The Broadus Hawk Boys Varsity Basketball team traveled to Wibaux on Saturday, for a tough conference matchup against what many considered to be the team which would take second in the conference – the Wibaux Longhorns.

Despite the tough competition and aura of invincibility which often seems to come about when facing a really tough team, the Hawks were not fazed, as their mental game had been hewn to a sharp edge in practice by Coach Mike Richards, along with help from his assistants, Ryan DeVore and Steve Graff.

According to Richards, Broadus did a really good job in the first half of keeping Wibaux's leading scorer, Cobe Begger, to minimal damage. The strategy paid off throughout much of the game, as the Hawks finished the first quarter tied 8-8, and led 21-17 going into half time.

At the end of the third, Broadus maintained a four point lead, 35-31, but let the lead slip away in the fourth, as Begger fought off the defense, eventually scoring 29 points on the game against the Hawks. Broadus would fall behind 45-40, but was able to slip back within three points, with 3.6 seconds left on the clock. Broadus had the ball; during a time out Richards drew up a play. On the inbound pass, the ball was tipped out of bounds, so all that was left was a desperation three with .6 seconds left on the clock, which unfortunately did not fall. Broadus fell 45-48 at the end of the game.

"We gave up too many offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, and let it get away from us," Richards said of the close loss. "Though I take some of the blame, as we haven't practiced those late game, do or die situations. Overall, I'm happy with the guys' performance."

Broadus faced Wibaux three times last season – twice during the regular season and once at tournaments. In the first game, Broadus lost 68-47. In the second game, Broadus fell by a wide margin, 84-59. In the tournament game, Broadus lost 67-50. Wibaux lost very few players to graduation last year, so overall the Hawks performance this Saturday could be considered a vast improvement over previous showings.

Standout performances for the Hawks included Kashus Giacometto, with 14 points, 8 rebounds, and a 4 for 4 performance from the free throw line, Clay LaPlant, who had a solid night with 9 points and 6 assists, and Johnny Richards, who made two three pointers in the fourth quarter to get the Hawks back within striking distance at the end of the game.

Broadus then traveled to Busby to face Northern Cheyenne, this Monday. We didn't have a chance to talk to Mike about the game before press time, but the Hawks were able to pull off an impressive win, 77 – 37 over Northern Cheyenne.

Broadus will travel to St. Labre, this Thursday, for the last game before the Christmas break, and will kick off 2019 with their first home game, on January 4th against Ekalaka.

An interesting side-note: Mike has been going through old stats and updating records. In the game earlier this month against Shields Valley, the teams combined for 62 rebounds, which ties for 5th place in the all time Montana record books for most rebounds in a game, across all classes.

Mike noted that some years are missing complete stats, so if anyone out there who once played for the Hawks has copies of their year-end stats, they might let him know, to help in his collection and update of records.