Pony boys tip off with Eagles, Locomotives

The Havre High boys basketball team won the First Eastern A Divisional tournament last season. This year, the Blue Ponies will host the first-ever Central/Eastern A Tip-off Tournament.

In all, 10 of the 11 teams in the Eastern A division will take part in the two-day event, which starts today at 1:30, inside the HHS gymnasium. Havre plays tonight in its season-opening game against Sidney. HHS will also play Laurel Saturday at 4 p.m. in the closing game of the weekend.

“I think that it’s a great way for us to start the season,” HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. “We get to play some good teams and we will also get to watch the other teams and get to know them. So that will help us with our scouting, which has improved a lot over the last couple years.”

For Leeds and the Ponies, these opening games will be a chance for a new team to find itself. Havre does have a number of experienced players returning such as Jacob LaBrie, Nate Korb, Ivar Aageson, Michael Loftus and Isaac Warp. All five of those players played in more than 20 games a season ago, so while Havre did graduate seniors Dane Warp, Jerod Boles and Nate Rismon, tonight’s game won’t be anything new.

There will be some newcomers to the varsity roster, though, but others like Bobby Personett and Ryan Bakke both saw action in multiple games last season. Jake Sedahl and Jacob Irvin, both first-time varsity players, will round out the rotation.

“We have a lot of guys that have played quite a bit,” Leeds said. “But every year, you kind of have to find out who you are and what works for you. Every team is different.”

One thing that shouldn’t change for Havre is its reliance on the deep ball. Havre was among the leaders in Class A in terms of 3-point field goals attempted last season with 509. And with Isaac Warp, Aageson, Korb and LaBrie all shooting 30 percent or better from beyond the arc last season, expect to see plenty of shots from downtown.

“That’s been a big part of our offense that past few years,” Leeds said. “And that’s something that will continue to be big for us. We have a lot of good shooters, the key for us is finding some guys that can get penetration and get to the basket.”

Like Havre, Sidney did lose some key players to graduation, but the Eagles are fortunate to have their leading scorer, Brett Norby back for his senior season after scoring 11.36 points per game a year ago. In addition to Norby, the Eagles also have Dawson McGlothlin back after he scored 7.3 points per game, as well as Alec Lovegren and Bridger Larson. Sidney has a total of eight players back with varsity experience.

After taking on Sidney tonight, Havre will go head-to-head with Laurel, the 2015 Class A state champions, in a rematch of an opening-round game at divisionals in 2016. Havre won that game a season ago 57-41, but beating the Locomotives again might not prove easy to do.

Laurel finished 12-13 during the 2015-16 season, but still qualified for the state tournament and brings back its two leading scorers in Christian Jones (12.88 PPG) and Casey Cole (11.64 PPG) along with four other seniors.

“We are playing two good teams,” Leeds said. “Laurel has been a strong team the last few years, and they are going to be a good, solid team. Sidney also has a lot of kids back, so it should be a good challenge for us. We are excited to get out there. These guys are excited to show what they can do.”

Havre and Sidney will tip off tonight at 6. The Ponies will then take on Laurel Saturday at 4 p.m. Both games will be played inside the HHS gymnasium.