Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
It was one heckuva ride but the Plains Horsemen were finally pulled off the championship trail for the season in Hamilton and Philipsburg last week.
Coach Mike Cole and his Horsemen advanced all the way to the Western C championship game in Hamilton before running into some tough hoop hombres, falling 77-33 to District 14C nemesis Arlee in the title tilt Saturday night.
The Horsemen then fell 61-32 in a Monday night challenge game with Manhattan Christian in Philipsburg, meaning Arlee and Man Christian will be the two Western C teams playing in this week’s State C tournament in Butte.
Unexpectedly good this year, coach Mike Cole and his Horsemen complete season play with a sparkling 20-5 record, after going 20-4 in 2016-2017. Which makes Cole’s record in his latest two-year stint as coach of the Horsemen an impressive 40-9.
“And eight of those losses were either to Arlee or Manhattan Christian, the two best Class C teams in Montana,” Cole said. “That is some pretty rare air our guys were playing in these past few years, and they should be very proud, they played some great basketball. We were only one game away from playing in the state tournament last week.”
The Horsemen opened the Western C tourney with a 58-47 win over Seeley-Swan Thursday, and then got the best of Twin Bridges 56-46 in the Western C semifinals Friday.
Cole said both of those games followed the Horsemen’s time-tested recipe for success.
“We played really well on defense this season,” he said. “Our formula was to hold teams under 50 points and score about 60 and win. The kids really bought into it and it ended up getting us a long ways.”
The workmanlike win over Seeley certainly followed the Horsemen’s formula for success. The Plains boys galloped out to a lead of 24-8 after the first quarter and held on to win from there behind that solid wall of defense.
Kyle Weeks scored 21 points to lead the Plains win, Jay VonHeeder netted 11, Tanner Ovitt nine, Derick Curry six, Treydon Brouillette four, Matt McCracken three and Wyatt Weyers and Sinjin LaDeaux two each.
Avery Smith knocked down 18 points to lead Seeley-Swan and Keaton Johnson added 12.
Ovitt was high-point man for the Horsemen against Twin Bridges with 20 points, Weeks and VonHeeder scored 10 each, McCracken added eight, Weyers three, Brouillette and Curry two apiece and Brandon Managhan one.
Daniel Kruer had 22 points to lead Twin Bridges and Bryce Nye added 18.
Plains’ championship hopes ended in their fourth meeting of the season with powerful Arlee in the Western C chipper. The running and gunning Warriors built a lead of 29-14 in the first quarter and made the advantage 47-26 by halftime.
VonHeeder would up scoring 10 points to lead Plains, Weeks scored six, Curry and Ovitt five each, and McCracken and LaDeaux three apiece.
The Horsemen’s fine season ended in the loss to Manhattan Christian.
Weeks put down 17 points to pace the Horsemen, Managhan added five, VonHeeder and Ovitt four apiece and Weyers two.
Caleb Bellach scored 22 points to lead Manhattan Christian and Ryan Busch added18.
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