Warriors earn 3rd place, respect at state tournament
courtesy photo
The Arlee Warriors basketball team wrapped up a strong season with a third place finish in the State Class C tournament held at Montana State University last week.
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The Arlee Warriors brought home third place at the state tournament last week in Bozeman, besting the No. 1-ranked undefeated defending state champion Fairview in the first game by a score of 63-53.
The win snapped Fairview's 41-game winning streak, effectively proving what coach JR Camel and the Warriors had known since day one - they belonged in the tournament, and the squad is a force to be reckoned with.
On Friday, Arlee would lose a heartbreaker to Roy-Winifred 68-49, trailing by only four points as they heading into the fourth quarter.
Undeterred, the Warriors snapped off a massive win against Victor Saturday morning, outscoring the team by nearly 30 points.
As a team, Arlee shot 51.7 percent from the field, 40 percent from the 3-point line and 73.9 percent from the free throw line, - their best performance in the tournament.
Later that day, Arlee fought for third place against, you guessed it, Fairview. With a final score of 51-49, Arlee took home the win and third place while coming back from a halftime deficit.
The Warriors beat the undefeated defending state champions twice in the same weekend.
“It was good; it was really big for us,” Coach Camel said after the game. “We were looking for first, but third is a mind-check when you get beat that first game. You can just give up if you want and be happy with the season, but our boys stuck with it. They woke up at 9 a.m. Saturday morning and came to play.”
Senior Zachary Camel broke the Montana High School Association's single-season assist record earlier in the season. After playing 16 quarters over the weekend, Camel racked up an additional 21 assists, elevating his record to at least 269 assists in a single season.
This crushed the old record of 230 assists set during the 1994-95 season by Shane Gamradt of Fairfield High School.
Camel said of the 16 quarters his team played last weekend, only one was sub-par, but “that's all it takes when you play against great teams,” Camel said. “I'm proud of them. All of them stepped up this weekend.”
Arlee will graduate five seniors this year, a difficult obstacle for any team. Even so, Camel said the younger classes look promising.
“Losing five seniors is always hard ... but this is my first year of coaching and I'm surprised the guys bought into the system that quick and we took third at state,” Camel said. “By next year, we'll be even better with learning the system. But, how to replace guys like Christian Haynes, Rocky Lewis, Zack Camel, Josh Reed and Poncho Torres? It's going to be hard. Hopefully the young guys buy into the system like (the seniors) did.”
In the locker room after the game, Camel said he got a little emotional while explaining how proud he was of the team and everything they'd accomplished. This was Camel's first year coaching at Arlee.
“I'm just so proud of them,” he said. “I'm glad they played as hard as they did. They showed people that we're real and we're a force to be reckoned with.”
And while a third-place finish is certainly something to be proud of, Camel said he was more proud of how the Warriors conducted themselves on and off the court. Total strangers, bystanders, opposing coaches and coaches whose teams the Warriors hadn't played made a point of shaking Camel's hand. They told him his team was the most respectful and that the Warriors did it right - on and off the court.
“I just said, 'That's what I expect of my guys,'” Camel said. “Be respectful; show that you're not just a kid messing around. We're a program out here in Arlee and that's what we've been working with this whole year. That's the whole point; that's how I was raised; and that's how we teach it.
“These are life lessons we're trying to teach these kids. Life is tough, but you need to keep your head up and keep going on. It's not always going to be easy. You have to be held accountable on the court and off the court, and that's big in our program.”
Speaking directly to the home crowd, Camel thanked the Arlee Warrior community for supporting and believing in the team.
“Get ready for next season,” he said. “It's going to be great and it will be here fast.”
