Oh so close: Warriors settle for second at state tourney
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The clock finally struck midnight in Arlee's Cinderella story Saturday evening as the unranked Warriors came up just short in the Class C state title game against No. 8 Scobey, 55-47.
After 15 years of waiting, the Arlee Warriors made their way back to their first basketball state title game since 1995. All it took to get there was a second-half comeback in the tournament's opening round and a buzzer-beating three which led to a thrilling win in overtime in the semi-finals.
The team with the never-say-die attitude continued to surprise at the Class C state tournament, downing No. 7 Absarokee 54-49 in the opening round before pulling out a 45-42 overtime thriller over second-ranked Froid/Medicine Lake in the state semi-finals.
The Warriors, who came into the tournament unranked in the final AP Poll of the season, held a 17-point lead over No. 8 Scobey in the state championship game after one quarter of play, but Arlee could not hold on as the Spartans came storming back to earn a 55-47 victory and the Class C state title.
"I'm proud of the way we played this season," Arlee head coach Dustin Keltner said. "We made a run there at the end, just like we have been able to do all season. All of those shots that were going in for us in the first half just didn't fall in the second. That's the way basketball is sometimes."
The one that got away
After eight minutes of play in the Class C state title game Saturday evening, it looked as if the Warriors would waltz to a state title. Cold shooting by the Spartans and a quick start by Arlee helped the Warriors build a 19-2 lead after one quarter of play.
It was not to be for the Warriors, though, as Scobey cut the lead to three at the half and went on to take the lead for good in the third quarter on the way to a 55-47 win.
Arlee took advantage of unusually cold-shooting by Scobey in the opening quarter as the Spartans missed their first 11 shots of the contest, 10 of which came from beyond the 3-point line. The Warriors had little trouble finding the basket in the opening minutes, building a 14-0 lead before the Spartans picked up their first basket of the contest. Senior Kasey Bridgewater nailed a 25-footer at the buzzer and Arlee held what it thought was a comfortable 19-2 lead heading into the second quarter.
The Spartans came alive in the second quarter, using pressure defense to harass Arlee's ball handlers and steadily adding points to cut into the Warrior lead.
Kale Love put in a jumper at the end of the first half to cap a 9-0 Spartan run that cut the Arlee lead to just three at the break, 27-24.
Arlee struck first with a quick basket to open the second half but the Spartans continued to chip away at the lead until a 3-point play by Drew Baldry gave Scobey its first lead of the game, 32-31, with 5:39 to play in the third quarter.
The Spartans continued to pour on the points, going up by as many as 11 before the Warriors made a surge midway through the fourth quarter.
Down by 10, Arlee used an 8-0 run to cut the Spartan lead to 44-42 with 3:33 to play. The Warriors trailed 47-44 after a 3-point play by Bridgewater with 2:07 to play but Scobey began to pull away from there as the Spartans held on to win the state title.
Bridgewater led the Warriors with 13 points in the loss while guard Jesse Pfau added 11. Thomas McClure finished with seven points and a team-high nine rebounds.
The Spartans were led by Baldry with 19 points while Logan Hansen finished with 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Arlee finishes the season 22-4.
It's not over until it's over
Several Warriors crouched low on the court, others held their heads low in defeat as they trailed by three with five seconds to go in regulation against Froid/Medicine Lake in the state semi-finals Friday. What they didn't realize was that the game was far from over.
Seeing the look of surrender on his team, Warrior coach Dustin Keltner called a timeout to rally his troops.
"It was simple," he said after the game. "I told them that they would miss their free throw, we would get the rebound and that we would knock down a three to send the game into overtime."
Just call him a prophet.
The final seconds of regulation went exactly as Kelter said they would as the Redhawks missed their free throw and Arlee quickly moved the ball down the court for a buzzer-beating three by Kasey Bridgewater that tied the game at 34 at the end of regulation.
"I was just trying to make sure my feet were behind the line," Bridgewater said about the shot after the game. "It worked out exactly the way we planned it."
A steady attack and clutch free throws down the stretch were enough to earn Arlee the win in the overtime period as the Warriors pulled out a 45-42 victory.
Arlee came into the game knowing that the key to the game would be shutting down 6'7" Paul Engstrom, who had scored 19 points against Dutton/Brady in the opening round Thursday. Keltner instituted an innovative defense to solve the problem, playing a 1-2-1 zone with a fifth player (mostly Bridgewater) denying Engstrom the ball at all times. The defense worked to perfection as Engstrom scored just eight points in the contest, all off rebound put-back shots. Engstrom finished the contest with a game-high 17 rebounds.
"That was our plan coming in," Bridgewater said. "We knew that if we could shut him down that we would have a better chance of getting the win."
Arlee trailed 5-4 after one quarter of play but rallied with a strong second frame to grab a 14-12 halftime lead. The Warriors continued to add to the their lead in the third frame, going up 25-20 heading into the fourth quarter. The Redhawks rallied to take the lead late in regulation, setting up the heroics by Bridgewater.
Trae Burland led the Warrior scoring attack in the win, finishing with 17 points while Thomas McClure added 11. Bridgewater hit just two shots in the contest to finish with six points while leading the team in rebounding with 11.
Comeback kids do it again
The Warriors used a series of comeback wins to work their way through the Divisional Tournament two weeks ago and Arlee needed another to pick up a victory in the opening round at Bozeman Thursday.
Arlee trailed Absarokee 23-20 at the half but used a strong second-half surge to pull out a 54-49 victory to advance to the state semi-finals.
The Warriors struggled to find the basket in the game's opening minutes, falling behind 15-7 after a Dillon McClure 3-pointer with 6:21 to play in the second quarter. Arlee trailed by 10 with just over three minutes to go in the opening half but closed the second quarter with a 7-0 run to trail by only three at the break, 23-20.
The Huskies opened the second half with a quick bucket but the Warriors answered with a quick 6-0 run to grab their first lead of the contest, 26-25 with 5:08 to play in the frame.
Arlee led 38-32 late in the third and tried to stall for the last shot but a steal and a layup by the Huskies at the buzzer left the Warriors up 38-34 heading into the final eight minutes.
Absarokee started the fourth quarter with back-to-back threes to tie the game at 40 before later taking a 45-42 advantage on a three by McClure.
Trae Burland answered with a left-corner three to tie the game at 45 moments later.
Arlee led by three with 28.6 seconds to play when Jesse Pfau put in both foul shots of a one-and-one opportunity to give the Warriors a 54-49 lead. The Huskies had no answer as the Warriors held on for the win.
Five players accounted for all of Arlee's points in the win as four Warriors reached double digits. Thomas McClure and Junior Sansavere led Arlee with 12 points each while Burland finished with 11, Pfau had 10 and Kasey Bridgewater chipped in with nine.
Dakota Smith led the Huskies with a game-high 15 points.
State Final
Scobey 55, Arlee 47
Scobey 2 22 16 15 – 55
Arlee 19 8 4 16 – 47
SCOBEY/OPHEIM – Kale Love 8, Drew Baldry 19, Kray Buer 2, Logan Hansen 18, TJ Snare 3, Ethan Aldrich 5.
ARLEE – Kasey Bridgewater 13, Thomas McClure 7, Jesse Pfau 11, Junior Sansavere 7, Trae Burland 4, Dakota Desjarlais 3, Eneas Inmee 2.
State Semi-Final
Arlee 45, Froid/ML 42 (OT)
Arlee 4 10 9 11 11 - 45
Froid/ML 5 7 8 14 8 - 42
ARLEE - Kasey Bridgewater 6, Thomas McClure 11, Jesse Pfau 4, Junior Sansavere 7, Trae Burland 17.
FROID/MEDICINE LAKE - Jaylen Hendrickson 1, Michael O'Toole, Brady Berntson 17, Charles Four Bear 6, Paul Engstrom 8.
Opening Round
Arlee 54, Absarokee 49
Absarokee 12 11 11 15 - 49
Arlee 7 13 18 16 - 54
ABSAROKEE - Alex Doerschel 2, Josh Royce 5, Michael Holtz 5, Levi Holtz 9, Dakota Smith 15, Dillon McClure 11, Tobias Cortner 2.
ARLEE - Kasey Bridgewater 9, Thomas McClure 12, Jesse Pfau 10, Junior Sansavere 12, Trae Burland 11.
