News you can use
News you can use
Box Elder's Tayce St. Pierre, left, looks to shoot over a Chester-Joplin-Inverness defender during Tuesday night's 9C boys tournament game in Box Elder. The Bears defeated the hawks to advance to Thursday's semifinals, as did the other three top seeds in the tournament. For more photos, go to www.havredailynews.com.
Blake Harmon drives the ball during the 9C boys tournament Tuesday in Box Elder.
Gabe Saddler shoots during the 9C boys tournament Tuesday in Box Elder.
Kealy Haaland goes up for a layup during the 9C boys tournament Tuesday in Box Elder.
Tyrus LaMere passes during the 9C boys tournament Tuesday in Box Elder.
BOX ELDER - The Box Elder boys basketball team took control early on against Chester-Joplin-Inverness on Tuesday night in both team's first game of the District 9C Boys Basketball Tournament. At their home venue, the Den, the Bears' defense helped them build a 20-point halftime lead. The Hawks could not overcome this deficit as the Bears went on to win 74-60 to advance in the tournament.
"I loved our energy in the first half. Our press was aggressive, we took away the passing lanes," said Box Elder head coach Jeremy MacDonald. "We sped the game up, we played our tempo and we got buckets in transition, that's how we like to play."
On the offensive end, Gabe Saddler led the Bears with 21 points as he shot 8-of-14 from the field. Tayce St. Pierre chipped in 13 points and Jayden Jilot scored 11. For the Hawks, Kyle Harmon led the way with 18 points while Bryce Kammerzell and Kealy Haaland each scored 11.
Box Elder came into the game 10-5 and 10-4 in conference play, making them the No. 3 seed in the 9C Tournament. CJI earned the No. 6 seed in the 9C Tournament with a 4-9 conference record.
The Hawks will host a loser-out game against Turner at the CJI Gymnasium tonight at 6. The Bears advance to face the No. 2 seed Chinook on Thursday night. MacDonald looks forward to playing Chinook again after losing their first two games against them this season. He hopes this time, they can limit Chinook's star players in Ethan Bell and Reese Elliot.
"Chinook's got a really tough ball club. They got Elliot and Bell. Great matchup problems for everybody so we're going to have to try to contain them a lot better than the first two times we played them," MacDonald said.
Box Elder plays Chinook at the Havre High School Gymnasium this Thursday at 6 p.m.
Around the 9C
The semifinal against Box Elder Thursday night was set up by Chinook being dominant as expected. At home Tuesday night, the Sugarbeeters crushed Turner 78-48 to advance to Thursday's semifinal. Ethan Bell scored a tournament-high 34 points for Chinook, while Turner got 21 points by Shane Kimmel. Turner will now travel to CJI to take on the Hawks in a loser-out game tonight.
On the top half of the draw, the 9C boys tournament had a forfeit Tuesday night as the Hays-Lodge Pole boys were unable to play at top-seeded Fort Benton. Now, the Longhorns will play Big Sandy in the semifinals Thursday afternoon.
Tuesday night, the Pioneers rolled past North Star 70-53 in Big Sandy to advance to the semifnals. North Star actuated led 12-7 early on, but the Pioneers scored 25 points in the second quarter to gain a cushion. They also got four players in double figures as Kody Strutz led the way with 22 points, Brayden Cline added 16 and Kade Strutz and Lane Demontiney combined for 23 more. The Pioneers will meet Fort Benton Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at the HHS gymnasium.
North Star meanwhile, got 15 points from Gavin Spicher and another 14 by Jaden Sargent in the loss.
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