Thompson Falls boys take tip-off tourney

At Plains, the Blue Hawks exploded with a 22-point first quarter and never looked back as they ran away with the Sanders County Tip-off Tournament Trophy, by defeating Noxon 60-49 on Saturday evening.

“I thought our intensity was very good, our kids showed a lot of passion and heart for what they were doing out there on the court,” Thompson Falls head coach Chad Laws said. “It was a lot of fun to watch the kids play.”

Jaron Laws led the Blue Hawks with 17 points, while Chalis Wilson, 12, and Josh Hojem, 11, were also in double digit scoring.

Tyrell Wilkinson carried the load for the Red Devils, scoring 17 points after junior post player Banks Stocking went down with a broken fibula.

“We’re going be without him for awhile and that’s obviously a big loss for us,” Noxon head coach Mike Tessier said. “We’re going to be ok, we’ve got a lot of good players coming off that bench too.”

“I think in the long run, we’ll have a better team, because I’m sure we’ll have Banks back before the season is over,” he added. “It’ll give some of these other kids more experience.”

Tessier was pleased with his teams play despite the loss, noting that after the Blue Hawks explosion in the first-quarter and once his team came to grips with stockings loss, they outscored the Blue Hawks 41-38 in the final three quarters.

In the consolation game earlier that day, the hosting Horsemen defeated rival Hot Springs, 47-32, in a very fast, very physical game to finish 1-1 in the tournament, while the Savage Heat remained winless.

“It’s hard for those kids to play against each other,” Plains head coach Cory Ovitt said. “They all just got done playing together in football, they’re their friends. It’s hard to get up for those games.”

Taylor Firestone led all scorers with 17 points, connecting on three-of-five three-point attempts. Carson Lilja added nine points to the cause.

Zack Malinak and Dave Cross scored eight points apiece for the Savage Heat.

“I think it’s huge as a confidence builder,” Ovitt said. We see Hot Springs again this week. It would have been tough to lose to them this week and then play them again next week.”

In their first round match-up on Friday, Plains fell to Noxon, 50-44, as the Red Devils held the Horsemen to a 23 percent shooting mark.

“One thing about my kids is, they always play really hard and with a lot of heart,” Tessier said. “We try to stress and build our team around defense.”

Stocking scored a tournament high 22 points, connected on seven of his eleven field goal attempts. Wilkenson scored nine and Travis Tammaro had six for the Red Devils.

“I would have like to have gotten Noxon, but I’m not to worried about wins and losses right now,” Ovitt said. “As long as we keep learning and pushing every game.”

Firestone had 14 points to lead Plains. Tanner Ostrum scored 10, sinking six three-throws.

In the first game of the varsity tournament, the Blue Hawks torched the Savage Heat, winning 71-62.

Tournament MVP Garrett Reinschmidt led Thompson Falls with 16 points. Laws and Phillips were also in double digits with 12 and 10 points respectively.

Malinak had a game high 20 points for Hot Springs and Cross chipped in 15 of his own.

Plains athletic director Orin Kendall was happy to have a county tournament again stating that not only did it cut down on travel expenses by keeping teams from having to travel further to play other schools, but that since the profits were split between all four schools, each team even got to take a little money home.

“It was a good chance to get the county back together and see some competitive basketball,” he said.