Savage Heat season ends at divisionals
Hot Springs had a chance to win both of their games at the Western C Divisional Tournament, but couldn't close the deal and ended their season in Butte this weekend.
“In both games we had a chance,” said Hot Springs coach Kevin Meredith. “They were close games; we just couldn't get over the hump.”
The Savage Heat started the tournament with a 62-48 loss to Gardiner Thursday and ended with a 52-47 loss to Victor Friday to finish the season 13-9. Meredith said the sting of the season-ending losses are still fresh, but he hopes his team can look back on the season, in which they beat Plains and won the district tournament for the first time in over a decade, with pride. “I hope they come away from it with a good attitude,” he said. “They accomplished a lot of things this year,” he added.
Against Gardiner Thursday, Hot Springs fell behind early and trailed 20-8 at the end of the first quarter. “They hit a lot of jump shots,” Meredith said. He said the Savage Heat switched to a man defense and pretty much kept Gardiner in check the rest of the game, but the early deficit was too much to make up. “They got hot early and we had to spend the rest of the game playing catch-up,” Meredith said.
The Savage Heat started playing catch-up in the second quarter and had narrowed the lead to 26-22 by halftime, but the Bruins' 15-point output in the third quarter proved too much to overcome and Hot Springs was sent to the loser bracket to take on the Pirates.
Senior Nick Pavelich led the Savage Heat in scoring with 13 points. Carter Farrier and freshman Cody Hoff followed with 10 apiece. Meredith said that while it's usual to see Pavelich at the top of the scorer's sheet, Farrier and Hoff leading the Savage Heat in points is a rarity. He said both of them stepped up their games and gave Hot Springs a chance to win.
Against the Pirates Friday, once again, the Savage Heat fell behind early and trailed 19-14 going into the second quarter. Hot Springs' defense held Victor to only six points in the second quarter and went into halftime trailing 25-24. Both teams went back and forth in the third quarter and Victor went into the final quarter with a slim two-point lead. The Savage Heat couldn't manage to overcome the small deficit and Hot Springs finished the season with a 52-47 loss.
Meredith said the game was so close that if a couple of bounces would have gone their way, they would have lived to play another game. He said that Victor was a disciplined team that worked the ball around until they got a good shot. “They really made us work on defense,” he said. Reiley Winebrenner and Drew Flagen led the Savage Heat in scoring, each finishing with 13 points.
Twin Bridges went on to win the tournament in the Maroon Activity Center and will advance to the Class C State Tournament at the Butte Civic Center Feb. 28- March 1. Gardiner and Shields Valley will have to play a challenge game to see what other team from the Western C division will join Twin Bridges at the tournament.