MISSOULA — Eastern Montana residents are no strangers to long road trips, and the roughly 500-mile, nine-plus-hour drive from Scobey to Missoula for the Class C boys and girls state basketball tournaments at Dahlberg Arena is no exception.
Scobey senior Cooper Axtman said the trip is manageable with the right distractions.
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"We always bring our video game consoles and we'll throw something on out there in the back of the bus and we'll just play there, and we'll take a bunch of naps, watch a bunch of movies, and that's about how it goes," he said.
Axtman said he "beat everybody" while playing with the New York Giants on Madden and didn't do "too bad" playing with the Charlotte Hornets on NBA2K.
Fans Liana and Steven Handran, who follow the Spartans for most of their sporting events, have their own way of passing the miles.
"We usually have an argument or two along the way," Liana said with a hearty laugh. "Most of the time we do visit, just visit and talk about what we think is going to happen at the games or at the event we're attending."
Scobey superintendent Greg Hardy is no stranger to the drive, either. A Fairview native, Hardy played football at the University of Montana from 2008 to 2012.
Technology has impacted the experience of the long haul over the years.
"It's changed a lot," Hardy said. "It was like XM Radio and find a good station and AM (radio) when you hit that Miles City. But anymore with podcasts and everything they've got, just hit that interstate and go."
Scobey had the longest road trip of any team competing in the Class C state basketball tournaments at Dahlberg Arena, just edging Eastern C rival Lustre Christian. The Spartans brought both their boys and girls teams to Missoula, meaning passionate fans left home Tuesday and won't return until Sunday.
The Handrans said the trip was worth closing up shop for.
"We literally shut the store down to come. I mean, we own the furniture store in town, and we closed it to come," Liana said. "I mean, there's hardly anybody left, right?"
Steven Handran joked he turned off the lights when he left.
But what's no joke is how much Spartan sports mean to the Scobey community — and vice versa.
"We're so sports-oriented, it's unreal," Axtman said. "We have so much support, and everybody cares so much about it. There'll be people without even kids on this team that show out and give every single thing they got to cheer, and it's just awesome to see."
