Scobey Boys Could Not Challenge Plentywood So Season Concludes

It became next-season time for the Scobey boys’ basketball team when the Plentywood Wildcats dealt them a 42-39 semifinal loss the afternoon of Thursday, February 29, at the East C Divisional Tournament in Glasgow.

The loss dropped the Spartans into the loser-out side of the bracket where they never lost during Friday’s action. The problem was the Wildcats lost to the Lustre Christian Lions 56-47 in Friday night’s championship game. That meant the Spartans, who defeated Culbertson and Froid-Lake earlier in the day, could not force a challenge-game matchup with Plentywood on Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest.

In other words, Scobey’s 2023-24 season came to an instant halt at exactly 9:08 p.m. Friday when Lustre Christian defeated the Wildcats by those nine points.

If one would want to really break this down, as much as it might hurt to hear, the truth of the matter is this: as good as the Spartans were this season, and they were indeed a very good basketball team, the deciding factor came down to varsity playing-time experience. It was easy to think Scobey was already on its way to the State C Tournament in Great Falls after knocking off the topranked Lions 53-43 on the Spartans’ home court January 13 (and, it needs to be added, becoming the new top-ranked team in Class C).

Reality then began showing up, starting on Saturday, February 10, in Lustre when the Lions were 49-39 winners over the Spartans. Seven days later, in the District 3C Tournament championship game, Lustre Christian was again a winner over Scobey, this time by 16 points at 55-39.

Twelve days later, on Thursday, February 29, it was Plentywood using their experience advantage over the Spartans in an extremely tight game, the largest lead being Scobey ahead 3730 at the beginning of ...