. So we always have the mentality that we have a chip on our shoulder.”

Hawks grounded

Thursday didn't go as well for the Chester-Joplin-Inverness Hawks. In the final game of the second day of the tourney, the Hawk were eliminated by the Valier Panthers.

Once a bitter District 10C rival, the Panthers were able to make key free throws in the final minute to hold off the young Hawks, who finished third in the 9C. CJI came out and started the game with a 5-1 lead, but the Panthers took the lead at 9-8, and, while the game was tight throughout, the Hawks never led again.

CJI was down by three points with 37 seconds left in the game, but Valier hit two big free throws, and the Hawks couldn't answer. CJI had gotten to within two at the end of three after finishing the on a 6-0 run on a Harmon 3-pointer and a Kendahl Knapton and-one, but came up short in the fourth.

Harmon paced the Hawks in their final game with 11 points.

Valier will move on to face 9C power Chinook in a loser-out game this afternoon, with the winner moving on to the consolation semifinals Saturday morning. Tonight's other semifinal features top-rated Belt taking on 10C rival Great Falls Central, with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship game against either Box Elder or Centerville. The tournament will conclude Saturday night with the consolation game at 7 p.m. and the championship game set for 8:30 inside the Four Seasons Arena.

Note: Havre Daily News' Chris Peterson contributed to this story.

Boys

Box Elder 74, DGS 52, sf

Box Elder 22 18 19 15 – 74

DGS 10 11 10 21 – 52

Box Elder: Jerrod Four Colors 7 2-2 17, Pernell Morsette 1 0-1 3, Brandon The Boy 4 0-0 11, Bodis Duran 1 4-4 6, Tristan Bernard 3 3-4 9, Jake Jones-Morsette 3 0-0 7, Petey Azure 2 0-0 4, Elias Robertson 1 0-0 2, Trey Henderson 1 2-2 4, Shane Ketchum 4 1-2 9, Seth Duran 1 0-0 2. Totals: 28 12-15.

DGS: Conner Bokma 3 2-2 10, Rhet Woodhall 2 2-2 7, Kade Woodhall 1 1-2 3, Kordell Carpenter 7 0-0 17, Zane Smith 1 0-0 2, Jaeger Schafer 0 1-2 1, Kendall Carpenter 1 4-6 6, Keaton Protsman 0 5-6 5. Totals: 15 16-22.

Fouls: Box Elder 22, DGS 18. Fouled out: Henderson. 3-pointers: Four Colors, P. Morsette, The Boy 3, Jones-Morsette, Bokma, R. Woodhall, K. Carpenter 3.

CJI 76, Hays-Lodge Pole 57, lo

HLP 18 12 10 17 – 57

CJI 21 10 22 23 – 76

HLP – Jace Shambo 4 2-2 10, Tyson Shambo 4 0-0 10, Damon Castillo 2 0-0 5, Gordon Gray III 0 0-2 0, Frank Runs Above 5 2-4 14, Chance Main 2 0-1 4, Thane Hegelson 7 0-1 14. Totals: 24 4-10.

CJI – Cory Richter 8 3-4 23, Brandon Richter 3 0-1 6, Javin Miles 2 0-0 6, Troy Harmon 7 7-8 23, Justin May 7 2-2 17, Bruce Tempel 0 1-2 1. Totals: 27 13-17.

Fouls – HLP 17, CJI 10. 3-pointers – T. Shambo 2, Castillo, Runs Above 2, C. Richter 4, Miles 2, Harmon 2, May.

Hays-Lodge Pole 73, Heart Butte 57, lo

HB9 14 23 11 – 57

HLP11 18 25 19 – 73

Heart Butte – Malique Aimsback 5 1-2 12, Chasen Kipp 9 1-2 23, Shylon Spoon Hunter 0 3-3 3, Anthony Aimsback 2 2-2 6, Chaise ArrowTop 4 0-0 9, Thomas Bird 1 0-0 2, Wendall Main 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 7-9.

HLP – Jace Shambo 6 4-5 16, Tyson Shambo 10 1-2 28, Frank RansAbove 1 2-3 4, Thane Hegelson 10 1-2 21, Chance Main 2 0-0 4. Totals: 29 8-12.

Fouls – HB 18, HLP 12. Fouled out – M. Aimsback. 3-pointers – M. Aimsback, Kipp 4, ArrowTop, T. Shambo 7.

Girls

Box Elder 56, Roy-Winifred 46

Box Elder 8 17 13 18 – 56

Roy-Winifred 6 14 8 18 – 46

Box Elder: Jaynee Parisian 2 1-1 6, Minnie The Boy 0 7-8 7, Jude The Boy 4 7-12 15, Lillian Gopher 3 2-9 8, Tia Russell 3 1-4 8, Alyssa LaMere 1 2-2 4, Tyrah Gopher 4 0-0 8. Totals: 16 20-36.

Roy-Winifred: Denae McClure 2 2-2 8, Lorianne Stulc 5 9-10 19, Keyara Bahnmiller 5 0-2 10, Emily Bergum 3 2-5 9, Kaylie Carlstrom 0 0-2 0. Totals: 15 13-21.

Fouls: Box Elder 21, Roy-Winifred 28. Fouled out: LaMere, Brietta Boyce, Bahnmiller, Dyauni Boyce. 3-pointers: Parisian, Russell, McClure 2, Gergum.

Valier 33, CJI 28 (lo)

Valier 7 9 9 8 – 33

CJI 8 4 11 5 – 28

Valier: Mikayla Connelly 0 0-4 0, Jordan Stoltz 0 1-4 1, Teia Lackner 0 3-4 3, Heather Suek 3 1-2 8, Mariah Stoltz 5 7-12 17, Malia Curry 2 0-0 4. Totals: 10 12-26.

CJI: Kendahl Knapton 3 0-1 8, Korrin Harmon 4 2-4 11, Madeline Woods 1 2-5 4, Kristina Dahinden 2 0-0 4, Adriana Janison 0 1-3 1. Totals: 10 5-13.

Fouls: Valier 16, CJI 19. Fouled out: Harmon, Khloe Kammerzell. 3-pointers: Knapton, Harmon, Suek.