Powder River Examiner -

The Broadus Hawk Boys basketball team went into the Southern C Divisional Tournament last week seeded first from the 4C conference. In the first game of the tourney they faced the 6C's 4th ranked team, Plenty Coups.

Plenty Coups are a scrappy team, with tall athletic players that are able to score from every corner of the court, and a definite threat to any challenger.

The Hawks had trouble sinking their shots throughout much of the game, and Plenty Coups was able to use their physicality to battle back every time Broadus pulled ahead as the momentum see-sawed back and forth right up until the fourth quarter when the Warriors got into foul trouble. Final score: Broadus 62, Plenty Coups 42.

The Hawks dominated in nearly every offensive category against Plenty Coups, and individually three Hawks scored in the double digits, Dillon Gee with 21, Marcus Mader 18, and Johnny Richards 13.

Next on the agenda for the Hawks was a challenging game against Harlowton/Ryegate, the 2nd ranked team from the 6C. Harlow had just come off an opening round win against Ekalaka, and looked to continue their run against the Hawks.

Broadus got out to an early lead, leading 21-9 after the first quarter, 32-17 at the half, and 45-28 after three. Around a minute into the fourth quarter, the wheels seemed to come off for the Hawks, as Harlowton/ Ryegate battled back to take the lead. In the last seconds of the game, the Hawk's long distance threat, Johnny Richards, sunk a long three to tie the score and send the game into overtime. By this point, the Engineers were in foul trouble, and their leading scorer, Joe Alvarez, was out of the game. The Hawks were able to come back in overtime to win the game 74-64.

The Hawks dominated under the rim, picking up 49 rebounds compared to the opposition's 20, while the Engineers had 26 points off turnovers compared to the Hawk's 9.

Dominate performances by two Broadus players in particular set the tone for the win, as Dillon Gee had 34 points and 18 rebounds. Marcus Mader had 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Johnny Richards' clutch three point shot was supplemented by two more threes as he went 3 for 5 from long range on the night for nine points.

The win against the Engineers catapulted Broadus into the championship game, on Saturday against the as yet undefeated Bridger Scouts.

Bridger showed why they were ranked number eight in the state, leading 26-20 at the half and keeping the lead throughout as Bridger snagged 1st place in the tournament with a 65-50 win over the Hawks.

The loss to Bridger put Broadus in a precarious situation, as only two teams advanced from the Southern C to State. As Broadus lost to Bridger, simultaneously at the Middle School in Laurel, Melstone beat Harlowton/Ryegate, forcing Broadus into a challenge game for second place in the division and a shot at state.

The challenge game took place Monday evening in Miles City. In the teams' previous meetings this season, Melstone snagged both regular season wins, while Broadus won a close game in the District Championship game with a score of 49-48 to nab the 1st place trophy.

This time around, Melstone seemed to have some trouble sinking their baskets as Broadus jumped out to an early lead by shooting 52% in the first half to Melstone's 30%. By halftime, Broadus led 26-15.

Cooper Zimmer weaves through the Harlowton/Ryegate defense to score in Divisional Tournament action, last week in Laurel.

The Broncs are a tough team to pull away from, and they demonstrated their skills in the second half as they pulled within four points in the fourth quarter. The Hawks mounted a comeback via scores from Paysen Kuhbacher and Johnny Richards, and Broadus would end the game scoring the same number of points as in their last Melstone meeting – 49 points. This time around, Melstone only put up 43 points, which meant the Hawks earned the 2nd place Southern Divisional plaque and moved on to State.

The State Class C Tournament will take place March 10-13 in Lockwood, in the new high school. Broadus will lead off against the Eastern Division Number 1 seed in the first round. The Eastern C Divisional Tournament has not been decided, and will take place this weekend in Sidney. As of the last ranking data we could find which were from last week and didn't show Broadus in the top ten, Scobey was ranked first in the state, with Froid-Medicine Lake ranked 5th, both of which are Eastern Conference teams.