Noxon boys pure magic in buzzer beater
Matt Unrau
If you’re thinking of heading to the movie theatre on Friday or Saturday night, don’t. If you’re thinking of watching primetime televison on a Tuesday night, turn it off. Because the Noxon Red Devils are officially the new kings of drama.
After surviving a buzzer beater from Two Eagle River on Friday night to win by two points, the boys turned around on Saturday night and provided some late magic of their own against Charlo.
Down by five points with five minutes left in the game against the preseason number one team in conference things were looking grim for the Red Devils. However Sophomore Jordan Eichert came through in a big way draining back to back three pointers to put Noxon up by one with 12 seconds left in the game.
A foul call then put Charlo on the line where they made the front end of the pair of free throws. Then out of timeouts Junior Bryant Eaton dribbled the length of the court dished off to Tyrell Wilkinson who sank the 15 foot shot at the buzzer for the win, 53-51.
“It was exciting, the gym was rocking,” says Head Coach Mike Tessier. He says he can’t remember the last time Noxon won a game at the buzzer and estimates that it was probably five or six years ago.
“Oh my gosh, they(the players) were ecstatic,” says Tessier. “Everyone was screaming and yelling and jumping up and down. They worked really hard and they deserved to be jubilant at the end of the game.”
Tessier says he was surprised that his team came back when they were down by 5 with a minute left and says in that scenario all he can do is tell the kids what to do, hope that do it and catch a few lucky breaks.
“When we were down by 5 with a minute left Charlo had the momentum and it wasn’t looking good for us,” says Tessier. “Within a few seconds the tide kind of turned. Our kids kept their composure and they turned the tide.”
On Friday night against Two Eagle River it was Eichert who provided what turned out be the game winner by sinking two free throws with seven seconds left in the game. Two Eagle River then had a chance to tie up the game, but the shot didn’t go down and Noxon won the game 48-46.
Now after winning their first two conference games, Noxon sits at 2-0 and on top of the league that they were picked fourth in the preseason. Although they’ll be on break until January 2, Tessier expects the rest of the year to continue to be a battle royale.
“What I’m thinking about conference is that it’s gonna be a dogfight down to the last game and this weekend proved it. Every game is gonna be a battle,” says Tessier. “It’s early. We’re 2-0 right now. But we got a long ways to go. We’re definitely not satisfied.”
Eichert led the Red Devils against Charlo with 18 points, while Banks Stocking chipped in 10 points. Against Two Eagle River Eric Stevenson had 10 points and Jessie Linderman had 8 points to lead a squad that saw nine players score on the night.