T-Birds finish fourth at State C boys

Ten years after winning the Class C state championship, the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds made it back to Saturday night at the state tournament. But when it was all said and done, they didn’t make it home with any hardware.

The T-Birds had an opportunity to get into the state championship game Friday night, as they took on Arlee in the semifinals. But despite a valiant effort, HLP fell to the eventual state champion Warriors 81-71. After beating Box Elder Saturday morning 69-60, HLP played Scobey for third-place, but lost 74-72, to end up finishing fourth.

While HLP fell short against Alree Friday night, the two teams met in front of a soldout crowd in Bozeman at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse and waged a back-and-forth battle that featured 152 points.

The T-Birds actually grabbed a 12-11 lead after the first quarter, but a 29-point explosion for the Warriors in the second gave Arlee 40-29 lead at halftime. The Warriors kept their double-digit lead for a good chunk of the third quarter, but a Tyson Shambo score as the clock was running out, made it 56-48 heading to the fourth quarter.

HLP got within six points early in the final stanza after a bucket by Jace Shambo, but Phillip Malatare scored four points in short order to push it back to 10. The T-Birds would get within seven after a 3-pointer from Frank Runs Above made it 75-68, but the Warriors were just too solid down the stretch and held on for the win.

"The depth of the shooters they have, it's hard to contain them," Hays-Lodge Pole head coach Derrick Shambo told the Billings Gazette after the loss. "Whatever we threw at them, they swung it to the open guy. I thought we held our own pretty good and we played with a lot of heart. They hit the threes when it counted."

Jace Shambo was outstanding, scoring 23 points despite playing injured. Runs Above added 18 and Tyson Shambo had 11. Will Meseth had a game-high 28 for Arlee. Tyler Tanner also had a stellar night with 26.

With the loss, HLP had to turn around Saturday morning and face Box Elder, its 9C rival after the Bears knocked off Bridger in loser-out action Friday morning. Box Elder used a 20-point fourth quarter to wrap up a 62-50 win and got 16 points from Pernell Morsette, as well as 14 from Tanner Parisian.

The two rivals then met for the fifth time this season, with the most recent meeting coming in the Northern C championship game, which was won by the T-Birds. This time around, HLP would earn its fourth win of the year over the Bears, thanks to 18 points from Runs Above, 17 from Tyson Shambo, 15 from Ryle Foote and 13 from Jace Shambo. Box Elder got 20 from Morsette in the loss, as well as nine from Petey Azure Jr.

With the win over Box Elder, the T-Birds took on Scobey Saturday in in the consolation game and right from the get-go, there were plenty of fireworks. The two teams combined for 41 points in the first quarter as HLP grabbed a 21-20 lead.

After scoring another 22 points in the second quarter, the T-Birds had a 43-32 lead at the end of the first half. Yet, in the third quarter, the lead evaporated. Scobey came out hot and poured in 25 points in the stanza, while HLP scored just 14, sending the game to the fourth quarter tied at 57-57.

Jace Shambo scored at around the four minute mark to put the T-Birds up two and later they built a 64-60 lead. However, they found themselves down two with 20 seconds, when Shambo scored again to make the score 70-70. However, two Scobey free throws with 17 seconds left put the Spartans up two. The T-Birds had a last chance to answer, but two shot attempts missed and the game was over.

Scobey-Opheim 74, Hays-Lodge Pole 72, 3rd

HLP 21 22 14 15 - 72

Scobey 20 12 25 17 - 74

Hays-Lodge Pole: Jace Shambo 21, Tyson Shambo 18, Chay-Chazz Shambo 7, Frank Runs Above 9, Ryan Foote 6, Elijh n BlackCrow 1, Kyle Young Jr. 5, Chance Main 5.

Scobey-Opheim: Peyton Nieskens 10, Preston Baldry 21, Riley Linder 7, Kole Ralston 2, Kobe Ralston 2, Spencer Rush 4, C.J. Nelson 28.

Hays-Lodge Pole 69, Box Elder 60, lo

HLP 17 22 10 20 - 69

Box Elder 18 11 13 18 - 60

Hays-Lodge Pole: Frank Runs Above 18, Tyson Shambo 17, Ryle Foote 15, Jace Shambo 13, Chay-Chazz Shambo 4, Chance Main 2.

Box Elder: Pernell Morsette 20, Petey Azure Jr. 9, Tanner Parisian 9, Dusty Weiss 7, Trey Henderson 6, Wyatt Caplette 6, Leo Johnson 3.

Box Elder 62, Bridger 50, lo

Box Elder 17 13 12 20 - 62

Bridger 17 13 9 11 - 50

Box Elder: Pernell Morsette 16, Petey Azure Jr. 7, Tanner Parisian 14, Trey Henderson 14, Dusty Weiss 6, Lux Benson Jr. 3, Wyatt Caplette 2.

Bridger: Colter Zentner 7, Kolton Pospisil 18, Ryan Zentner 9, Carson Roberts 14, Eric White 2.

Arlee 81, Hays-Lodge Pole 71, SF

Arlee 11 29 16 25 - 81

HLP 12 17 19 23 - 71

Arlee: Will Mesteth 28, Tyler Tanner 26, Phillip Malatare 19, Greg Whitesell 5, Alex Moran 3.

Hays-Lodge Pole: Jace Shambo 23, Frank Runs Above 18, Tyson Shambo 11, Chance Main 8, Ryan Foote 4, Chay-Chazz Shambo 3, Desmond Shambo 2, Kyle Young Jr. 2.