The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Chinook Sugarbeeters and the Harlem Wildcats met last Thursday to complete there home and home season series and spectators were witness to one of the best games of the season so far.

The Sugarbeeters opened up a big early lead and then held on for a high scoring, up and down the court, 94-80 win over the Harlem Wildcats

Chinook Junior Isaac Bell began the contest with a two-point basket to give the 'Beeters an early lead. Bell then scored the next nine Sugarbeeters points, including two from beyond the arc to give Chinook a 11-1 advantage just moments into the contest.

Junior Riley Kellam scored in the paint before Bell added another bucket. Junior Cord Schneider converted inside to give Chinook a 15-2 lead.

Bell later knocked down another triple to push the 'Beeter lead to 22-4 Chinook would take a 22-6 lead into the second quarter.

'Beeter Junior Trajan Hannum began the second with a three pointer of his own before Junior Court Schneider scored inside to extend the 'Beeter advantage to 27-6.

The Wildcat's then scored five straight points to cut the margin to 27-11 but Bell again answered with another basket of his own to give Chinook a 29-11 advantage.

The Sugarbeeters eventually pushed the lead to 44-20 following another Bell three pointer, but things were just getting interesting.

Wildcat junior Samuel Maine scored the two-point basket and then finished the half with a three pointer to trim the deficit to 45-30 as the two teams entered the locker room.

Bell connected on six 3-pointers in the opening half and scored 26 points in helping the Sugarbeeters get the 15 point lead.

Kellam would get the 'Beeters started in the second half with a score in the paint only to be answered by Wildcat sophomore Lane Allen's bucket as the teams began to heat up offensively.

Senior Ryle Foote scored going to the basket and a finger roll by Harlem senior Kyle Young trimmed the lead to 12, 48-36.

Boys Basketball Box Scores

Chinook 94 Harlem 80

Harlem 6 24 21 29 - 80

Chinook 22 23 20 29 - 94

Harlem: Taggert Devaney 3 0-1 6, Samual Main 4 2-2 10, Zane Fox 0 0-0 0, DJ Shambo 1 0-1 2, Kyle Young Jr. 4 9-12 19, Lane Allen 4 1-2 11, Brad Cichosz 9 4-7 26, Ryle Foote 3 0-0 6. Team Totals 19 10-17 48.

Chinook: Isaac Bell 17 9-11 51, Ethan Bell 0 7-8 7, Trajan Hannum 1 4-4 7, Riley Kellam 4 0-2 8, Brendan Edwards 4 0-2 9, Cord Schneider 5 2-4 12. Team Totals 31 22-31 94.

Three Point - Chinook 10 (Isaac Bell 8, Trajan Hannum 1, Brendan Edwards 1), Harlem 8 (Kyle Young Jr. 2, Lane Allen 2, Brad Cichosz 4); Total Fouls - Chinook 18, Harlem 22; Fouled Out - Harlem (Lane Allen), Chinook (Trajan Hannum).

Turner 75 Hays/Lodge Pole 70

Hays/L.P. 11 19 12 28 - 70

Turner 14 13 20 28 - 75

Hays/L.P.: Moke Cliff 4 1-3 13, Michael Ball 0 2-2 2, Tony Sears 0 0-0 0, Siris Grandchamp 0 0-0 0, Damian Bradley 1 0-0 3, Jeff Stiffarm 1 0-0 3, David Main 7 2-8 17, Isiah RunsAbove 0 2-4 2, Kenneth Blackcrow 5 1-2 2, James Brockie 0 0-0 0, Chance Main 7 3-4 18. Team Totals 25 11-23 70.

Turner: Austin Welsh 0 0-0 0, Kurt Calvert 0 0-4 0, Cody Welsh 3 1-2 8, Shane Kimmel 4 1-2 10, Ethan Heilig 0 0-0 0, Eddie Harmon 11 1-3 27, Tracer Heilig 4 0-0 8. Team Totals 22 3-11 53.

Three Point - Turner 2 (Tracer Heilig 1, Shane Kimmel 1, Shane Kimmel 1), Hays/L.P 9 (Moke Cliff 4, Chance Main, 1, David Main 1, Jeff Stiffarm 1, Damian Bradley 1); Total Fouls - Turner 17, Hays/L.P. 26; Fouled Out - Hays/L.P. (Moke Cliff, Chance Main, Isiah RunsAbove).

Glasgow 51 Glasgow 43

Following a Sugarbeeter timeout Schneider quickly scored inside to push the lead back to 14.

Hannum then drew a charge on the ensuing possession for the Sugarbeeters before finding Edwards inside for a bucket and then again on the 'Beeters next possession for a long three to push the lead back to nineteen 55-36.

The Wildcats again would make a charge as Young converted from the free throw line and freshman Taggert Devaney collected a basket of his own to keep Harlem in the game

With two minutes to go in the third, Bell swiped an errant Wildcat pass and went coast to coast to extend the Chinook advantage to 58-43.

Devaney answered with another score for the Wildcats only to watch Bell drain his seventh three pointer of the contest for a 61-45 Chinook lead.

Maine then responded with a coast to coast bucket of his own moments late to bring Harlem back within 12, 63-51.

With :07.3 seconds left in the third quarter Bell converted a pair from the charity stripe and after a steel at mid-court, Schneider hit Bell for a slam dunk but was waived off as it came just moments after the buzzer sounded.

Allen would begin the fourth quarter for the Wildcats with a free throw, Young connected from beyond the arc and suddenly Harlem was within 10, 65-55.

Hannum then hit both ends of a one and one to push the lead back to 12. Hunter Gray came off the bench and contributed a big basket for the Wildcats just before sophomore Brad Cichosz connected from downtown to cut the lead back to single digits 67-60.

That would be as close as Harlem would get as Chinook was money from the free throw line the final six minutes of the contest.

The Sugarbeeters called a timeout and responded well. Bell hit two free throws and scored a deuce on the 'Beeters ensuing possession to extend the lead to 71-63.

Allen answered with another three pointer for the Wildcats. Bell stepped up once again for the Sugarbeeters with a floater in the lane to push the lead back to ten at 73-63.

Cichosz and the Wildcats would keep the pressure on the Sugarbeeters with another three to cut the lead back to 79-70 but Chinook would extend the lead at the charity stripe the final four minutes.

Freshman Ethan Bell knocked down six of six free throws down the stretch and Isaac was five of five over the final minutes as a team the Sugarbeeters hit on 16-17 fourth quarter free throws to secure the 94-80 non conference win and improve to 14-1 on the season, winners of 13 straight.

Junior Brendan Edwards scored nine points for Chinook and Kellam added eight points and nine rebounds. Cichosz scored 26 to lead the Wildcats including 17 in the fourth. Allen added 19.

Following the game an excited Bell was greeted by his teammates when he learned he had scored 51 points eclipsing the old mark of 42 set in 1968.

The Sugarbeeters are a very disciplined team on both offense and defense and while there are times when a player scores a lot of points in a blowout win. That was not the case Thursday night. The 'Beeters ran their offense with four or five passes occurring each possession.

Bells 51 point effort came on 8-12 (67%) shooting from beyond the arc and 9-16 from two point range as well as 9-11 from the free throw line, oh and by the way he recorded seven assists in the win to account for a total of 67 points on the night.

Bell felt pretty good from the start and was thrilled with the way the night played out, "I thought that was pretty cool, not many people get to accomplish that, my teammates got me the ball and I was able to make the shot. I felt like I had a rhythm going and we were executing as a team really well," said Bell.

After finding that rhythm in the first half it can be hard to get it going coming out of halftime, "We like to come out and make a statement to start the second half, the first three minutes are crucial and we did just that. Patience is the key and running the play is a big key to our success on offense and trusting each other," added Bell.

"The Wildcats certainly made adjustments to slow Isaac down," We ran plays to start the second half for Brandon, Riley and Cord in the post and we were able to find them, which helped create space on the court. They (The Wildcats) were chasing me and being able to do that led to space being created down the stretch and I was able to step up in the fourth quarter to help our team win," said Bell.

Junior Riley Kellam gets two first half points for the Sugarbeeters. Kellam nearly had another double double recording eight points and nine rebounds in the 'Beeter win.

The 'Beeters have one senior on their team, Tamer Jamieson and his impact on the team isn't lost on Bell, "It was senior night and it was absolutely for Tamer Jamieson, he's a big part of our team and he is an inspirational leader. In practice he's really vocal and for him to lose his rest of his season to an ACL is tough, so on senior night the win was definitely for him," said Bell.

The 'Beeters are definitely a team first and Bells performance Thursday night was certainly something special and his teammates let him know it, "They're a really supportive group and I can't think of a better group of guys to play basketball with. They were really happy for me in the locker room after the game and I was really happy for them because we got the win. It's a huge confidence boost which is big with the District Tournament right around the corner," concluded Bell.