The Arlee Warriors went into the state tournament with high expectations and confidence. That showed early on, as the Warriors plowed over their first round opponent, Culbertson. Up 49-20 at half, the Warrior reserves got to see some minutes. They went on to win that game 85-46, and moved on to the semifinal game Friday night.

In that game, Arlee met up with Belt, the same team they played last year in the semifinals. Last year, Belt went on to win the state championship. This year, the Warriors got their revenge. In a back and forth contest, Arlee led after the first quarter, then fell behind by two at half. Arlee tied it back up after three. In the fourth quarter, Phillip Malatare took control, and no Belt player could stop the Warriors as they took the win 69-63. Malatare finished the game with 30 points, and Tyler Tanner added 24.

With that, the Arlee Warriors headed to the championship game. Neither Arlee, or their opponent, Box Elder, were strangers to playing on the big stage. Both teams also played in their respective football state championships. Both teams also lost in those games; Arlee in Class C 8-man and Box Elder in Class C 6-man.

In front of over 5,500 fans, the teams battled it out for a shot at redemption.

The Warriors came out a little nervous and the Bears came out shooting. In a game that moved at least twice as fast as the consolation game, the Bears couldn’t miss in the first half, while the Warriors struggled to get a shot to fall.

After a stellar performance the night before, Phillip Malatare came out with a vengeance, pulling off moves that had the entire Four Seasons Arena impressed. The game stayed close throughout the second half until Box Elder went on a little run at the end of the second quarter and went up 41-33 going into halftime.

After about a two minute halftime break, the Warriors came back onto the court.

A few minutes later the Bears were back out and the second half started. Box Elder’s big man Jerrod Four Colors gave the Warriors troubles throughout the game. He had 15 rebounds, including seven offensive. The Bears continued to be hot, and went up big as the quarter went on. However, the Warriors stuck around, pulling back within 12 points several times before the Bears would kick it in again. Box Elder’s Brandon The Boy also gave the Warriors troubles, as he had seven steals by the end. The rest of the game saw Arlee trying to play catch up, and a little over halfway through the fourth, the Warriors lost their spark of the night, Malatare, who fouled out, then received a standing ovation from the crowd, and a few hand shakes from the Box Elder players. The Warriors went on to lose, 73-95.

After the game, coach Zanen Pitts talked about what went wrong. “We knew the team with the least mistakes was going to win. They exploited us in many different areas. The kids had jitters, and we struggled in a lot of areas,” he said.

But it wasn’t all bad. Pitts explained why the team did not spend a lot of time in the locker room at halftime. “Not much we can say – just relax. There were not adjustments we really needed to make. We just needed to cut down on turnovers and relax and focus on our shots,” he said, “But we did really well, we went into the half leading in rebounds and free throws.”

The Bears shot 80 percent from beyond the arc in the first half, and over 48 percent from within. “They shot the lights out. Three-pointers are daggers. That’s what we said coming in. We knew that they were better shooters,” Pitts said.

Looking back on the season, Pitts talked about the feeling of working with the seniors on the team. “Greatest four years of my life. It’s so bittersweet,” he said, “It’s amazing how something so accomplished, such a high award, can feel so sour. You just have to look past the little things and see the bigger picture – how amazing it has been and what they’ve turned into.”

An emotional Isaac Desjarlais explained how the Warriors were feeling before and during the game. “We came out trying to be calm and just know that we would be in this and know that we had hope and not give up – leave it all on the court – this was our last game of the year,” he said, “I’m going to miss it. We’ve been playing together since day one.”

During the game, Desjarlais was tasked with guarding The Boy. He said it was not tough to prepare for. “I guarded Phillip Malatare [in practice], one of the best dribblers out there, one of the best ball handlers out there,” he said.

Maltare, a sophomore, had an amazing tournament. In the championship game alone, he was the game high scorer, hitting 10 of 17 shots and making 13 of 15 free throws to score 33 points. He averaged over 25 points through the three games at state.

Senior Patrick BigSam had a double-double on the night, scoring 16 points and pulling in 11 rebounds, but struggled from beyond the arc. Tyler Tanner had 16 points, but also struggled to get three’s to fall.

Box Elder had four players score in double digits compared to just two by Arlee, which was an unusual occurrence for the Warriors.

First round

Arlee 85, Culbertson 46

Arlee- 23 26 24 12 - 85

Culbertson- 9 11 15 11 - 46

ARLEE - Isaac Desjarlais 3-4 2-2 8, Philip Malatare 6-11 1-3 13, Tyler Tanner 8-12 0-0 16, Patrick BigSam 2-6 6-6 10, Brad Brazill 4-8 3-5 11, Colt Brazill 1-3 0-0 3, Greg Whitesell 4-7 0-0 10, Alex Moran 1-5 0-0 3, Justis Haynes 1-6 0-0 3, Aaron Perry 0-2 0-0 0, Rory Bird 3-4 0-0 6, Dennis Fisher 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 34-71 12-16 85.

CULBERTSON - Chris Azure 1-6 0-0 3, Adam Buxbaum 5-10 1-2 11, Shay Bridges 2-11 1-4 6, Eric Hendrickson 0-4 0-0 0, Ethan Hendrickson 6-9 3-4 15, Brayden Olson 1-3 2-3 4, Jonathan Hilde 0-0 2-3 2, Lance Bengochea 2-6 0-0 5. Totals 17-49 9-16 46.

3-point goals - Arlee 5-19 (Whitesell 2-3, Colt Brazill 1-2, Moran 1-3, Haynes 1-4), Cul 3-15 (Bengochea 1-1, Bridges 1-3, Azure 1-6). Total fouls - Arlee 17, Cul 12. Fouled out - Azure. Rebounds - Arlee 35 (Tanner 7), Cul 35 (Buxbaum 11). Turnovers - Arlee 13, Cul 26.

Semifinal

Arlee 69, Belt 63

Belt- 15 16 15 17 – 63

Arlee- 17 12 17 23 – 69

Belt – Keagan Stroop 1-5 1-2 4, Harry Green 2-5 0-0 4, Koltin Haugrose 6-13 2-3 16, Jess Bodner 5-10 0-0 10, Jaren Maki 0-2 2-2 2, Matt Metrione 6-10 10-12 23, Dusty Potter 0-0 2-2 2, Trey Heitzman 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 21-46 17-21.

Arlee – Isaac Desjarlais 1-2 0-0 2, Philip Malatare 12-23 6-6 30, Tyler Tanner 8-16 5-5 24, Greg Whitesell 0-2 0-0 0, Justis Haynes 0-2 0-0 0, Patrick BigSam 3-10 0-1 8, Brad Brazill 2-10 1-4 5. Totals: 26-65 12-16.

Fouls – Belt 14, Arlee 20. 3-pointers – Belt 4-13 (Stroop 1-3, Green 0-3, Haugrose 2-5, Maki 0-1, Metrione 1-1), Arlee 5-12 (Tanner 3-7, Whitesell 0-1, Haynes 0-1, Big Sam 2-3). Rebounds – Belt 35 (Metrione 10), Arlee 31 (Malatare 10). Assists – Belt 9 (Stroop 3, Metrione 3), Arlee 11 (Desjarlais 4, Tanner 4). Turnovers – Belt 16, Arlee 10. Steals – Belt 4(Haugrose 2), Arlee 7 (Malatare 4). Blocks – none.

Championship

Arlee 73, Box Elder 95

Box Elder- 13 28 27 27 – 95

Arlee- 12 21 19 21 – 73

BOX ELDER – Jerrod Four Colors 11-17 3-6 26, Pernell Morsette 6-11 0-1 12, Brandon The Boy 9-11 5-6 25, Bodis Duran 2-8 0-0 5, Tristan Bernard 1-3 3-6 6, Jake Jones-Morsette 4-6 2-2 13, Elias Robertson 1-2 0-0 2, Trey Henderson 1-4 0-0 2, Shane Ketchum 0-1 4-4 4. Totals: 35-63 17-25 95.

ARLEE – Isaac Desjarlais 0-4 1-4 1, Philip Malatare 10-17 13-15 33, Tyler Tanner 7-16 1-1 16, Greg Whitesell 0-1 0-0 0, Justis Haynes 1-6 0-0 2, Patrick BigSam 6-18 4-6 16, Aaron Perry 1-2 0-0 2, Brad Brazill 1-5 1-2 3. Totals: 26-69 20-28 73.

3-point goals – Box Elder 8-15 (Jones-Morsette 3-4, The Boy 2-2, Duran 1-1, Bernard 1-1, Four Colors 1-3), Arlee 1-17 (Tanner 1-5). Rebounds – Box Elder 43 (Four Colors 15), Arlee 34 (BigSam 11). Assists – Box Elder 12 (three with 3), Arlee 7 (BigSam 2). Blocks – Box Elder 4 (Four Colors 2), Arlee 3 (three with 1). Steals – Box Elder 13 (The Boy 7), Arlee 19 (BigSam 5). Turnovers – Box Elder 28, Arlee 23. Total fouls – Box Elder 22, Arlee 23. Fouled out – Malatare.