Arave’s second-half eruption leads Blackfoot to comeback victory over Hillcrest

BLACKFOOT — Before the Blackfoot Broncos and Hillcrest Knights tipped their all-important conference showdown Friday night, the Blackfoot High School crowd honored seniors Austin Arave and Kasen Sorensen, both of whom recently reached the career 1,000-point mark.

Both Blackfoot stars got off to slow starts, though. And while Arave found his offensive rhythm late, Sorensen made his impact in other ways, leading the Broncos (14-2, 7-1) to a 53-50 comeback victory.

Even without their scoring leaders, Blackfoot stormed out of the gate and was on pace for a 100-point explosion. But the Knights (8-9, 5-2) and head coach Mat Barber made a few tweaks to their defensive approach, completely turning the tide.

After jumping out to a 16-8 lead less than four minutes into the game, the Broncos scored just four points over the next 12-plus minutes and went into halftime trailing 28-20.

Bronco head coach Clint Arave called Hillcrest “atypical” in its ability to defend. The Knights are responsible in Blackfoot’s two lowest-scoring nights of the season — Friday’s 53 and in a 60-48 Hillcrest home victory on Jan. 6.

“They did a really good job of defending us — they did a good job of stalling us out,” Clint said, noting how proud he was of his team for making the necessary adjustments and battling back. “That would have been an easy game to get disheartened and just … give up.”

Clint said that he stubbornly stuck to what has worked, and gotten his team its first 13 wins of the season, but he made those adjustments at halftime.

“It’s really hard to go, ‘OK, let’s throw out what we’ve done all season long and won 13 games with … and got to this to see how it works,'” he said. “We’ve got to be better at letting our offense create easier shots for us, and in the second half we adjusted and that’s what started happening.”

After forcing tough shots — which he said was a bad plan against a good team — Clint said his team did a better job attacking the paint in the second half.

The coach’s son was the driving force in that approach.

Austin, who entered the game among the state leaders in scoring at 19.7 points per game, scored just four in the first half. He scored Blackfoot’s first eight in the third quarter, needing just over four minutes to do it.

“Sometimes, when it’s not coming, you’ve got to make it happen,” he said. “I’ve had this job since I was a sophomore, so I think I’m always capable of doing that … and opening things up for us.”

Arave scored 13 points in the third quarter and six more in the fourth to finish with a game-high 23.

“It’s not going to go in sometimes, so you’ve just got to trust the next shot is going in,” he said. “I probably took a little too many tonight, but I trust the work that I’ve put into this game, and that I’m going to come out in the second half and bring us this win.”

Sorensen, who scored just two in the first half, salted the game going 3-of-4 from the free throw line in the final 30 seconds to finish with seven points on the night. But he insinuated himself into the outcome with defense and rebounding, grabbing 12 boards, blocking two shots and snagging one steal.

Austin did a bit of that as well, adding seven rebounds and two steals to his 23-point night.

Junior Ledger Baldwin, who was largely responsible for Blackfoot’s hot start, ended the night with 13 points.

Hillcrest was led by sophomore Ethan Saunders, who scored 13 before fouling out near the midway point in the fourth quarter. Freshman Dieter Kesler dropped 11, while senior Tyson Sweetwood gave his team a little bit of everything, scoring seven points, grabbing eight rebounds, blocking one shot and swiping one steal.

After the game, Austin spoke about the importance of the “huge” win, saying it puts the Broncos in position to hold home-court advantage when the district tournament starts in two weeks. With two more conference wins, at Shelley on Wednesday and at Bonneville on Friday, Blackfoot would claim the conference and that advantage — with Hillcrest having lost a conference game to Skyline.

Before that, though, Austin and his squad will face another huge test when they welcome the reigning 5A state champs from Preston to town Saturday night.

The back-to-back, against the two teams that played in the state title game a year ago, was one Clint circled on the calendar when the schedule was made official.

“Really, we’re kinda viewing Preston as an opportunity,” noting that the playoffs will require Blackfoot to play high-caliber teams on consecutive days.

He went on to say that Friday’s win offered momentum the Broncos can use to “catapult” into Saturday and beyond.

The key to a Blackfoot win Saturday, Austin said, is playing “with nothing to lose” from the tip.

“Just come out, ball out and do what we do — trust the work that we put in,” he said.