Ponies hope to make Metra noise

The Havre High boys basketball team has enjoyed few victories this season, in fact only three, after a 3-15 regular season. Thankfully for the Blue Ponies, outside of seeding, that record won't mean much this week at the Eastern A Divisional Tournament.

Yes, Havre will have a longer road than all but three other teams in the tournament, but the fact remains, the Ponies need to win three games in the tournament, which starts Wednesday at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings and if they don't, their season won't live to see another day.

"I thought that we have played really well defensively all year," HHS head coach Curt Leeds said. "And offensively, we have had moments where we look good. So I think if we keep playing defense like we have and we get the ball to go in a little more offensively - you know shoot around 40 percent - I think we will have a great chance of making a run at divisionals."

If you look just at Havre's record, it might seem a little crazy. But the Ponies did nearly beat Lewistown, the Central A regular season champs in their last matchup in early February. Havre lost that game by nine points, but in the grand scheme of things, they haven't been able to get it done against Class A opponents. Two of Havre's three wins came against Malta, but its record against Class A competition is just 1-9.

The first-round opponent of the Ponies, Miles City, is the fifth-place team from the Eastern A and it will play Havre after just a few wins in conference play. It will also be a rematch of last season's first-round game, which saw Miles City beat Havre in overtime. While both teams are different than they were a season ago, the Cowboys return Gabe Gundlach, who is their leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, along with Kaden Stradley, who averages 11.5. As a team, Miles City averages 51.3 points per game, compared to Havre, which scores 40.6

Heading into divisionals, Havre doesn't have any players who are averaging double figures in scoring, but the Ponies have got consistent offensive production in recent weeks from seniors such as Trey Murphy, Ivar Aageson and Jacob Irvin. Sophomore Tanner Parsons has been another consistent contributor, along with junior Tysen Sangrey, who missed four games during the season due to injury.

"Tysen has played really well for us since coming back from injury," Leeds said. "He has given us a lift and he just gives us some more size inside. We have just been a little more consistent lately on the offensive end."

Sangrey has given Havre a boost inside, but others such as Parsons and Murphy have become more consistent scorers. Murphy, a senior, leads Havre in scoring with 7.8 points and also in 3-point field goals with 29. He also has the best 3-point percentage on the team at 32 percent. Parsons is second with 19 3-pointers, Irvin is third on the team with 11.

If the Ponies get past the Cowboys, they will play again Wednesday, against the top-seeded team from the East, Hardin at 3:30 p.m. The other play-in game features Glendive and Sidney at 10:30 a.m., with the winner advancing to play Lewistown, the top seed from the Central A at 5 p.m. Belgrade, the second seed from the Central will play Billings Central Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Livingston and Laurel will also meet in the quarterfinals at 9 Thursday morning.

The semifinal games will be played Friday night at 3:30 and 5, with the championship set for 6 p.m. Saturday. However, the most important games might come Saturday morning at 9. Those are the consolation semifinals and the winners of those games, plus the two semifinal winners, advance to the Class A state tournament.

If Havre drops its game to Miles City, it will play Thursday at 5 p.m. It would need to win three straight loser-out games from there to advance to state. Tip-off between Havre and Miles City Wednesday is 9 a.m.

"I think that we have a chance," Leeds said. "We have to go out and execute against Miles City and just take it one game at a time, but if you look at a lot of the scores, it could be pretty competitive."