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Arlee hands Beeters a heartbreaker in State C semifinals; Fairview knocks out Chinook and HLP
Chinook's Cord Schneider, left, battles during Friday night's Class C boys state semifinal game between the Sugarbeeters and Arlee Warriors in Billings. In their first-ever Class C state tourney, the Beeters reached the semifinals, before losing back-to-back games to Arlee and Fairview.
Chinook's Brendan Edwards grabs the ball during Friday night's Class C semifinal against Arlee in Billings. The Beeters gave the two-time defending state champion Warriors a great battle, but they came up short. Both Chinook and Hays-Lodge Pole were eliminated from the state tournament by Fairview.
The Chinook Sugarbeeters were one of the best teams in Class C boys basketball this season. There’s no doubt about that as the Beeters reeled off 25 straight wins to reach the semifinals of the 2019 Class C boys state tournament Friday night in Billings.
From there, however, it was getting the 26th win that proved to be tough for the talented Beeters.
In the semifinals, Chinook’s first trip that far in 33 years, Friday night in the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metro, Chinook ran into a team that had already been there, and done that — the Arlee Warriors. And while Chinook gave the two-time defending state champions all they could handle, it wasn’t enough as the Warriors, who went on to fall to Manhattan Christian in Saturday night’s state championship game, handed the Beeters their first loss of the season, 71-62.
“Any time that you’ve been in that position before, it gives you confidence. And they’ve been in that position four years in a row now,” said Chinook coach Mike Seymour to 406sports. “Hats off to them. They’re a good squad. The Whitesell kid? My goodness. What a tough player to guard. And they shot free throws really well.”
Arlee did shoot free throws well, 21-of-27 in the second half, while Chinook lost star senior Isaac Bell to foul trouble. Still, the Beeters never gave in, despite Greg Whitesell’s 29 points for Arlee.
The Beeters fell behind early, trailing 15-10, and were down 33-24 at intermission. But behind a monster outing from senior Cord Schneider, the Beeters rallied. Down 11 points in the third quarter, the largest deficit Chinook had faced all season, the Beeters went on a 19-9 run to close the period and pull even at 43-43. Arlee started the fourth quarter strong and went up by seven, but with less than two minutes to play, Chinook was back in within three points at 61-58. From there though, Chinook’s foul trouble and outstanding free throw shooting by the Warriors made all the difference, and Arlee was able to stop the Beeters from advancing to their first title game in 33 years.
Schneider matched Whitesell’s performance with 29 points and 12 rebounds, while Brendan Edwards scored nine and Reese Elliot added seven.
The loss dropped Chinook into a Saturday morning loser-out game with the Fairview Warriors, and there, the Beeters simply ran out of gas in a 63-45 defeat.
After taking a 7-6 lead into the second period, the Beeters watched Fairview go on a 20-7 spurt to lead 26-14 at the break. Chinook struggled offensively in the third quarter, too, and while the Beeters did break out finally in the fourth, the Warriors scored 37 points in the final 16 minutes to end what has been a magical season in Chinook.
The Beeters, who finished 25-2, and won both the 9C and Northern C titles this season, got 12 from Schneider and 10 points from Ethan Bell in the final game of the year. Alex Shriver paced the Warriors with 19 points.
Fairview reached its battle with Chinook by knocking out Hays-Lodge Pole Friday morning. The Warriors raced past the normally high-octane Thunberbirds 69-35 to end what was an exciting season for HLP. In their final game of the year, the T-Birds got 10 points from Gilbert Snow, while Shriver scored 30 for the Warriors.
Fairview would go on to fall to Eastern A rival Scobey 51-43 in the consolation game, while Manhattan Christian toppled Arlee 83-51 in Saturday night’s championship game.
Arlee 72, Chinook 61, SF
Arlee 15 18 10 29 - 72
Chinook 10 14 19 18 - 61
Chinook - Cord Schneider 29, Brendan Edwards 9, Reese Elliot 7, Isaac Bell 5, Trajun Hannum 5, Hunter Neibauer 4, Riley Kellam 2.
Arlee - Greg Whitsell 29, Lane Johnson 16, Isaac Fisher 14, Zach Running Crane 6, Darshan Bolen 5, Cody Tanner 2.
Fairview 63, Chinook 45, LO
Fairview 6 20 11 26 - 63
Chinook 7 7 8 23 - 45
Chinook - Cord Schneider 12, Ethan Bell 10, Brendan Edwards 8, Trajun Hannum 5, James Christensen 3, Hunter Neibauer 3, Toby Niederegger 2, Damon Hannum 1, Isaac Bell 1.
Fairview - Alex Shiver 19, Braiden Taylor 10, Cody Asbeck 10, Josh Herron 9, Paul Hardy 4, Kanyon Taylor 4, Luke Lebsock 3, Lak Kloker 2, Trevor Karst 2.
Fairview 69, Hays-Lodge Pole 35, LO
HLP 4 13 11 7 - 35
Fairview 16 16 19 18 - 69
Fairview - Alex Shriver 30, Cody Asbeck 10, Josh Herron 9, Brady Buxbaum 4, Gerit Johnson 4, Luke Lebsock 4, Braiden Taylor 4, Kanyon Taylor 3.
HLP - Gilbert Snow 10, Wyman Bringing Good 5, Tyshawn Shambo 5, Ken Black Crow Jr. 5, Jeffrey Stiffarm 5, Desmond Shampoo 3, Kyle Young Jr. 2.
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