Havre boys basketball look to defend home court on senior night

It feels like the season just started yesterday, but the regular season will be coming to an end this weekend for the Havre High boys basketball team. The Blue Ponies will first play Fairfield tonight at Havre High Gymnasium before wrapping up the regular season Saturday with a game on the road against Browning.

With the game against Fairfield serving as their final home game of the season, the Ponies will hold their senior night to honor Xavier Butler and Crawford Terry. While it is a small senior class, HHS head coach Walynn Burgess knows how much they have meant to this program.

"They're the types of kids to show up for work, show up to the gym every day and just go to work. You never have to worry about them in the classroom or on the court," Burgess said. "It's really good for those young kids to see how those guys work and how they come in and don't complain and how they sacrifice for the team. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them at the end of the year."

Once senior night is wrapped up, the Ponies will face a tough Fairfield team in their final home game of the year. The Eagles enter the game with a record of 14-1 and have not lost a game since December. With a tough team coming to town, Burgess knows the Ponies will have to be ready.

"They're going to come up here guns blazing ready to rock and roll so we're going to have to come out ready to go to battle," Burgess said. "I mean, they're 14-1 for a reason."

The Ponies and Eagles faced off in Fairfield last month where the Eagles won 48-40. Tyson Schenk led the Eagles with 19 points in the contest, so the Ponies should be focused on slowing him down this time out.

The Ponies will wrap up the regular season with a game against Browning on the road this Saturday. The Indians are having a strong season with an 11-5 record and are currently riding a six-game winning streak, so the Ponies will have another challenge on the road.

"That place is always rowdy and rocking. They seem to play a lot harder when they get home," Burgess said. "That's like a tournament test for us and that's the one thing we enjoy about our schedule coming down the stretch."

The Indians have many players who could give Havre trouble Saturday. Maurice Redhorn III leads the Indians averaging 16.2 points a game on 47.6 percent shooting from the field. Brayds Vielle will look to get going as he averages 14.1 points on 54.8 percent shooting. Tommy Runningrabbit will look to make an impact as he averages 12.5 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.

This will be another rematch for the Ponies as they defeated Browning, 77-69, at home last month. Butler had a monster game for the Ponies with 24 points while Vielle recorded 22 points for the Indians.

The Ponies enter the game with a record of 11-5 this season. Butler has led the Ponies with 18.4 points and 7.7 boards a game this season. Tre Gary has also been a reliable scorer with 10.7 points a game this winter. But since the last time they played the Eagles and the Indians, Burgess believes the Ponies are playing more consistently.

"I feel like we've gotten a lot better," Burgess said. "Last time we played them, we were learning how to play with different lineups and now we're towards the end of the year, we have our rotations pretty well suited up."

With these two games, the Ponies will wrap up the regular season. With the Eastern A Divisional coming up next, Burgess hopes to see the Ponies use these last two games as opportunities to continue improving.

"(I want to) just to keep everything going in the right direction," Burgess said. "I feel like we've taken some very good steps this year and now it's just time to put the finishing touches on the regular season and get ready for postseason play."

The HHS boys basketball team will tip off against Fairfield tonight at 7:30 p.m. at HHS Gymnasium. The Ponies will then tip off against Browning on the road this Saturday at 5:30 p.m.