Arlee Warriors place fourth at State C tournament

High-flying Warrior Kyle Felsman goes up for a deuce launch against the Power Pirates in the semifinal game of the State C tournament. Felsman led the Warriors to victory heights previously unseen in Arlee basketball. The Warriors finished the season with a 25-4 record and a fourth place finish at the State C tournament. (B.L. Azure photo)

BILLINGS — The Arlee Warriors 2009-2010 basketball season came to an end Saturday night at the State C tournament. It is where all of the other Class C teams wanted to be at the end of the season but only four teams out of 88 would and they were the Warriors, the Culbertson Cowboys, the Power Pirates and Big Sandy Pioneers.

The Big Sandy Pioneers topped the Power Pirates 51-49 to win their first State tourney championship since 1963 when they won the State B tournament.

The Culbertson Cowboys topped the Arlee Warriors in the consolation game 43-41.

Meatloaf said two out of three ain’t bad and he probably would say to the Arlee Warriors that fourth out of 88 ain’t too shabby. Their 25-4 record is stellar and is the most victories in a season by any Arlee team ever.

Arlee 59, Culbertson 56
The Warriors (23-2) opened play against the Culbertson Cowboys (24-2), winner of the Eastern C divisional. And the Cowboys didn’t waste time putting distance between themselves and the Warriors. They opened the game with a 7-0 run which caused the Warriors to take a time out to regroup with 4:45 remaining in the quarter. The Warriors finally entered the scoring book on a Kody Morigeau 12-footer at the 4:10 mark.

The Cowboys closed out the first with a 15-12 scoring advantage and led 22-14 going into the second. The Cowboys continued to pile it on with an 8-2 run to go up 30-16 at the 4:47 mark. Once again the Warriors called a time out to get their bearings and chart their course for the remainder of the quarter. The Warriors with Kyle Felsman and Kasey Bridgewater leading the charge closed out the quarter with an 11-4 run to narrow the Cowboys lead to seven (34-27) at the half.

The Warriors came out of the lockers and went on an all-hands-on-deck 16-11 run to pull within two (45-43) after three. Felsman knotted it up at 45-45 with a lay in to open the fourth quarter scoring then scored four more to put the Warriors up 49-45 with 6:45 remaining in the game.

Junior Warrior and 3-bomber extraordinaire Kasey Bridgewater came on like gangbusters in the Warriors divisional and state tourney run. For his efforts he was named to the Western C divisional and State C tourney all-tourney teams. (B.L. Azure photo)

The Warriors were able to keep the lead the remainder of the game, however the Cowboys pulled within one (55-54) with 30 seconds remaining and (57-56) with 15 seconds to go. A pair of free throws by Thomas McClure with eight seconds remaining put Arlee up 59-56. The Cowboys were unable to score in the final seconds. The Warriors won and earned a spot in the semifinals against the Power Pirates.

Warrior Jesse Pfau led the Warriors with 17 points; Kody Morigeau had 12 and Kyle Felsman and Kasey Bridgewater each scored 10 points.

Cowboy Fred Lester led Culbertson with 17 points; Nicholas Oelkers and Alex Weeks each scored 10 points.

The win sent the Warriors to a semifinal match up against the Power Pirates.

The loss sent the Cowboys to a loser out game against St. Labre.

Power 59, Arlee 48
The Warriors and Pirates played a near even first quarter with Arlee grabbing an 11-10 lead after one. The Pirates responded with a 14-10 second quarter advantage to go up 24-21 at the half.

The Warriors opened the third with five points by Kyle Felsman to go up 26-24 at the 6:35 mark. The teams stayed close to each other and the Warriors had the lead at 31-30 with 2:55 remaining in the third. It was then that the Pirates went on an 11-2 run to close out the quarter and go up 41-33 after three.

The Warriors pulled within three (41-38) with 6:05 remaining in the game but Arlee would get no closer. The Pirates closed out the fourth with a 16-7 run to earn the 59-48 victory.

Warrior Kyle Felsman led Arlee with 15 points; Jesse Pfau had 10 and John Sansavere had nine points.

Pirates Hayden Vick and Gus Somerfield led Power with 20 points each.

The Arlee loss sent the Warriors to a loser out game against the Drummond Trojans.

The Power victory sent Power to the championship game against the Big Sandy Pioneers.

Arlee 59, Drummond 55
The Warriors faced off against the Western C’s other State C tourney qualifier Drummond in Saturday morning’s loser out contest. The Trojans beat Shields Valley in the Western C championship game; the Warriors then beat Shields Valley in a challenge game to qualify for the State C tourney.

The Warriors showed little effects of their semifinal loss and went on a 13-5 first quarter run. The Trojans responded with a 14-12 second quarter run but were on the short end of the 25-19 halftime score.

The Trojans went on a 16-10 third quarter run to knot the score at 35-35 after three. The Warriors went on an 11-6 run to go up 46-41 with 3:37 to go in the game. The Trojans would get no closer than four after that and the Warriors won 59-55.

Warrior Kody Morigeau led Arlee with 18 points; Kasey Bridgewater and John Sansavere each had 11 points and Jesse Pfau had 10.

Trojan Neil Mannix led Drummond with 22 points and Nate Bignell had 13.

The Warriors win put them in the consolation game against the Culbertson Cowboys.

Culbertson 43, Arlee 41
It’s hard to beat a team twice in a tournament and the Warriors found that out against the Culbertson Cowboys, whom they beat in the opening round.

The Cowboys went up by three (10-7) after one then went on an 18-11 second quarter run to go up 28-18 at the half.

The Warriors came out of the lockers and went on a 10-6 run to narrow the Cowboys lead to 34-28 after three. The Warriors continued to hold down the Cowboys’ offense in check in the fourth but they fell two short (43-41) despite their 13-9 scoring advantage.

The Warriors ended the season with a 25-4 record.

Warrior Kasey Bridgewater led Arlee with 17 points and Kyle Felsman had 11.

Cowboy Alex Weeks led Culbertson with 15 points and Nick Oelkers had 10. The Cowboys ended the season with a 26-3 record.