Blue Ponies ready to face Fairfield, Browning

This weekend, the Havre High boy's basketball teams will take a break from conference competition with a pair of non-conference games. The Blue Ponies will start the weekend on the road with a game against Fairfield tonight. Then on Saturday, the Ponies return home to face Browning at Havre High Gymnasium.

The Fairfield Eagles will be a tough opponent to start the week as they are 6-1 to start the season. The Eagles have a balanced attack that the Ponies will have to limit tonight. Tyson Schenk is coming off a 23-point performance against Rocky Boy, while players such as Cole Neal, Bryden Batson and Owen Cartwright are capable of going off for 15 or more points on a given night. With this talent in front of them, HHS head coach Walynn Burgess knows the Ponies are in for a battle.

"They're big strong kids that play hard," Burgess said. "Any road game, you're already up against the wall and we're going to have to play a pretty dang good game to have a chance against those guys."

The Ponies will get to play at home on Saturday when they play Browning. The Indians are 4-3 this season but are riding a four-game winning streak and have several players that can give the Ponies trouble this weekend.

Maurice Redhorn has been reliable for Browning this season averaging 15.7 points a game. Brayds Vielle could also be a problem as he is currently averaging 11.1 points a game for the Indians. The Ponies will also need to watch out for Tommy Running Rabbit, who scored 29 points against Libby last week. With a team like that coming to the Hi-Line, Burgess expects a good game on Saturday.

"Both teams play very similar styles. We love to get up and down and play really hard on defense and we're not going to expect anything less from them," Burgess said. "It's going to be an absolute battle. We expect it to be a packed house and to have good energy in the gym. We know it's going to come down to a couple plays to see who's going to win that one."

The Ponies enter the weekend with a 5-2 record. Last weekend, the Ponies suffered a conference loss to Miles City and then rebounded with a non-conference victory over Hardin. If the Ponies want to build up their record before they return to conference play, they will need their best players to ball out.

Xavier Butler has been hot lately for the Ponies as he averages 18.9 points a game on 50.5 percent shooting from the field and 79 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He also leads the team averaging 7.3 rebounds a contest. Tre Gary has also made an impact averaging 10.9 points a game on 30.6 percent shooting. But Burgess expects a team effort this weekend just like in their win against Hardin.

"I just felt like we shared the ball really well and we played well as a team together," Burgess said. "I feel like the boys bought into that whole defensive mindset to get back in the game (against Hardin) and hopefully we can carry that over to the games ahead of us."

With these games this weekend, the Ponies take a break from Northeast A competition where they are currently 2-1. While these non-conference games do not matter in regards to their seeding in the postseason, games against tough teams can help the Ponies become a better squad when the stakes get higher later in the season.

"We don't have a single game where it's just a gimme where we can kind of come in and rest," Burgess said. "These two teams are really good teams going to state tournaments year in and year out so these types of games are the ones that help prepare us for those games in February and March when we're playing for something that really means something."

The HHS boy's basketball team will tip off on the road against Fairfield tonight at 5 p.m. The Ponies will then compete against Browning at HHS Gymnasium this Saturday at 5:30 p.m.