News you can use
News you can use
Turner's Shyan Krass, middle, is surrounded by the Fort Benton defense during the 2019 District 9C girls championship game last February in Havre. The 9C tourney was the last big supporting event in Havre before the pandemic shut things down. A year later, the 9C tournament will return to the HHS gymnasium, but, because of the pandemic, the format will be modified, and so will fan attendance.
One month of high school basketball is already down, and, even though the season is condensed, tournament time is right around the corner. And for fans of the District 9C, there will be some considerable changes to the tourney this year - as expected due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The district had several options for what to do with the tournament, including using two gyms in Havre, but in the end, the league decided to go a different way. Brackets released recently show that all first-round games and first-round consolation games will be played at the sites of the higher seed. For both the boys and girls tournaments, first-round 9C games will be played Feb. 16 at the gym of the higher seed, while first-round loser-out games will be played Feb. 17 under the same format. If one site has to host more than one game, girls will play at 4 p.m. and boys at 7. If a site hosts just one game, that game will start at 6 p.m.
"With the MHSA requiring more spacing between games, I think the idea is, by playing those first rounds at home sites, we will be able to get more games in each of those first two days," North Star Activities Director Brian Campbell said. "It just wasn't feasible to do the whole tournament at Havre High the way we need to do to follow the requirements and be safe."
From there, the rest of the tournament will be held at Havre High Feb. 18-20. Thursday will be reserved for all four semifinal games, while all loser-out games will be held Friday. And in going back to a format from years ago, consolation and championship games will be played on the same day this season, Saturday Feb. 20.
As for attendance at 9C tournament games played in Havre, more information will be released as the event draws closer. Currently, the MHSA says host sites must allow a minimum of two tickets per student-athlete, or operate at 25 percent capacity.
Another interesting change to the tournament comes in the form of spreading out games, with tip times now allowing for a full hour in between each game, and, over the three days in Havre, only four games being played each day, which gives the tournament more flexibility in implementing COVID-19 protocols.
The 9C's plan is one of many different formats districts and divisions will use for postseason basketball during this pandemic season. In fact, the Northern C's three districts are all doing different formats, with the 8C playing its entire tournament Feb. 17-20 in Lewistown, while the 10C will split sites Feb. 18-20, with girls at Cascade and boys at Simms.
As for the combined Northern C in Great Falls, its still scheduled to be held mostly normal, though it will be stretched out to an extra day, with games starting Tuesday instead of Wednesday. There will also be fewer games in the Four Seasons each day, and like the 9C, the championships won't be staggered, but instead, all chippers and consolation games will be played Saturday. The Northern C is slated to be held Feb. 23-27 with the Class C state tournament set for March 10-13 in Bozeman.
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