Havre boys basketball heads on the road

With the postseason soon arriving, the Havre High boys basketball team looks to get on a roll over these last few weeks of the regular season. However, the Blue Ponies have a challenge this weekend when they head on the road to face both Miles City and Hardin.

The Ponies start their weekend tonight with a conference game at Miles City. The Cowboys have had a strong season with a 10-3 record and a record of 4-1 in the Northeast A. With a road game against a tough opponent, HHS head coach Walynn Burgess knows the Ponies will have to play tough tonight.

"It's going to be hard-nosed and we'll have to grind it out," Burgess said. "It's too evenly matched teams that are battling for a second spot in the conference."

The Ponies and Cowboys played each other last month at HHS Gymnasium where the Cowboys won 56-49. If the Ponies want to get revenge, they will need to limit the Cowboys' best players. Ryder Lee is the leading scorer for Miles City with 21.7 points a game on 46.5 percent shooting from the field. The Ponies will also have to watch out for Ed Brooks, who averages 11.2 points a game and led Miles City with 18 points against Havre last time out.

The Ponies will stay on the road for a game against Hardin Saturday. The Hardin Bulldogs enter the game with a record of 3-9, but Burgess believes their recent win over Billings Central demonstrates they are a better team than their record indicates.

"They're playing a lot better, especially being at home with a rowdy crowd," Burgess said. "They're going to come and play hard. I think they're really locked in at the end of the season and the postseason."

This is another rematch for Havre as the Ponies defeated Hardin, 66-62, at HHS Gymnasium last month. Kingston Hugs will look to have another strong game for Hardin after scoring 30 points against the Ponies in that contest.

This weekend, the Ponies look to improve on their overall record of 9-5 and their record of 4-3 in the Northeast A. If the Ponies want to play well this weekend, their best players will have to step up. Xavier Butler is having a strong season with 18.7 points and 7.7 rebounds a game for the Ponies. Tre Gary will also look to make an impact as he averages 10.1 points a game on 34.3 percent shooting.

The Ponies only have four more games this season before the Eastern A Divisionals in a few weeks. With little time remaining before their most important games of the season, Burgess just wants to see one thing from his team this weekend.

"Just growth," Burgess said. "We're going to be on the road, we're going to have to deal with the bus rides and we're going to have to deal with being in different gyms so it's just more and more stuff to keep preparing us for that end of the year."

The HHS boys basketball team will tip off at Miles City tonight at 6 p.m. The Ponies will then play at Hardin Saturday at 5:30 p.m.