HHS boys fall to Fairfield, Lewistown

With both Fairfield and Lewistown on the schedule this past weekend, the Havre High boys basketball team was going to have its work cut out for it.

And in the end, the Blue Ponies didn't have enough to beat either team, as they fell to Fairfield at home Friday night, 58-28. Havre followed that up with a loss in a crucial road game against Lewistown Saturday night. The final in that game was 59-49. With the loss, HHS has now lost six games in a row and is just 3-13 on the season.

In Havre's first game of the weekend Friday, Fairfield came out firing and opened the game on a 9-3 run. By the end of the first quarter, the Eagles were in front 16-5. In the second quarter, Fairfield continued what was a 24-3 run to end the first half, which left Havre facing a 33-8 halftime deficit.

Fairfield continued to apply pressure to Havre and in the third quarter, the Eagles continued their run by scoring the first nine points of the stanza. That pushed the lead to 42-8 and capped an incredible 32-3 run. HHS did manage to score 10 points in both the third and fourth quarters, but the outcome was never in doubt.

"I think that we struggled defensively," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "And that was because we played poorly in transition and we gave up way too many layups. But we also struggled to score and it's hard to play defense when you aren't scoring."

Fairfield had seven different players who scored four points or more led by Cantor Coverdell, who finished with a game-high 15. Nate Korb was the only double-digit scorer for Havre as he finished with 14. Trey Murphy contributed with eight.

Following their loss to Fairfield, the Ponies traveled to Lewistown Saturday for a key Central A conference matchup. Thanks to an earlier win over Lewistown, Havre still had hopes of staying in contention for a top-three finish in the final standings, which would avoid a play-in game at divisionals.

Yet the Eagles had a different idea. The game was close much of the way as the score was tied 6-6 at the end of the first quarter and Lewistown led just 18-16 at halftime. But in the third quarter, the Eagles caught fire, scoring 20 points compared to just six for the Ponies. Havre scored 27 points in the final stanza, but Lewistown added 21 and hung on for the 10-point win.

"I thought that we defended really well in the first half," Leeds said. "But again, we had a hard time scoring and couldn't get the ball to go in during the third quarter. I think that we have good shooters, but right now, the ball just isn't going in."

Tanner Trafton led the Eagles with a game-high 17 points. Jaden Graham pitched in with 16 and Cole Ayers added 9. Isaac Warp led Havre with 12. Ryan Bakke also had nine for Havre, while Tanner Parsons finished with eight and Korb had seven.

"I still think we can win a couple games here at the end," Leeds said. "If we had shot 38 percent against Lewistown, instead of 26 percent or whatever it was, we would have won the game. So if we can start shooting the ball better and get a couple wins at the end of the season, we could go into divisionals feeling good about ourselves."

With the loss to Lewistown, Havre is much more likely to see itself in a play-game at the Eastern A Divisional. The Ponies will need to beat Browning in the regular-season finale, but will also need lots of help.

Havre will take a break from conference play this Saturday, when the Ponies will host Rocky Boy in a non-conference matchup.

Fairfield 58, Havre 28

Fairfield 16 17 16 9 - 58

Havre 5 3 10 10 - 28

Fairfield: Luke Batson 9, C. Allen 6, K. Pitcher 6, D. Allen 4, Canton Coverdell 15, Eric Schenk 9, K. Bake 9.

Havre: Tanner Parsons 4, Nate Korb 14, Isaac Warp 2, Trey Murphy 8.

Lewistown 59, Havre 49

Havre 6 10 6 27 - 49

Lewistown 6 12 20 21 - 59

Havre: Tanner Parsons 8, Isaac Warp 12, Ryan Bakke 9, Nate Korb 7, Bobby Personett 6, Ivar Aageson 4, Trey Murphy 3.

Lewistown: Tanner Trafton 17, Jaden Graham 16, Cole Ayers 9, Jake Clinton 7, Noah Agostinelli 4, Eric Knox 2, Andrew Lalum 2, Luke Derhiem 2.