Savage Heat hoists district trophy

The Savage Heat were powered to their first district championship in over a decade by the red-hot shooting of their sophomore forward, but after the game he was feeling ice cold.

Hot Springs' Reiley Winebrenner had 31 points, including six 3-pointers, in the Savage Heat's 60-53 victory over Two Eagle River in the 14-C District championship game in the Ronan Event Center Saturday. "I was on. I had the chills," said Winebrenner. "Wow" was all that Hot Springs coach Kevin Meredith could say of Winebrenner's shooting. "When you're shooting the ball like that it makes it tough on the other team. It's hard to defend," Meredith said.

With a 31-29 lead at halftime, Winebrenner scored all of the Savage Heat's 10 points in the third quarter, including a 3-pointer with under a minute to play to give Hot Springs a one-point lead heading into to the final quarter.

Winebrenner wasn't the only one shooting the ball well for the Savage Heat. Senior Drew Flagen hit three 3-pointers and finished the game with 13 points. Flagen opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and Winebrenner hit his second three in the quarter with a little over four and a half minutes to play in the game to give Hot Springs a 56-46 lead. Two Eagle started to mount a comeback, but Nick Pavelich sealed the deal when he hit a layup, giving Hot Springs a 60-51 lead with under two minutes to play. Pavelich finished the game with 11 points.

Hot Springs started the tournament with an easy 71-36 victory over St. Regis Wednesday. On Thursday, it looked like the Savage Heat was coasting to their second easy win when they took on the second-seeded Superior Bobcats. Hot Springs had a 28-point lead in the fourth quarter, but the Bobcats came storming back, scoring 33 points in the quarter, but Blake Herman hit two free throws with under five seconds to play and the Savage Heat escaped with a 62-61 win and earned a berth in the championship.

The Savage Heat's victory over Two Eagle not only earned them a chance in the divisional tournament in Butte Thursday to Saturday, it also ended Noxon's season. After being upset by Two Eagle in their first game, the Red Devils had fought back and won their next two games and could have challenged Hot Springs for the spot at the divisional tournament if the Savage Heat would have loss the championship game.

In the 79-71 upset to Two Eagle Thursday, the Red Devils fell behind early and were trailing 66-45 heading into the fourth quarter, before Noxon junior Cody Linderman took over the game. Linderman scored 15 of Noxon's 26 points in the quarter to bring the Red Devils within reach, but the deficit was too much to overcome and the top-seeded Red Devils fell in their first game. "We dug ourselves a huge hole," Noxon coach Ryan Weltz said about spotting the Eagles 20 points. "We battled back, but it was too much." he added.

Weltz said that by giving Two Eagle such a large lead, it forced the Red Devils to play the Eagles up and down the court style of play. He said going into the game they knew that Two Eagle was a tough tournament team, but the Red Devils still weren't prepared for them. "They always come alive at tournament time. We weren't ready for them," Weltz said.

Linderman finished with 31 points in the loss and seniors Ryan Eichert and Peter Ferrell each put in eight.

An easy 71-30 victory over St. Regis Saturday set the Red Devils against the Superior Bobcats in the consolation game. After jumping out to a 15-5 lead in the first quarter, Noxon let Superior back in the game in the second quarter and only went into halftime with a two-point lead. At halftime, Weltz told his team they were going down the same road they had against the Eagles and the Red Devils responded by outscoring Superior 30 to 13 in the second half to cruise to a 50-32 victory and a third place finish in the tournament.

Weltz said the Red Devils came out at halftime and ran three perfect offensive sets that resulted in six points and also set the tone for the second half. "It gave us a lot of confidence and it kind of broke their back," he said. Linderman led the Red Devils in scoring with 14 points. Ferrell finished with 10 and Eichert put in nine.