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Thursday, February 09 RESULTS/STATS
| POLSON 62 BIGFORK 34 |
| DILLON 49 BUTTE HIGH 41--SW 'A' CONF CHAMPS |
| STEVENSVILLE 69 HAMILTON 51* |
| BELGRADE 44 JEFFERSON 28 |
POLSON 63 BIGFORK 34
Bigfork…5 9 9 11 — 34
Polson…18 13 22 9 — 62
BIGFORK — Anders Epperly 7, Clayton Reichenbach 5, Colton Reichenbach 2, Luke Schmit 3, Logan Taylor 2, Chase Chappius 6, Logan Gillard 4, Beau Santistevan 5
POLSON — J’von Johnson 5, Keyan Dalbey 3, Jaydon Bautista 9, Tanner Wilson 9, Jeremiah North Piegan 8, Connor Lanier 8, Matthew Rensvold 18, Micah Askan 2.
Stevensville 69, Hamilton 51
| Hamilton | 12 | 11 | 10 | 18 | — | 51 |
| Stevensville | 20 | 16 | 16 | 17 | — | 69 |
Hamilton: Cam Rothe 4, Ky Burch 4, Ty Chouinard 2, Hunter Omlid 21, Jaylen Taggert 14, Tanner Goligoski 6.
Stevensville: Jarod Kingsburg 14, James Fry 22, Dalton Bragg 10, Chayse Richards 9, Alex Gavlak 3, Luis Estrada 11.
Unbeaten Beavers deny Butte High boys
By Bruce Sayler
Butte High flirted with upset Thursday night, but, in the end, the Bulldogs’ bid was rejected.
The Class AA Butte High boys’ basketball team fell 49-41 to undefeated Class A power Dillon, which, this season, is seeking its second straight state Class A championship.
“You have to get rebounds and make your free throws against teams like Dillon,” Luke Powers, head coach of the Bulldogs, said after the non-conference game in the Butte Civic Center. “We didn’t. They made plays and we didn’t and that’s why they won.”
Neither team visited the foul line much in the hard-played, deliberately paced strategical contest. The Beavers were 5-for-9 from the charity stripe while Butte High was 7-for-12. Dillon prevailed on its vaunted 1-3-1 zone defense and its economic offense.
“They try to go to the weakside all the time in their offense and we know that and we worked on defending it,” Powers said. “They overload with three players on one side and two on the other, then dribble-drive on the weakside.”
Tanner Haverfield, a 6-foot-3 senior, was the key to both alignments for Dillon. On offense, he was the designated scorer on the weakside dribble penetration and responded with a game-high 21 points. He was 8-for-11 from the field and mixed two 3-point field goals in with his attacks on the rim.
Defensively, Haverfield played the top of the fierce 1-3-1.
“We’ve seen it against (Billings) Skyview and (Great Falls) CMR (C.M. Russell),” Powers said. “Dillon runs it better than anyone in the state. Their players understand it, totally. Their kids know it and are very comfortable with it.”
It is a ball-hawking defense that created eight steals, most of the 12 turnovers with which the Bulldogs were charged.
The last two minutes of the game, though, was where the Beavers locked it all down and secured the victory. Dillon had a 41-40 edge after Butte High’s Brock Powell sank two free throws with 2 minutes, 32 seconds on the clock.
Butte High missed a one-and-one foul shot opportunity not quite a minute later and Dillon pounced on the situation with a run of six unanswered points. Kyson Wilson drilled a 15-footer off a pass from Michael Haverfield, who, with 44 seconds to go, stuck a rebound through the hole. Montana State football recruit Troy Andersen stole a Bulldog pass and was fouled on the drive downcourt. He made both charity tosses. The Beavers led 47-40 with 29 ticks left in the game.
Butte High got a point on a freebie Kash Kelly made before Dillon closed out the scoring with a basket by Travis Haverfield. Andersen hit him with the pass.
“Both teams played well,” Powers said. “They did some things on defense that were different and we adjusted at halftime. But, Dillon’s a good basketball team.
“When we’re giving up only 49 points I’m not going to complain about the defense.”
The rebounding was mostly an issue because there were not a lot of caroms to go around. The Beavers pulled down 21 and the Bulldogs snagged 17, both unusually low numbers for a game. However, Dillon shot so well — 56 percent from the field — it left few misses to board. Butte High had a difficult time putting up shots against the Dillon not-so-easy D. The Bulldogs were held to 14 shots from the lfoor in the first half, only five in the second quarter.
“That’s dissecting the 1-3-1,” Powers said. “And, we haven’t shot as well the last couple of games here as we had been. We were streaky tonight. We got some great shots in the first half that wouldn’t fall.”
The Beavers posted leads of 12-9 after one quarter and 20-16 at halftime. Michael Haverfield widened the first-quarter gap to three points with his jumper just before the buzzer. Travis Williams gathered in a rebound for Butte High and poured it through for a bucket to close the half.
Powers and his staff installed the needed adjustments at halftime and Butte High found itself with a 25-24 lead after a 3-pointer by Powell at the 4:24-mark ot the third period.
The Bulldogs netted six 3-pointers on the night.
The teams played evenly, but Butte High didn’t lead again after a 30-29 edge notched by two Ryson Lovshin foul shot conversions with 1:56 left in the third. Tanner Haverfield scored 11 of Dillon’s 13 points in the frame, including the last four for a 33-30 advantage going into the last quarter.
Powell’s second 3-pointer tied the score at 38-all with 3:43 left in the game. Andersen netted a free throw, and Michael Haverfield drove for a basket and the Beavers had the lead for good, 41-38, and pulled away with the late-game surge.
Dillon went to 15-0 with the win. Andersen scored nine points in support of Tanner Haverfield’s 21. Michael Haverfield, the sophomore younger brother, finished with eight point, Wilson had seven, and Andrew Lemieux and Clay Allison had two apiece. Jamey Richardson, R.J. Fitzgerald and Coby King also played.
Butte High is now 7-9 overall. Lovshin led the team in scoring with 11 points and Powell finished with nine. Kash Kelly scored nine points, Evan Anderson seven and Williams four. Austin Lee, Zach Archibald and Tommy Mellott also played. The Bulldogs will play Billings Senior on Feb. 17 in their next game. It will be a return to Eastern AA Conference action.
“We have four tough Eastern AA games left (in the regular season),” Powers said. “We have to find a way to win three of them.”
The Bulldogs will be trying to avoid a two-game playoff to reach the state AA tourney that will be held next month.
DILLON (15-0) — Michael Haverfield 4-8 0-0 8, Jamey Richardson 0-1 0-0 0, Kyler Wilson 3-3 1-2 7, Troy Andersen 4-11 1-2 9, Tanner Haverfield 8-11 3-5 21, Andrew Lemieux 1-1 0-0 2, Clay Allison 1-2 0-0 2, R.J. Fitzgerald 0-1 0-0 0, Coby King 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-38 5-9 49.
BUTTE HIGH (7-9) — Kash Kelly 3-6 2-4 9, Evan Anderson 3-7 0-0 7, Ryson Lovshin 3-9 3-3 11, Travis Williams 2-4 0-0 4, Brock Powell 3-5 2-5 10. Totals 14-31 7-12 41.
Dillon 12 8 13 16 — 49
Butte High 9 7 14 11 — 41
3-point goals — Dillon 2-5 (Andersen 0-1, T. Haverfield 2-4), Butte High 6-16 (Kelly 1-3, Anderson 1-4, Lovshin 2-6, Williams 0-1, Powell 2-2). Fouled out — none. Total fouls — Dillon 15, Butte High 11. Technicals — none. Rebounds — Dillon 21 (Andersen 5), Butte High 17 (Powell 7). Blocks — Dillon 3 (Andersen 3), Butte High 2 (Anderson 1, Powell 1). Assists — Dillon 8 (Wilson 3), Butte High 12 (Williams 4). Steals — Dillon 8 (Andersen 3), Butte High 2 (Powell 1, Kelly 1). Turnovers — Dillon 8, Butte High 12.
BELGRADE OUTPACES JEFFERSON:
There have been offensive lulls this season, but the one Belgrade endured Thursday night was troubling for coach Mike Deming.
With two games next week against highly-ranked Class A opponents, and the Eastern A Divisional looming, the Panthers cannot afford a more than seven-minute scoring drought.
That was the case in the third quarter of a non-conference game against Jefferson as Belgrade nearly squandered a 15-point halftime lead. Dawson Fowler finally snapped the drought with a traditional three-point play late in the third, and the Panthers bounced back in the fourth to pull away for a 44-28 victory.
“We’ve had some problems in the third quarter. We’ve had some nice leads in some games and tonight was no different,” Deming said. “But tonight, for whatever reason and I’m not sure why, we let our guard down a little bit in the second half — we’re going to have to figure that out soon. We’re running out of time to correct the problem. We hope it doesn’t bite in a big game.”
Belgrade (12-3) led 14-2 after the first quarter, which began and was capped by 3-pointers from Fowler and Brock Salsbury, respectively, and 25-10 at the half. But senior post Trey Layman picked up three fouls within a 90-second span out of the break, and then the lead dwindled to eight as the Panthers struggled to generate offense.
“He’s a main part of our offense because he can shoot it, he can drive it, and he’s a tremendous passer. So you take out one of our better players — it’s the first time we’ve had to do that all year, actually,” Deming said. “That may have been some of our problems offensively just not having Trey in there. Guys look to him as our leader, and without him in there it made a big difference in the third.”
Layman sat the final 6 minutes, 7 seconds of the third, but returned to help Belgrade stretch the lead back to double figures. A coast-to-coast layup by Trey Mounts sparked a 9-0 run to begin the final frame, and Layman added three points during the spurt.
Hayden Van Winkle buried a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 18, and by the time Deming cleared his bench with a little more than 90 seconds remaining, the lead had swelled to 20.
Layman finished with 11, while Salsbury and Fowler had 12 and eight, respectively.
Belgrade 44, Jefferson 28
Jefferson…2 8 9 9 - 28
Belgrade…14 11 3 16 - 44
JEFFERSON (7-10) - Britton Peterson 0 0-0 0, Nolan Sonsteng 1 0-0 3, Jaxson Yanzick 0 0-0 0, Lincoln Leary 0 0-0 0, Mead Blake 0 0-0 0, Josh Eckmann 1 2-2 4, Hayden Guisti 1 2-3 4, Noah Fader 3 5-6 11, Avery Styles 0 1-2 1, Bryce Harrington 1 0-0 3, Peyton Loveridge 1 0-0 2, Tristan Edmisten 0 1-2 1. Totals: 8 11-15 28.
BELGRADE (12-3) - Dawson Fowler 3 1-3 8, Jake Klonsinski 0 0-0 0, Trey Mounts 1 1-2 4, Easton Page 0 2-5 3, Matt Walker 1 0-1 2, Brock Salsbury 5 0-0 12, Spencer Gordon 0 0-0 0, Andrew Tofslie 0 0-0 0, Hayden Van Winkle 2 0-0 5, Trey Layman 5 1-2 11, Austin Edwards 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 6-13 44.
3-point goals: Jef 1 (Sonsteng), Bel 4 (Salsbury 2, Fowler 1, Van Winkle 1). Fouls: Jef 13, Bel 14. Fouled out: Eckmann.
