The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

HAVRE - Big Sandy did not get to resume the role of lovable, scrappy underdog in a run to the divisional boys' basketball tournament in Great Falls as understudy Chester-Joplin-Inverness upstaged the Pioneers in the District 9C consolation semifinal.

The Pioneers were the "Cinderella" story last March but became the first victim of the upset-minded sixth-seed Hi-Line Hawks in a tournament that had gone chalk all week until Friday afternoon's showdown at the Blue Pony Corral.

C-J-I's Kyle Harmon coolly sank what became the game-winner from 3-point range with 42 seconds left in overtime to erase a 49-47 Pioneer lead. Kealy Haaland added a pair of free throws for insurance at 16.9 ticks left on the clock for insurance and Pioneer freshman Cooper Taylor's desperation heave from 25 feet away came up short at the buzzer.

The Hawks took the momentum from the 52-49 win against the tournament's fourth seed and knocked off Box Elder 52-39 on Saturday, avenging their first-round loss and advancing to divisionals.

Blake Harmon led the Hawks with 15 points in the thriller against Big Sandy.

"He's a freshman," Pioneers coach Thomas Dilworth said afterward. "And he willed those kids to a win today."

Big Sandy looked poised to be the ones to face off against Box Elder with a divisional bid on the line at many junctures in Friday's back-and-forth contest. The Pioneers and Hawks traded leads a dozen times, tied 11 times and neither team led by more than 5 points throughout. Each displayed clutch shooting in the first half as Kyle Harmon popped an 8-footer in the paint at the buzzer to tie it 10-10 at the end of the first quarter. Not to be outdone, Pioneer freshman Lane Demontiney hit a corner three at the halftime buzzer to knot it at 31-31.

Big Sandy (7-9) stretched to its largest leads in the fourth quarter, first at 37-33 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds remaining as Demontiney scored underneath with an assist from Braydon Cline. Cline nailed a pair of free throws with 56.5 seconds remaining to make it 44-40 for the Pioneers.

Braden Mattson only scored 3 points the whole game for C-J-I but he made them count. They came off a baseline three-pointer with 42.4 seconds left in regulation to pull his team within a point. A free throw from Blake Harmon tied it up with 17.5 seconds on the clock as each of Big Sandy's last two possessions ended in turnovers.

The last basket for Big Sandy came from lone senior Kade Strutz and it gave the Pioneers their last lead with 1:30 left in OT. His next shot rimmed out, leaving it a one-possession game and the Hawks capitalized on the opening.

"C-J-I made shots. They made shots when they needed to," Dilworth said. "That's basketball and that's tough."

Dilworth praised the Hawks' effort on the defensive end as well, packing the middle of the court and frustrating the Pioneers' frontcourt attack especially in the first half.

That prevented Big Sandy from arriving ahead of schedule and sending Strutz off with another divisional appearance despite 10 points from the senior. Cline led Big Sandy with 12.

"We're young. I think everybody in the 9C knows we've got a lot of talented kids coming up," Dilworth said. "Sometimes this is what a young team needs. You make the goals you set early and sometimes a few kids get a (big) head. This (loss) could be a very big motivator in the offseason, I would hope."

Strutz sees the potential in his younger teammates to move past this heartbreaking finish and keep building a strong program.

"Even though we didn't meet our goals, we had a lot of good things happen," he said. "I wouldn't want to be on the court with anybody else ... the future is bright here. I'm really looking forward to coming back (after graduation) and watching these kids."

Fort Benton defeated Chinook Saturday to win the District 9C championship. Both teams join C-J-I in moving on to divisionals.

Fort Benton 63, Big Sandy 40

The Pioneers came out at tip-off determined to be the aggressor against the favorite and top-seed Fort Benton in the 9C semifinal Thursday in Havre. A Kody Strutz three-pointer and a 12-footer down on the baseline by Braydon Cline gave the Pioneers a 5-2 edge early.

The Longhorns responded with a 10-0 run before a nearly identical shot from Cline ended the drought. Fort Benton then went on another 11-0 run to close the first quarter with an ultimately insurmountable 23-7 advantage.

"Take away 4 minutes of basketball in the first quarter and we're in that game," Big Sandy coach Thomas Dilworth said. "It's inexperience. Things are going well and then a couple plays they don't, and all of a sudden it explodes and then we panic ... I should have called the (first) timeout sooner."

Hayden Diekhans led the Longhorns with 21 points. Kody Strutz had 11 for the Pioneers.

Big Sandy 70, North Star 53

Big Sandy began the tournament with a home game due to COVID-19 rescheduling and treated their crowd to one last win Tuesday against fifth-seed North Star.

The Knights opened up a 12-7 lead after the first quarter but Big Sandy battled back and pulled ahead 14-13 on Braydon Cline's corner three with 6:40 to go in the first half. The Pioneers never relinquished that lead and finished with four players in double figures, a reminder of the multi-pronged scoring threat honed throughout this season and setting them up for success in years to come.

"It's good for a young team ... to be able to mentally put away that first quarter and focus on the next three," Dilworth said. "North Star is a good team and it's tough to beat a good team twice, (nevertheless) three times."

Kody Strutz scored 22 to lead the way, Cline added 16, Kade Strutz poured in 12 and Lane Demontiney added 11. Gavin Spicher had 15 for North Star.

Demontiney, who developed his scoring touch to the tune of 20+ point games early in the season, took strides in maturing his game as the year wore on, Dilworth noted.

"Lane's playing at another level," he said. "He knows his role and knows when he needs to turn it on. He's willing to be a good teammate and do what we need."

HAVRE - Big Sandy did not get to resume the role of lovable, scrappy underdog in a run to the divisional boys' basketball tournament in Great Falls as understudy Chester-Joplin-Inverness upstaged the Pioneers in the District 9C consolation semifinal.

The Pioneers were the "Cinderella" story last March but became the first victim of the upset-minded sixth-seed Hi-Line Hawks in a tournament that had gone chalk all week until Friday afternoon's showdown at the Blue Pony Corral.

C-J-I's Kyle Harmon coolly sank what became the game-winner from 3-point range with 42 seconds left in overtime to erase a 49-47 Pioneer lead. Kealy Haaland added a pair of free throws for insurance at 16.9 ticks left on the clock for insurance and Pioneer freshman Cooper Taylor's desperation heave from 25 feet away came up short at the buzzer.

The Hawks took the momentum from the 52-49 win against the tournament's fourth seed and knocked off Box Elder 52-39 on Saturday, avenging their first-round loss and advancing to divisionals.

Blake Harmon led the Hawks with 15 points in the thriller against Big Sandy.

"He's a freshman," Pioneers coach Thomas Dilworth said afterward. "And he willed those kids to a win today."

Big Sandy looked poised to be the ones to face off against Box Elder with a divisional bid on the line at many junctures in Friday's back-and-forth contest. The Pioneers and Hawks traded leads a dozen times, tied 11 times and neither team led by more than 5 points throughout. Each displayed clutch shooting in the first half as Kyle Harmon popped an 8-footer in the paint at the buzzer to tie it 10-10 at the end of the first quarter. Not to be outdone, Pioneer freshman Lane Demontiney hit a corner three at the halftime buzzer to knot it at 31-31.

Big Sandy (7-9) stretched to its largest leads in the fourth quarter, first at 37-33 with 5 minutes, 56 seconds remaining as Demontiney scored underneath with an assist from Braydon Cline. Cline nailed a pair of free throws with 56.5 seconds remaining to make it 44-40 for the Pioneers.

Braden Mattson only scored 3 points the whole game for C-J-I but he made them count. They came off a baseline three-pointer with 42.4 seconds left in regulation to pull his team within a point. A free throw from Blake Harmon tied it up with 17.5 seconds on the clock as each of Big Sandy's last two possessions ended in turnovers.

The last basket for Big Sandy came from lone senior Kade Strutz and it gave the Pioneers their last lead with 1:30 left in OT. His next shot rimmed out, leaving it a one-possession game and the Hawks capitalized on the opening.

"C-J-I made shots. They made shots when they needed to," Dilworth said. "That's basketball and that's tough."

Dilworth praised the Hawks' effort on the defensive end as well, packing the middle of the court and frustrating the Pioneers' frontcourt attack especially in the first half.

That prevented Big Sandy from arriving ahead of schedule and sending Strutz off with another divisional appearance despite 10 points from the senior. Cline led Big Sandy with 12.

"We're young. I think everybody in the 9C knows we've got a lot of talented kids coming up," Dilworth said. "Sometimes this is what a young team needs. You make the goals you set early and sometimes a few kids get a (big) head. This (loss) could be a very big motivator in the offseason, I would hope."

Strutz sees the potential in his younger teammates to move past this heartbreaking finish and keep building a strong program.

"Even though we didn't meet our goals, we had a lot of good things happen," he said. "I wouldn't want to be on the court with anybody else ... the future is bright here. I'm really looking forward to coming back (after graduation) and watching these kids."

Fort Benton defeated Chinook Saturday to win the District 9C championship. Both teams join C-J-I in moving on to divisionals.

Fort Benton 63, Big Sandy 40

The Pioneers came out at tip-off determined to be the aggressor against the favorite and top-seed Fort Benton in the 9C semifinal Thursday in Havre. A Kody Strutz three-pointer and a 12-footer down on the baseline by Braydon Cline gave the Pioneers a 5-2 edge early.

The Longhorns responded with a 10-0 run before a nearly identical shot from Cline ended the drought. Fort Benton then went on another 11-0 run to close the first quarter with an ultimately insurmountable 23-7 advantage.

"Take away 4 minutes of basketball in the first quarter and we're in that game," Big Sandy coach Thomas Dilworth said. "It's inexperience. Things are going well and then a couple plays they don't, and all of a sudden it explodes and then we panic ... I should have called the (first) timeout sooner."

Hayden Diekhans led the Longhorns with 21 points. Kody Strutz had 11 for the Pioneers.

Big Sandy 70, North Star 53

Big Sandy began the tournament with a home game due to COVID-19 rescheduling and treated their crowd to one last win Tuesday against fifth-seed North Star.

The Knights opened up a 12-7 lead after the first quarter but Big Sandy battled back and pulled ahead 14-13 on Braydon Cline's corner three with 6:40 to go in the first half. The Pioneers never relinquished that lead and finished with four players in double figures, a reminder of the multi-pronged scoring threat honed throughout this season and setting them up for success in years to come.

"It's good for a young team ... to be able to mentally put away that first quarter and focus on the next three," Dilworth said. "North Star is a good team and it's tough to beat a good team twice, (nevertheless) three times."

Kody Strutz scored 22 to lead the way, Cline added 16, Kade Strutz poured in 12 and Lane Demontiney added 11. Gavin Spicher had 15 for North Star.

Demontiney, who developed his scoring touch to the tune of 20+ point games early in the season, took strides in maturing his game as the year wore on, Dilworth noted.

"Lane's playing at another level," he said. "He knows his role and knows when he needs to turn it on. He's willing to be a good teammate and do what we need."