Knights stop Longhorn stampede

The 4-5 game at the District 9C tournament is usually a good one. And for a stretch in the third quarter, the 4-5 matchup between the North Star Knights and the Fort Benton Longhorns was.

In between however, the Knights were dominant, in the first and fourth quarters, and that allowed them to upend the Longhorns 50-36 in the opening round of the 9C boys tourney Thursday afternoon inside the HHS gymnasium.

North Star's strong start, scoring the first seven points of the game, and a huge fourth quarter, helped the Knights advance to today's semifinal against top-seeded Hays-Lodge Pole.

"We've talked about that all year, and the guys have bought into it," North Star head coach Walynn Burgess said. "It's so important to get off to a good start, but especially in this tournament, and we did that today. That first quarter gave us a nice little cushion. The kids came out ready to go."

Devon Miller capped an 1-4 North Star first-quarter, and while the Knights didn't do much scoring in the second, the lead was one they would never relinquish. On the other side, Fort Benton went nearly eight minutes of the first half without a score, and trailed 18-4 at one point, and eventually, 18-9 at halftime.

In the third quarter however, the Longhorns made a push. Trailing 22-9, Fort Benton began a furious rally that ended with a Ty Hasbrouck layup that cut the Knights' lead to 25-22. North Star called a time out though, and the response was big. Caden Rettig buried a 3-pointer out of the time-out, and the Knights led 30-24 at the end of the quarter.

The Longhorns stayed close early in the fourth with Hasbrouck and Garrett Diekhans playing strong inside. But, Dylan Miller knocked in a three, and Devon Miller scored eight straight points to help the Knights go on a 14-2 run that put the game out of reach.

"That time out was big for us," Burgess said. "It kind of settled us down and got us refocused and then Caden comes out and hits a three. Fort Benton did a good job of coming back, but I thought our kids responded well. We have good leadership with Keavan (Borlaug) and Devon Miller having a lot of experience in this tournament the last two years. And they really helped the younger guys settle down and get us going again in the fourth quarter."

Devon Miller was huge for the Knights down the stretch, scoring 11 of his game-high 22 points in the last eight minutes. He finished with a double-double, also grabbing 11 rebounds. North Star's offense was also good, as the Knights shot 51 percent from the field, with Borlaug adding 14 points and Dylan Miller scoring eight.

The Longhorns, who played this morning in a loser-out game, got 15 points and eight rebounds from Hasbrouck, while Logan Giles scored seven.

But, the day belonged to North Star (11-8), which is back in the semifinals and still in the hunt for a berth in the Northern C. The task at hand is a tall one for the Knights, who play HLP today at 4 for a spot in the championship game. The T-Birds swept the Knights during the regular season, and while Burgess knows his team will be an underdog, he says, in the tournament, anything can happen.

"They're really tough," Burgess said of HLP. "Take nothing away from them. They're deep, they can shoot, and their pressure defense is amazing. But, we'll roll the ball out and play hard and see what happens. Nobody is unbeatable, so we'll come fired up and ready to play. But, they're really tough, that's for sure."

North Star 50, Fort Benton 36

Fort Benton 4 5 15 12 - 36

North Star 11 7 12 20 - 50

Fort Benton: Damon Bird 3, Ty Hasbrouck 15, Hayden Diekhans 3, Logan 7, Andy Giles 2, Garrett Diekhans 6. Totals: 15 4-15.

North Star: Dylan Miller 8, Caden Rettig 3, Jimmy Snow 3, Devon Miller 22, Keevan Borlaug 14. Totals: 18 10-17.

3-pointers: Bird, Giles, Dylan Miller, Rettig, Snow.