Powder River Examiner -

The Broadus boys finished out their regular season as conference co-champions with Melstone, after losing to Melstone last Friday, and beating Terry on Saturday. With both Melstone and Broadus finishing with 13-1 conference records and each losing a game to the other, the teams were deemed co-champs. The last time the Broadus boys team were district champs was in 2002, when Cody Samuelson and Kevin Bird strolled down the court.

When we spoke to Coach Mike Richards about breaking the 20 year drought for Broadus, he smiled and mentioned that he would've liked to have beaten Melstone outright to break their six year streak.

A bright note for Broadus is that due to the tie-breaker procedures, Broadus wins the #1 seed over Melstone going into the District Tourney, this week in Miles City. The Hawks face off against the winless Plevna Cougars on Wednesday morning, and a win there will put them up against the winner of the Custer/Hysham vs. Jordan game - both teams Broadus has beaten twice over the course of the season.

Four teams will move on from the 4C to the Southern C Divisional Tourney, held the first week of March in Miles City.

Circling back to last weekend's games, the Hawks knew going to Melstone that they'd need a win to snag sole control of the conference, and that possibility was looking good through the first quarter, as Broadus maintained a lead. In the second quarter Melstone pulled ahead, with the teams going into the half separated by 11 points. Broadus was able to pull within two during the fourth quarter, and with the game winding down Coach Richards attempted one last play that didn't work out, and Melstone won 53-50.

The stats for both teams looked strong – Broadus scored 1.03 points per possession to Melstone's 1.07. Broadus led in rebounding with 25 to Melstone's 20, while Melstone led in steals with 8 to the Hawks' 4.

Johnny Richards was on fire from beyond the arc for the Hawks, sinking 6 of 10 three point shots, and scoring 20 points in total. Marcus Mader scored 12 and Dillon Gee 10.

For Melstone, Bryce Grebe led in scoring with 16 points, while Abner Strasszer scored 14.

On Saturday against #3 ranked Terry, Broadus once again took an early lead to go up 24-11 after 1, 38-22 at the half, and 55-30 after the 3rd quarter. In the fourth quarter, with a score of 60-31 Coach Richards subbed out his starters...but flouting the tradition during blowout games, Terry kept their starters in and continued to press, and were able to make a bit of a comeback, with Broadus winning 60-45.

"The 15 point difference in the final score wasn't representative of how soundly we beat them, since they were playing their varsity against our younger guys in the fourth quarter," Richards noted.

Dillon Gee led the Hawks in scoring with 14; Tytan Hanson scored 13, and Marcus Mader had 10 points in the win, while Jaxon Bilbrey had a team leading 11 rebounds.

Rodrigo Takano of Terry had 19 points, with Victor Delgado scoring 15 for the Terriers.

Girls

In the weekend of games leading up to the final regular season against Custer/Hysham and Jordan, the Lady Hawks played tough second halves against both teams, ultimately pulling out a win against Custer/Hysham and losing in a close game to Jordan.

Emma Isaacs, Zeason Schaffer, and Kendal Stanley each scored ten points in the 50-33 win against Custer/Hysham. Zeason Schaffer led the Lady Hawks in scoring against Jordan, scoring 14 in the 41-47 Broadus loss.

Last Friday against Melstone, Broadus Head Coach Ashley Emmons told us that her plan against Melstone's top athlete, Draya Wacker, was to just let her shoot: "We knew she would score against us, so we tried something new and put our top defenders against the other Melstone players. The tactic worked fairly well – Draya missed some shots and we were able to defend against the other players."

Ultimately, Melstone's aggressive offense proved too much for the Lady Hawks, with Melstone winning 67-45 and sealing their undefeated 14-0 conference record. Broadus' defensive scheme was able to exploit a chink in the Lady Broncs' armor, which perhaps could be taken advantage of down the road at tournaments.

Oliveah Schaffer and Ciara McDowell each scored 10 to lead the Lady Hawks at Melstone.

On Saturday at Terry, Broadus faced a team that has spent their season on the opposite end of the standings from Melstone, against the Lady Terriers, who have won a single non-conference game this season.

"We went out and did what we needed to do to win," Emmons said.

Mia Mader scored 12 at Terry, with Oliveah Schaffer scoring 11 in the 62-20 win.

The Lady Hawks finish the regular season with an 8-6 conference record, placing them as the 4th seed going into the 4C District Tournament. This means Broadus faces the always tough Wibaux Lady Longhorns on Wednesday.

Broadus won against Wibaux twice this year, winning by a razor thin 1 point in overtime at Wibaux, and 34-26 here in Broadus.

"We're going to have to be on our game to beat Wibaux, but I have confidence that if the girls play the way they are capable, we'll do great," Emmons said about the week ahead.

Four teams will move on from the 4C to the Divisional Tournament. With the Lady Hawks looking relatively healthy other than some sore knees and ankles, and Abi Krantz out due to an injury suffered earlier in the season, Broadus' chances of moving on are within reach.