George Ferguson Column: These Ponies are defined by more than a piece of wood

MISSOULA — There was once a popular Nike commercial where Michael Jordan famously talked about how many times he’s failed, about how many times he missed a game-winning shot. Later, there was a similar commercial about Tiger Woods and how many golf tournaments he failed to win — which was many more than the 87 career times he did win.

Whether it’s Jordan or Woods, or Koby Bryant, who did win five NBA championships, but that’s over the course of a 20-year career — what they all have in common is, their failures don’t diminish their greatness.

The same should be said for the 2015-16 Havre High boys basketball team. No, the Blue Ponies didn’t win a state championship this weekend in Missoula, and they came up a point short in their bid to bring the third-place trophy home from the Class A state tournament Saturday night in Dahlberg Arena. But none of that will change the fact that these Blue Ponies were great, they were special, and they changed the landscape of HHS boys basketball.

And not getting a piece of wood carved in the shape of the state of Montana won’t ever change that.

“You look at what these kids have done in their time here, they have gotten better and better every season, and they have been one of the best teams in the state for three years now,” Havre head coach Curt Leeds said. “This weekend doesn’t take away from any of those accomplishments.

“In the last three years, we’ve played for three divisional championships and lost two of those games in overtime,” he added. “We’ve gone to the state tournament, and won at least one game three years in a row. And this year we got over that hump and got to Saturday night, and won a divisional championship. Those are great achievements, and they are things this team, this group of boys can be very proud of.”

It may not be easy for the Ponies to see it right now, especially after a heartbreaking defeat in the consolation game against Polson Saturday night, or even after a semifinal loss to Billings Central, a team Havre beat just five days earlier at the Eastern A divisional, but, when the Ponies decompress, and look back on this season, let alone the last three, they will see just how special they have been.

Playing on Saturday night at state is always a big deal, but in an especially good 2016 Class A state tourney, it’s even a bigger deal, and Havre did that.

Winning a divisional championship is also always a big-time accomplishment, but winning the first Eastern A “Super Divisional,” beating defending state champion Laurel and both Billings Central and Hardin, which had huge home-crowd advantages last weekend in Billings, well that’s a mighty special deal too.

But these Ponies have been special long before they got to the postseason.

Havre came within one point of beating Great Falls High for a second time, and that one point, while heartbreaking, was as close as any Havre team has gotten to winning back the Ole Goat in the last two decades. Even in defeat, that part of the season was remarkable, too.

No, this season was special from start to finish. Havre swept the CMR Rustlers for the second year in a row, and it’s certainly been a long time since any Blue Pony boys team has done that. Havre won the Central A regular season title, in spite of tough road losses in the middle of the season, and for much of the year, Havre played just like it finished, as one of the top teams in Class A.

Individually, the Ponies shined too. Dane Warp left little doubt that he was the best player in Montana this season, and that he’s on the Mount Rushmore of the greatest Blue Ponies of all times. Fellow seniors Jerod Boles and Nate Rismon grew from role players to bona fide stars, and each had their own extremely special moments this season.

Even this weekend at the state tournament, Havre had players whose names don’t always get to stand out rise to the top. Nate Korb played an important role all weekend in Missoula, while Ivar Aageson, who sparked Havre defensively for much of the year, started to come into his own as an offensive player too. In Saturday night’s thriller against Polson, senior Zach Hunt drilled an important third-quarter 3-pointer, while Jacob LaBrie buried two of his own as Havre battled toward overtime.

Yes, both as a group and as individual players, this Pony team was something to behold, and a team all of Blue Pony Nation will certainly remember.

But, this team and the players, past and present, who have been a part of an important and successful three-year run are also responsible for something else.

“This group should leave here with their heads held high,” Leeds said. “I’m so proud of them. I don’t think we can say we played our best for three days this weekend, but we still played very good, and we were one of the four best teams in the state.

“And this team, this group of seniors, they have brought Havre High basketball back to where it should be. We are a team that others measure themselves by now. Three years ago, we were trying to get to that point, and now we’re a team that other programs look at and talk about getting to that level, and that’s how it should be at Havre High. And this group did that.”

And that’s exactly why a trophy, a piece of wood with a figurine holding a basketball doesn’t change anything. And even without that trophy, these Blue Ponies will always be special. What they did this season will not only be remembered forever, but it will be a season by which Havre High basketball teams in the future will always be measured.

Like Leeds said, these Blue Ponies set the standard, and nothing that happened over the last three dramatic days and nights in Missoula can, or will ever diminish that.