EASTERN A CHAMPS

The Havre High boys basketball team wanted to put some hardware in the trophy case at the Havre High gymnasium, and after winning the Eastern A Super Divisional, the trophy the Blue Ponies brought home is an impressive one.

Over the course of four days at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings, Havre beat three teams that ultimately advanced to the Class A state tournament, and did so in impressive fashion, on its way to winning the first combined divisional of the Eastern and Central A conferences.

The Ponies, who beat Laurel and Billings Central to reach the title game, knocked off Hardin 70-64 Saturday night to finish off their title run. The Eastern A crown, which will send HHS to the state tournament as the top seed from the East, was Havre's first divisional championship since 2004.

"This is just a special group of kids," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "A group of kids that really just wants to win. They want to add trophies to the trophy case for the Havre Blue Ponies, and that's really what it comes down to."

Havre may have won the Eastern A, but after falling behind 14-2 against Hardin in the championship game, things didn't look promising. Yet, HHS closed the first quarter on a 9-4 run to get back into the game. And after Dane Warp beat the first-half buzzer with a 3-pointer to finish off a 13-point second quarter, Havre was within four at 32-28 at halftime.

In the third, Warp continued his take over. He scored the first seven points of the second half and, just like that, a 14-point deficit had morphed into a 35-32 HHS advantage. The Ponies still trailed by one heading into the fourth quarter, but a bucket by Warp followed by four free throws due to a foul and a technical foul put Havre up seven.

HHS eventually built a double-digit lead and held on for the win, its third consecutive over an opponent from the Eastern A conference. Warp, who connected on two triples, played one of his finest games as a Pony, scoring 34 points and grabbing eight rebounds. He connected on 11-of-21 shot attempts and was 10-of-11 from the free-throw-line. Nate Rismon added 12 points and Jerod Boles had 10.

The 34-point effort was the culmination of an incredible 3-game performance by Warp, in which he scored 89 points, an average of 29.6 points per game.

"No matter what teams did to defend him, it just didn't work," Leeds said. "He is just so good at getting to the basket. Even if he had two guys on him, it didn't seem to matter. He was unguardable."

"It's awesome to finally bring home a conference championship for the fans of Havre basketball," Warp said. "It's surreal to be part of a team with such great teammates, coaches and people believing in us."

Friday afternoon, in the semifinal round against Billings Central, Warp was equally impressive, hitting from beyond the arc five times and scoring 30 points, while also tallying six rebounds and six assists. And in a rematch of a state tournament game from last season, Havre beat the Rams 65-50.

Despite winning by double digits, for two quarters, the game was a nail-biter and at halftime, the Ponies led the Rams by just one point 26-25. But, after outscoring them 17-5 in the third quarter and knocking down seven 3-pointers in the second half, the Ponies stampeded to the winner's circle.

In addition to Warp's big night, Boles was outstanding, knocking down four threes in a 15-point outing. Rismon also pitched in with eight points and hit two treys of his own. Jacob Hadley scored 21 points to pace Billings Central.

"The way that we are playing right now, if we can continue to play that way, we are going to be hard to beat," Leeds said. "When you have Boles, Rismon, (Jacob) LaBrie, Isaac (Warp), Nate Korb and Ivar (Aageson) out there knocking down shots, and Dane is doing his thing, we are unstoppable."

The Ponies will head to Missoula for the opening round of the Class A state tournament. They will play Hamilton at 12 p.m. in Dahlberg Arena on Thursday. The state tournament runs through Saturday night.

ON TO STATE!

Havre 65, Billings Central 50,sf

Central 8 17 5 20 – 50

Havre 9 17 17 22 – 65

Billings Central – Michael Stanton 0-2 0-1 0, Chrishon Dixon 2-5 3-8 7, Peyton Hanser 0-0 0-1 0, Zach Henser 2-5 2-3 7, Johnny Elliott 3-8 4-5 10, Caleb Byorth 1-1 0-0 2, Shay Dantic 1-2 1-1 3, Jacob Hadley 8-15 1-5 21, Micah Holt-Seavy 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 17-40 11-24.

Havre – Jerod Boles 4-7 3-4 15, Nate Rismon 3-5 0-0 8, Nate Korb 1-1 1-2 3, Dane Warp 10-22 5-9 30, Jacob LaBrie 2-4 0-0 5, Isaac Warp 0-0 0-1 0, Ivar Aageson 1-1 0-0 2, Zach Hunt 1-1 0-0 2, Michael Loftus 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-42 9-16.

Fouls – Central 17, Havre 20. Fouled out – Aageson. 3-pointers – Central 5-16 (Stanton 0-2, Z. Hanser 1-4, Dantic 0-1, Hadley 4-9), Havre 12-22 (Boles 4-6, Rismon 2-4, D. Warp 5-9, LaBrie 1-3).

Havre 70, Hardin 64, 1st

Havre 11 17 14 28 – 70

Hardin 18 14 11 21 – 64

Havre – Jerod Boles 3-9 3-4 10, Nate Rismon 5-11 2-2 12, Nate Korb 0-3 0-0 0, Dane Warp 11-21 10-11 34, Jacob LaBrie 2-5 0-0 5, Ivar Aageson 1-4 1-1 3, Zach Hunt 3-4 0-0 6. Totals: 25-57 16-18.

Hardin – Virgil McCormick 1-3 0-0 2, Clarence Little Wolf 6-18 1-1 15, Frank Two Bulls 3-7 0-2 8, Cordell Bird 1-1 0-0 2, Beau Venne 4-11 5-6 16, Larry McCormick 1-3 0-0 3, Darnell 8-16 2-5 18. Totals: 24-59 8-14.

Fouls – Havre 13, Hardin 19. Technical foul – Two Bulls. 3-pointers – Havre 4-15 (Boles 1-4, Rismon 0-2, Warp 2-6, LaBrie 1-3), Hardin 8-22 (V. McCormick 0-2, Little Wolf 2-6, Two Bulls 2-6, Venna 3-5, L. McCormick 1-3).