Ponies suffer tough road losses

Change is always inevitable, especially when it comes to sports. There will be many stages a team goes through, who they play and even the sport they play in as the years go on.

In the case of the Havre High boys basketball team, new conference competition was ready to throw down last Friday and Saturday.

The Blue Ponies opened the new Northeast A conference last Friday against the Glendive Red Devils in Glendive and last Saturday against the Miles City Cowboys on the road. Both were close games, but Havre fell to Glendive 64-59, followed by a close loss to Miles City 48-43.

For HHS head coach Walynn Burgess, the conference play was bound to be a challenge.

“Any time we start conference play, we know it will be tough,” said Burgess. “Both teams came out and fought a good battle against us.”

Needless to say, it was a very difficult weekend for the Ponies, who fall down the rankings of the Northeast A. Last Friday, the game against Glendive was the start of the series of unfortunate events.

On the road against the Red Devils, Havre had a tough time keeping ahead, with Glendive having four players who put up double figures. In the final eight minutes of the game, Glendive led the Ponies 48-32. Havre put up some good shots to pull the game closer, but the Devils staved off the big last-minute rally by HHS to win the game.

The game started off with Glendive taking a big lead 18-7 at the end of the first quarter, followed by a 16 point second quarter to Havre’s 13 point quarter, which gave the Devils the lead 34-20 at the half.

From there, the Ponies pushed by putting up 39 points in the second half to try and come back, but Glendive used the lead in the first half, followed by 30 points to stay ahead. Despite the loss, Havre put up a big fight in the first conference game.

But, the game against Miles City proved to be more trying. The Cowboys and the Ponies battled it out in a close bout, with Havre leading 20-15 at the half. But the second half, once again, became an all-out brawl, with Havre falling short once more. The Cowboys used a combination of 13 point third quarter and 20 point fourth quarter to push past the 23 points that HHS put up in the second half.

In the end, Miles City used a big rally in the final eight minutes to take down the Blue Ponies, with Cowboys like Haden Warren, who put up 16 points and Jayden Venable and Dalton Polesky adding 11 points to the scoreboard each.

Meanwhile, seniors Jake Huston and Mason Rismon racked up 11 points apiece to try and overcome the Miles City comeback. Another tough conference game leaves HHS at a 1-3 record early in the season, with a lot of games left to push back into a winning record.

And Burgess knows there were some highs and lows against the two conference rivals.

“We did some good things,” said Burgess. “But, we have a lot to learn from it.”

Next up, the Blue Ponies will take on the Great Falls Bison on the road in Great Falls Jan. 2 at 7 p.m., followed by a game against the Malta Mustangs at 4 p.m. on Jan. 4 in Malta. Another set of road games is set for Havre, who will aim to push back into a good light.

Glendive 64, Havre 59

Glendive 18 16 14 16 - 64

Havre 7 13 12 27 - 59

Glendive – Landon Palmer 7, Michael Murphy 4, Max Eaton 13, Basil Crisafulli 3, Taven Coon 11, Parker Buckley 11, Riley Basta 14.

Havre – no stats were reported.

Miles City 48, Havre 43

Miles City 7 8 13 20 - 59

Havre 10 10 12 11 - 46

Miles City – Haden Warren 16, Jayden Venable 11, Quest Savery 4, Dalton Polesky 11, Logan Muri 2, Ben Glasscock 1, Jack Cline 3

Havre – Josh Warp 4, Jake Huston 11, Tyrel Kjersum 2, Mason Rismon 11, Kellen Detrick 3, Caden Jenkins 4, Clint Owens 5