Sugarbeeters ground the T-Birds in round one

The Chinook Sugarbeeters want to 3-peat in Havre. The quest started Wednesday night.

In the opening round of the 2020 District 9C boys tournament, Chinook grounded the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds 71-36 inside the Havre High gymnasium and now the Beeters will meet the Big Sandy Pioneers in the second semifinal game.

Chinook head coach Mike Seymour was glad to see his team stay strong and in control throughout the match with the Thunderbirds.

"That's just one win," Seymour said. "We haven't done anything yet. We got to prepare to go up against Big Sandy tomorrow night. They played hard tonight, as well. We'll see what transpires after the morning. I thought in the first half, defensively, we were a little back on our heels, but we came out in the second and our defensive intensity led to some breakouts in points."

Meanwhile, HLP head coach Derrick Shambo was looking for more but was glad to see his team put up a good fight in the first half of the game against the Beeters.

"We started out really good," Shambo said. "We played some excellent defense, good team ball and movement. We were boxing out and reading their plays. Second half, our energy just left us."

The first stanza of the game opened with both teams putting up a big fight.

But, Ethan Bell and Chinook broke into a lead after a 9-0 run, while Wyman Bringinggood and Deshon Shambo worked to keep the T-Birds in the game early. Then, Shambo put up some more points to cut the Beeters' lead, but Chinook was still up 18-13 at the end of the first quarter.

The second period was a bit more dormant for both sides. Estevan Granados and Bringinggood dropped some baskets for HLP, but Toby Niederegger and Hunter Neibauer added more points, with Bell tacking on some free throws, too, to Chinook's lead to push ahead and keep its lead 26-18 at the intermission.

After halftime, the Beeters exploded on a 19-0 run to take a big lead, with Bell putting up nine of the 19 in the run. Granados then responded with some scores, followed by more baskets from Bringinggood and Shambo, but Chinook was too far ahead, leading 55-26 at the end of the third stanza.

In the fourth quarter, Reese Elliot and Bell put up another run to keep driving Chinook's lead, while Granados kept putting up some baskets to elevate the Thunderbirds' score. Still, the Beeters took the game in their hands and now have a spot in the semifinals.

The game was a good one for Chinook (15-4) to start off the tournament and Elliot was glad to see the team came together.

"The first half was kind of slow," Elliot said. "I didn't feel like we came out how we should've, but we came out in the second half and that helped a lot in my scoring."

Bell scored 19 points, Elliot 15 and Hunter Neibauer added 12 for Chinook, while HLP got 13 points from Granados.

Chinook and Big Sandy meet tonight at 8:30 in the semifinals. HLP (3-16) played CJI in a loser-out game this morning.

Chinook 71, Hays Lodge-Pole 36

Chinook 18 8 29 16 – 71

HLP 13 5 8 10 – 36

Chinook – Ethan Bell 19, Hunter Neibauer 12, Benton Elliot 7, Reese Elliot 15, Toby Niederegger 11, Oskar Pula 3, Brenden Fetter 2, Braxton Inman 2. Totals: 24-44 4-11 71.

HLP – Tyshawn Shambo 3, Estevan Granados 12, Siris Grandchamp 2, Daniel Henry 1, Deshon Shambo 6, Wyman Bringinggood 8, Ethan Werk 4. Totals: 11-31 0-15 36.

3-pointers: Ethan Bell 1, Benton Elliot 2, Oskar Pula 1. Fouls: Chinook 16, HLP 17.