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

The Harlem Wildcats will be the last Blaine County team to take the court this winter in Billings this weekend at the Class B Tip-off Showcase being held at Lockwood High School. This season the Wildcats will be under the direction of Ben Carrywater with Assistant Head Coach Tom Champagne. The C squad coach will be Miles Werk.

Out this season are seniors, Kelbi Bigby, Thunder Bigby, Tommy Champagne, Dallas Doney, Jerry Kirkaldie, Troy Longknife, Moses Lawrence, Antone Rider, Beau Rider and Erik Snell. Juniors will be Christian Beaumont Diondre Firstraised, Swede Horse Capture, Seth Ironchild, Vandis Little and Lance Morgan. Sophomores are Mathew Billmayer, Miles Fetter, Caylon Lawrence, Cody McCabe, Weston Snell and Xavier Young. Freshman are Fisher Beaumont, Lathan Black Wolf, Braenlin Foote, Kelan Horn, Carter Lawrence, Landon Trottier, Chaysen Walker, Kenny Weasle and Talen Werk.

The Wildcats will once again be a young team, "My returning starters are Tommy Champagne, Matt Billmayer and Cody McCabe. Cody and Matt are my sophomores and Tommy is a senior, they will be our leaders on the court this year. Right now, are starting five will also include Moses Lawrence, senior and Deondre Firstraised, junior," said Carrywater.

Carrywater knows who he'll be counting on in addition to his returners, "We are going to have Christian Beaumont, junior and Eric Snell, senior, Kelby Bigby and Thunder Bigby seniors, Miles Fetter, sophomore that we will utilize as well. We also added to our roster, Lance Morgan, a transfer from Heart Butte who was a freshman on our runner up team at state."

The Wildcats like to run, "Offensively we want to push the ball and really attack the basket, a controlled up-tempo style of play. We got some offensive sets we can run if the fast break isn't there then we will pull it out and run an offense," said Carrywater. "We will look to shoot the ball from the perimeter, everyone on our team can shoot the ball, but our focus will be primarily attack the basket. We will run mainly a five out and mix it up time to time with a four and one. It will be a fast motion offense. My big men will be Moses, Eric, Lance and Thunder."

The Wildcats will definitely force teams to play fast, "Defensively we will go man to man trapping defense and try to make the opposing teams play faster than they want to and throw in some zone if need to. We will run a 1-2-2 full court press as well as a full court man to man," commented Carrywater.

This season Carrywater has some things he wants to see his team accomplish, "Our team goals is always to win state, the small goals are to win more games than last year, have a winning season, win Districts, divisional and of course state. As coaches we really want them to be students first, we are really big on academics. We also want the kids to outwork the opponent every night."

Following the games in Lockwood the Wildcats will travel to Hays to take on the Thunderbirds on December 19. They will host the Dodson Coyotes on December 21. They will close out 2023 on the road in Poplar on December 22. Following the new year Harlem will have road contests in Nashua, Fairview, Wolf Point, Malta, Glasgow, Dodson and Box Elder. Home contests in the new year will include games against Box Elder, Hays/Lodge Pole, Poplar, Nashua, Fairview, Wolf Point, Glasgow and Malta. The District 2B will be in Wolf Point, The Northern B Divisional will be in Malta and State will be in Billings.`