Pony boys ready to get over Eastern A hump

The Havre High boys basketball team has seen improvement in its last two appearances in the Eastern A divisional under head coach Walynn Burgess. This year, though, as the tournament's No. 1 seed, the Ponies look poised to continue that trend and go on a run at the Eastern A divisional that will take place from today to Saturday at the Metra in Billings.

The tournament title and three more additional bids to the state tournament will be battled for by all nine teams from the Eastern A. Even though Havre comes in as the no. 1 seed, Burgess believes every team has a chance to make a run.

"There's a lot of parity that's going to happen in the Eastern A this year for the boys," Burgess said. "There's about seven or eight teams that have a chance at the four spots to go to state."

Havre finished first in the Northeast A with a 7-1 conference record and had an overall record of 8-4. The Ponies will be led by seniors Kellen Detrick (16.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg) and Josh Warp (10.8) as they hope to continue their strong season.

Havre will play the winner of the Livingston-Sidney matchup, which which was played today at 11 a.m. Both teams finished last in their divisions as Livingston finished 0-5 in the Southeast A and 1-11 overall while Sidney went 0-8 in the Northeast A and finished 1-13 overall. This will be the first matchup between these two teams this season. Unlike all the other games to open the tournament, the loser will be eliminated from competing for the consolation trophy. Sidney is one of the lowest-scoring teams in the conference as they average 38.1 points a game. Jerome Entz, who leads Sidney with 10.5 points a game, will need to get it going if Sidney is going to have a chance. Sidney will also need to limit Livingston's offense, which is led by Payton Kokot (12.1 ppg) and Wyatt Saile (11.5 ppg).

If Livingston wins the game, Havre will be matching up with them for the first time this season. If Sidney wins, Havre will be playing a team they defeated twice by at least 20 points. As Havre waits for their opponent, Burgess will continue preparing his players.

"Just a whole lot of situational basketball, learning different situations and focusing on what we're doing, how we can control the game on our end," Burgess said. "We're always looking to improve on our end and we know it's going to be a battle every night when we get down there."

At 6 p.m. tonight, Laurel will play Miles City. Laurel comes into the divisional tournament as the Southeast A champion as they finished 5-0 in conference play and 10-3 overall. Meanwhile, Miles City placed fourth in the Northeast A with 3-5 conference record and finished 5-8 overall. The teams split the season series as Laurel won by 20 at home and Miles City won a close contest at home in their last meeting. The teams are not far off in terms of offensive production as Miles City averages 52.9 points per game and Laurel averages 49.7 a game. Miles City's offense will need Dalton Polesky (15.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg) to have a great game to break through Laurel's defense.

The winner of Laurel-Miles City will play the winner of the Glendive-Hardin game later tonight at 8. and only played eight games on the season and finished 3-5. Hardin only played three games in conference play, finishing 1-2 to place third in the Southeast A. Glendive finished second in the Northeast A with a 5-3 conference record and finished 10-5 overall. Glendive has five players who average double-digits in points, so they'll have plenty of options to turn to on offense. Michael Murphy leads the way with 12.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. He is also a force on the defensive end as he leads the team with 14 blocks on the season.

Thursday at 1:30 p.m., Lewistown and Billings Central will face off in the only game set between teams with winning records. Lewistown finished third in the Northeast A with a 5-3 record and overall record of 9-5. Billings Central finished second in the Southeast A with a 3-2 conference record and overall record of 10-3. In their lone matchup this season, Lewistown defeated Billings Central, 68-61.

Billings Central is one of the top offensive teams in the conference averaging 64.1 points a game and is led by Cayden Merchant (11.6 ppg) and Brock Blatter (10.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg). However, they will have to limit Lewistown's offensive force Royce Robinson, who averages 18.1 points per game and shoots 55 percent from two, 34 percent from the 3-point line and 82 percent from the free throw line.

As all the teams battle it out for a chance at state, Burgess believes that the Ponies can survive through strong defense.

"If we can lock in on the defensive side, we're a pretty tough team that can compete with anybody," Burgess said.

Havre will begin play in the Eastern A Divisional Thursday at 3:30 p.m. against either Sidney or Livingston. The Eastern A runs through Saturday's championship game with the top four teams advancing to next week's Class A state tournament in Great Falls.