Sugarbeeters, Refiners treat basketball fans to an early season thriller

It was a big weekend on the hardwood for area Class C and Class B basketball teams as the Harlem Wildcats, Chinook Sugarbeeters and Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds saw their first action of the 2017-18 campaign.

The Chinook Sugarbeeters easily won their opener defeating the Dutton/Brady Diamondbacks 64-21 and then fell in a thriller on a last-second shot to the Sunburst Refiners 71-69.

The Harlem Wildcats were in Pablo on the campus Salish Kootenai College for the Annual Native American Classic.

They began their season Thursday where they dropped their opening contest to the Heart Butte Warriors 74-70 and fell in their second game of the season to the Arlee Warriors 73-54.

In Billings at the All American Indian Shootout the Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds got their season underway with a win over Brockton and a loss to Lodge Grass Indians. No information was available for these games at press time other than the winner.

The Sugarbeeters got their season underway Friday afternoon when they faced the Dutton/Brady Diamondbacks of the District 10C.

It took a few possessions for the Sugarbeeters to dust off the cobwebs but when they did they controlled all facets of the contest.

Chinook led 20-2 after eight minutes of action and pushed the advantage to 40-12 by the intermission.

The 'Beeters won the third quarter 23-9 in coasting to a 64-21 season opening win.

All dressed for the contest played and scored in the win. Junior Isaac Bell led the attack with 16 points including three from downtown. Junior Cord Schneider added 15 points and six rebounds while sophomore Hunter Neibauer chipped in 13 points.

Saturday the 'Beeters faced off against the Sunburst Refiners in a contest that kept fans on the edge of their seats start to finish.

Usually the preseason is a time where teams try to find combinations that play well together on the court and try to find their identity as a team before the conference schedule season begins.

There was a time when college coaches used the preseason to schedule less than adequate opponents to ensure that they were able to work on everything they needed to work on but in recent years coaches have decided to schedule top quality opponents so that they can get a true gage for where their teams are at against stiff competition before stepping into conference play where games really do matter.

At the high school level accomplishing something like this is much more difficult due to a variety of reasons and in most cases High School coaches are relegated to playing a handful of teams, good or bad.

This past weekend in Chester the Sugarbeeters and Refiners faced off in a clash that had the intensity of a postseason game.

The Chester High School gym was filled with coaches fans and players that went well beyond that of the Sugarbeeters or the Refiner's and the two teams did not disappoint with both bringing a high level of energy and competition to the floor and battling each other till the very final second.

Sunburst scored the first four points before junior Isaac Bell scored attacking the basket. Moments later Bell drained a long three from the left corner and grabbed an offensive rebound and scored giving Chinook a 7-4 lead.

The teams continued to trade baskets and with time running down in the opening stanza it was junior Cord Schneider finding Bell slashing to the basket for a 17-16 lead entering the second quarter.

The Refiners scored the first five points of the second to retake the lead 20-17 but in a game where both teams giving each other their best shot the Sugarbeeters answered back with Schneider scoring inside and junior Trajan Hannum drawing a charge on the defensive side of the ball leading to another inside bucket from Schneider for a 21-20 'Beeter advantage.

The Refiners pushed the lead to 32-24 with just over two minutes left in the half.

Again the Sugarbeeters had a run in them as Bell scored on a jumper in the paint and Schneider added back to back baskets inside. Bell scored moments later following a Refiner free throw sending the teams to the halftime break with Sunburst on top 33-32.

Bell opened the third quarter with a triple to give Chinook back the lead 35-33. In a game that had it all it was the Refiners that were able to put together another mini run extending the advantage to 52-44 with eight minutes remaining in the contest.

Junior Riley Kellam came to play down the stretch meeting the intensity of the moment head on and bring the game to the Refiners.

Kellam scored on an offensive rebound and Bell and Schneider scored on back to back possessions bring Chinook within two 52-50.

Sunburst went on another 6-0 run before Kellam ended the string by grabbing an offensive board and drawing a foul. Kellam calmly knocked two down from the charity stripe to start another 'Beeter run.

Freshman Ethan Bell drove hard in the lane and converted the and one to bring the 'Beeters within two 58-56.

Following buckets by both teams the final two minutes were played at a high level with neither team backing down an inch.

Kellam coralled yet another offensive board and scored to give the 'Beeters the lead 63-62.

The Refiners answered and Schneider attacked the basket on the right block getting position and scoring to give Chinook back the lead. Sunburst again responded and it was Kellam again scoring off an offensive put back to give Chinook back the lead 67-66.

Non stop action led to the Refiners going up 68-67 when Schneider again made up his mind to score and converted a basket inside for a 69-68 Sugarbeeter lead with :04.6 left on the game clock.

After an inbound an a time out by Sunburst the Refiners set up a play with :03.1 showing on the clock and a bomb from the left corner fell through the nets as time expired for a 71-69 Sunburst win.

Isaac Bell finished with 28 points for the Sugarbeeters. Schneider added 20 points and 11 rebounds, including seven offensive. Kellam scored 10 points and grabbed a game high 14 rebounds six off the offensive glass.

Regardless of the outcome both coaches, Nate Ashim of Sunburst and Mike Seymour of Chinook will tell you that the opportunity to play a game of this caliber early in the season is an advantage that both must take advantage of.

In reality the outcome of the contest has no meaning, it's not a conference game, it does not affect postseason seeding, nor does it affect either teams situation should they head to the Northern C in February. It was just a game but one that could help both teams as the look to achieve their season goals.

The Harlem Wildcats fell to the Heart Butte Warriors 74-70 and the Arlee Warriors 73-51 at the Native American Classic in Pablo.

The Sugarbeeters and Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds will play Friday in Hays. Saturday the Sugarbeeters will host Big Sandy. Harlem will be home Friday against Malta and Saturday against Wolf Point.

Boys Basketball Box Scores

Chinook 64 Dutton/Brady 21

Chinook 20 20 19 5 — 64

Dutton/Brady 2 10 7 2 — 21

Chinook: Isaac Bell 6 0-0 16, Ethan Bell 2 1-2 5, Hunter Neibauer 4 4-4 13, James Christensen 1 1-2 3, Trajan Hannum 0 1-2 1, Reese Elliot 1 1-2 3, Rylee Kellam 3 0-0 6, Cord Schneider 7 1-1 15, Tamer Jamieson 1 0-0 2. Team Totals 25 9-13 64.

Dutt/Brady: Clay Blankenship 0 0-0 0, Brad Habel 1 0-0 2, Aaron Infangor 2 0-1 4, Preston H. 5 4-4 15, Wesley H. 0 0-0 0. Team Totals 8 4-5 21.

Three Point - Chinook 5 (Isaac Bell 4, Hunter Neibauer 1), Dutt/Brady 1 (Preston H.); Total Fouls - Chinook 7, Dutt/Brady 14; Fouled Out - None.

Heart Butte 74

Harlem 70

Sunburst 71 Chinook 69

Chinook 17 15 12 25 — 69

Sunburst 16 17 19 19 — 71

Chinook: Isaac Bell 12 1-3 28, Ethan Bell 2 1-1 5, Hunter Neibauer 1 2-7 4, James Christensen 0 0-2 0, Trajan Hannum 1 0-0 2, Rylee Kellam 4 2-6 10, Cord Schneider 9 2-6 20. Team Totals 29 8-25 69.

Sunburst: Cody Smith 1 0-0 3, Stanley Jarvis 0 0-0 0, Jeff Owens 7 1-2 19, Treyton Pickering 5 2-2 12, Mike Buckley 4 2-2 11, Dylan Smylie 2 0-0 4, Dakota Stock 8 2-3 18, Christian Black 1 1-1 3. Team Totals 28 8-10 71.

Three Point - Chinook 3 (Isaac Bell 3), Sunburst 6 (Jeff Owens 4, Cody Smith 1, Mike Buckley 1); Total Fouls - Chinook 18, Sunburst 22; Fouled Out - Chinook - Hannum; Sunburst - Buckley.

Arlee 73 Harlem 51

Arlee 23 25 10 15 — 73

Harlem 7 12 12 17 — 51

Arlee: Will Mesteth 16, Phillip Malatare 25, Lane Johnson 6, Cody Tanner 4, Nate Coulson 3, Greg Whitesell 13, Lane Schall 2, Isaac Fisher 4.

Harlem: Taggert Devaney 6, Samual Mail 3, Zane Fox 2, Jeremy Tincher 2, Kyle Young Jr. 10, Lane Allen 7, Brad Cichosz 12, Ryle Foote 4, Truth Brockie 5.