Blue Ponies make up conference games at Lewistown tonight

After they both played Saturday night, the Havre High boys and girls basketball teams will get little time to rest as they head on the road to face Lewistown tonight. These games were originally scheduled for before the holiday break, but weather conditions at the time forced a rescheduling to tonight. Regardless, the Blue Ponies will have a tough test against a Northeast A rival.

The night will get started with the HHS girls basketball team playing the Lewistown Golden Eagles. The Eagles come into the game with a record of 3-5 and are 2-1 in conference competition. While the Eagles have had their struggles this season, HHS head coach Dustin Kraske expects them to play tough in this conference game.

“Lewistown is young and scrappy. They’re going to be ready to fight us so it’ll be a fun game,” Kraske said. “I look forward to getting down there and having an opportunity to play another league game.”

The Ponies enter the game with a 5-4 record and are 3-0 to start conference play. Amaya Jarvis leads the Ponies with 15.4 points a game while Ariana Gary has contributed 9.4 points a contest this winter. But if the Ponies want to remain undefeated in conference competition, Kraske knows they will need to improve.

“We’re going to keep working on possession basketball,” Kraske said. “We’ll have to take a focus so the ball moves crisply, cutters move crisply, screeners do their work so five-on-five possession we got to get better at.”

Once the girls wrap things up, the HHS boys basketball team will face the juggernaut that is the Lewistown boys basketball team. The Eagles remain one of the top programs with the state as they are off to an 8-0 start this season. Along the way, they are led by many dynamic players.

Royce Robinson is averaging 23.2 points per game on 52.7 percent shooting from the field. Even if the Ponies can slow him down, Fischer Brown will be a problem as he averages 22.5 points and 7.2 rebounds a game this season. With dominant players like these, HHS head coach Walynn Burgess knows the Ponies will face adversity tonight.

“They’re the number one team in the state for a reason,” Burgess said. “It’s kind of a judging stick to see where we’re at. We understand that they’re a good team but we want to still go down there and compete.”

The Ponies enter the game with a 6-3 record and are 2-1 in the Northeast A. This season, the Ponies have been led by Xavier Butler, who is averaging 18.3 points and 7.4 rebounds a game this season.

If they want to keep pace with the Eagles tonight, they will need contributions from everyone. Tre Gary averages 10.7 points a game on 33 percent shooting from the field and 69 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Shane Patacsil has also contributed with 9.1 points a game on 32.3 percent shooting from the field and 82 percent shooting from the charity stripe.

This will be one of the toughest games for the Ponies this season. As they head on the road to face the heavily-favored Eagles, Burgess just wants to see his players come out determined.

“(I want to see) heart and effort,” Burgess said. “To put our best effort out on the floor so we can go out and see where we’re at. That’s what we want to see.”

The HHS girls basketball team will tip off against Lewistown tonight at 4 p.m. The HHS boys basketball team will then tip off against the Eagles later tonight at about 5:30 p.m. The Ponies also host Glendive and Sidney this weekend in the HHS gymnasium.