PABLO – And the Horsemen ride on.

Perhaps a little under the radar for a team with such an impressive 18-3 record, the Plains Horsemen won second place in the district 14C tournament last week and will ride on into the Western C divisional tournament in Hamilton Thursday as one of the darkhorses in that tourney, which is packed with high powered teams from across western Montana this season.

And for as many good teams as there are in the draw for the Western C, the Horsemen appear to be on the favorable side of things as Arlee and Manhattan Christian, the first and second place teams from last year's State C tourney, are both on the other side. The tournament begins Thursday at noon with Manhattan Christian playing Drummond followed by Arlee versus Darby at 1:30 p.m.

The Horsemen will begin their tourney appearance facing Seeley-Swan at 6:30 p.m., and Twin Bridges and Gardiner will mix it up at 8 in the final game of the first day. When all is said and done Saturday night (or Monday in the event of a challenge game) the top two Western C teams will move on to the State C tournament in Butte March 1-3.

Plains defeated Seeley-Swan 58-49 in Plains back on Jan. 27, so coach Mike Cole knows what his Horsemen are up against with the Blackhawks.

"I really think defense is the key for us," he said. "If the game score is in the fifties or low sixties that would favor us. If it's in the high sixties or seventies that would favor Seeley."

The Horsemen certainly played good defense in their first two games at the 14C tourney last week, shutting down St. Regis 61-16 in the first round Thursday and then denying Charlo 50-33 in the semifinals Friday.

Arlee managed to break through Plains' line of defense Saturday night and ran out to a 95-59 win in the 14C title tilt.

The Horsemen were never in danger in their first round game with St. Regis, scoring enough points in the first quarter (21) to win, and coasting in from there. Kyle Weeks scored 16 points to pace the H-Men, Treydon Brouillette added 13, Jay VonHeeder 11, Wyatt Weyers six, Sinjin LaDeaux and Esvin Reyes four apiece, and Tanner Ovitt, Matt McCracken and Jake Weyers two each.

Ian Farris and Andrew Sanford led St. Regis with four points apiece.

Guarding against an upset in the semifinals Friday, the Horsemen kept the Charlo Vikings at bay, and led the game the whole way. VonHeeder counted 12 points to lead Plains, Ovitt scored 11, Sinjin LaDeaux nine, Weeks eight, Matt McCracken seven, Derick Curry two and Brouillette one.

Landers Smith scored 17 points for Charlo and Tyson Petticrew 13.

The Horsemen hung tough with No. 1 ranked Arlee through the first quarter of the championship, which ended with the Warriors leading 26-20, but a 22-7 run by Arlee in the second period made the score 48-27 by halftime and Arlee cruised in for the win from there.

Weeks scored 21 points to pace the Horsemen, VonHeeder added 18, McCracken five, LaDeaux and Brouillette four each, and Ovitt and Wyatt Weyers two each.

Will Mesteth threw down 26 points to lead Arlee, Phillip Malatare added 25, Lane Johnson 13 and Greg Whitesell 12.

Cole thinks his Horsemen will be facing the Gardiner Bruins Friday if they can get by Seeley Thursday.

"Gardiner scares me," he said. "They have everyone back from a pretty good team last year and they really score well. They are pretty deep on the bench, they have one good big and the rest of them are shooters. They could test us defensively."