Bears, Beeters moving on in Great Falls

GREAT FALLS — The Box Elder boys basketball team knows how to perform on the big stage, in fact, the bigger the game the better.

Therefore, it should come as a surprise to no one, that the Bears saved their best basketball for the postseason. The run started last week, with three dominating wins and a District 9C championship and it continued Wednesday night in the quarterfinals of the Northern C Divisional, as the Bears demolished Heart Butte 75-51 inside the Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls.

“The boys are really stepping up,” Box Elder head coach Jeremy MacDonald said. “Everything we have done this season has been working towards tournament basketball and we are peaking at the right time. Now we have a huge test Friday night (Belt).”

While there was plenty of hype leading up to the matchup of 18-3 teams, Box Elder, the top seed from the 9C simply overwhelmed Heart Butte, the two seed from the 10C, right from the opening tap.

The only thing that seemed to go wrong for the Bears, were the two free throws Pernell Morsette missed to start the game after a technical was called on the Warriors prior to tip off. Right after Morsette missed, Tanner Parisian drilled a 3-pointer to open the scoring. Seconds later, Petey Azure Jr. got a steal and score, and it was 5-0 just seconds into the game.

Then, Dusty Weiss scored twice and by the time Trey Henderson hit a three from way beyond the line, the Bears led 13-3. Heart Butte fought back to trim the lead to 19-14 early in the second quarter. Yet it was only a slight setback.

Box Elder answered the challenge with a 17-2 run of their own that included another trey from Parisian. Before half, Weiss added a 3-pointer and then another bucket by Azure Jr., made it 41-18 in favor of the 9C champs.

When the two teams adjourned from intermission, the Bears got back-to-back buckets from Henderson, before five points from Weiss, including a triple, put Box Elder in front 50-20, minutes into the third quarter.

That 30-point edge was the largest of the game for the Bears, until the fourth quarter, when Parisian hit again from deep and scored another bucket to make it 70-35 with just over five minutes remaining.

When it was all said and done, the final margin for Box Elder was 24 points, as the Bears wrapped up a spot in the semifinals against Belt in a rematch of last season’s Northern C championship game.

Henderson and Weiss both paced the Bears with a game-high 21 points. Both players connected twice from downtown. Parsian was the other Box Elder player to reach double figures. He knocked down three 3-pointers on his way to 18 points. Riley Spoon Hunter led Heart Butte with 18, while Chasen Kipp had 10.

“Trey stepped up tonight, Dusty stepped up and played really well,” MacDonald said. “Tanner also came in with so much energy and was knocking down shots, the boys came in ready to go.”

Box Elder and Belt will meet Friday night at 5:30.

“Belt is a great basketball team,” MacDonald said. “They have been scouting us and we have been scouting them. It’s a make or miss tournament, so it’s going to come down to who can make shots.”

Box Elder 75, Heart Butte

Heart Butte 12 6 13 20 - 51

Box Elder 19 22 17 17 - 75

Box Elder - Pernell Morsette 6, Pete Azure JR 6, Tanner Parisian 18, Wyatt Caplette 3, Trey Henderson 21, Dusty Weiss 21. Totals: 27 14-27.

Heart Butte - Shylon Sppon Hunter 5, Chasen Kipp 10, Anythong Aimsback 4, Jamison Young Run, Josiah Aimsback 2, Wendell Main 7, Riley Spoon Hunter 18, Deric Denney 1.

3-Pointers: Parisian 3, Henderson 2, Weiss 2, Main, R. Spoonhunter, S. Spoonhunter.

Chinook 63, DGS 59

When you have been coaching as long as Chinook head coach Mike Seymour has, firsts are hard to come by. But in the opening game of the Northern C Divisional tournament, Seymour did something he has never done, coach his team to a win over Denton-Geyser-Stanford.

The Beeters, the third-seeded team from the 9C, accomplished the feat Thursday night in Great Falls, knocking off DGS, the No. 3 team from the 8C, 63-59 in a thrilling game that wasn’t decided until the closing seconds.

“It was a huge win,” Seymour said. “I have never beaten DGS, and it wasn’t something that we talked much about before the game, but we talked about it afterwards.”

In order for Seymour to get his first career coaching win over the Bearcats, he needed a big day from sophomore Isaac Bell, who scored 24 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Six of his points came on two critical 3-pointers in the last 9:32 of the game. The first came late in the third, when Bell hit from beyond the arc to tie game up at 37-37.

After Bell’s triple, Chinook led 41-37 heading into the fourth quarter and was still nursing a 3-point edge when Bell buried a corner three to push the Beeters advantage to 53-47 with 3:52 left in the game.

“That (3-pointer) in the corner was huge,” Seymour said. “They were packing it in on Wade and they left Isaac alone and he’s a shooter. I couldn’t be more proud of the way he played.”

Bell made big shots throughout the second half, but none were bigger than the free throws he made in the final seconds of the game. However, before Bell could ice the win, Chinook needed to get the lead.

After Bell’s triple put the Beeters up six, DGS responded with an 8-0 run that was capped by a Kendall Carpenter three that gave the Bearcats a 55-53 lead. Yet following a Bell free throw and a hoop by Cord Schneider, Chinook was back up 56-55. From there, Bell iced the game at the charity stripe with four key free throws.

“Isaac is a great kid,” Seymour said. “And we made an adjustment with him against their zone defense and moved him out of the middle to the outside. There he could do some passing and cutting and that’s who he is, he’s a slasher.”

Bell might have carried Chinook down the stretch, but in the first half, it was Wade Schneider that did the heavy lifting for the Beeters. The senior big man notched a 3-point play and seven first-quarter points, helping his team take a 13-12 lead after one. In the second quarter, he finished another old-fashioned 3-point play with 4:43 before half to put Chinook up 20-16.

DGS responded with a 9-0 run to go up 25-20, but the Beeters answered with a eight-point spurt of their own before half, which was capped by Brendan Edwards, who scored at the buzzer to put Chinook up 28-25.

Yet 10 points from Rhet Woodhall in the first few minutes of the third, put the Bearcats in front by as many as five, but not long after Bell’s 3-pointer tied the game at 37-37, which set the stage for an exciting four quarter.

Woodhall was stellar in defeat for DGS, scoring 32 points and knocking down six treys. Bell led the Beeters with 24, but also grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists. Wade Schneider added 15 points, six rebounds and two blocks, while Cord Schneider contributed with 13 points, five blocks and two steals.

Chinook will play Sunburst today in the quarterfinals at the Northern C. Tip-off time was at 11 a.m.

Chinook 63, Denton-Geyser-Stanford 59

DGS 12 13 12 21 - 59

Chinook 13 15 13 22 - 63

DGS - Rhet Woodhall 32, Clay Hill 3, Kordell Carpenter 5, Zane Smith 6, Cameron Cali 4, Sean Bronec 8. Totals: 21. 10-14.

Chinook - Isaac Bell 24, James Christensen 2, Riley Kellam 3, Kyle McMaster 2, Brendan Edwards 4, Cord Schneider 13, Wade Schneider 15. Totals: 21. 19-31.

3-Pointers: Woodhall 6, Bell 2, Hill, Carpenter.