Sunburst boys derailed by tough loss to Power

The Sunburst Refiners boys basketball team’s season came to an end last weekend, defeating Dutton/Brady 43-37, but losing to Heart Butte 74-33, and Power 33-30.

Wednesday the Refiners opened up against the Dutton/Brady Diamondbacks. The boys opened up the tournament on fire, jumping out to an 11-1 first quarter lead. The Refiners kept building behind some good zone attacks to take a 27-12 halftime lead.

Connor Sullivan led the Refiners with 18, Conlan Kerfoot added 10, Virgil Manthey put in nine, John Buckley added four, and Ian Benjamin had two.

The second half, Dutton/Brady kept chipping away at the lead as the game wore on. In the fourth quarter, the lead had shrunk down to just three points. But the Refiners held on as they scored on their last three possessions to cap off a 43-37 win.

Sullivan led again with 15, Kerfoot had nine, Benjamin had four, Manthey had two, and Parker Berthelote, Vince Taylor, and Buckley each had one.

That brought the Refiners to the semifinals on Thursday night against the undefeated Heart Butte Warriors. A dead second quarter sealed the Refiners fate as the Warriors jumped ahead 30-9 at the break and never looked back, pushing the lead to 74-33 by the final horn.

Friday morning Sunburst played in loser-out action against the Power Pirates. The Refiners once again jumped out to an early lead, but allowed Power to climb back in. 

After the first quarter the score was 10-9 in favor of the Refiners. The game continued to stay tight throughout, as the Refiner offense ground to a halt. Power made a couple shots late in the third quarter to build a 29-21 lead that turned out to be insurmountable. Despite not giving up a field goal in the fourth quarter, the Refiners couldn’t knock down any shots and their season came to an end 33-30.

Kerfoot led the way with 16, Sullivan had seven, Berthelote had three, and Benjamin and Manthey had two.

Coach Nate Aschim stated, “This was one of the most disappointing losses of my career, as I thought there was a path for us to continue our season at the divisional tournament, but it wasn’t meant to be. Sometimes that ball doesn’t want to bounce your way and Friday was a day like that.”