Hot Springs and Noxon battle in rivalry game

Danielle Switalski

Hot Springs and Noxon went head to head in a fast paced game Friday night in Hot Springs that sent Noxon home with an impressive victory, winning 68 to 54.

The teams were in a close battle at the start of the game, both coming off the tip by Hot Springs Reiley Winebrenner fast paced and eager to rush the ball down court.  The first quarter ended 17-15, with Noxon in the lead. 

Noxon was on top of their shooting game Friday night, sinking jump shot after jump shot and racking up the points on the scoreboard in the second quarter.

“We had a really good contributing effort from everyone on our team, we had a lot of kids pitch in for our win. We were pretty hot that night,” said Noxon Head Coach Mike Tessier. 

Hot Springs continued to battle on and caught up to Noxon with two quick baskets in the last minute of the second quarter closing the gap before half time to a four point Noxon lead, 26 to 30.

“Offensively, I think we are there. I don’t think we did too bad, we still scored 55 points, it wasn’t a terrible offensive game for us, but it’s tough to beat a team when their on fire like that,” said Hot Springs Head Coach Ricky DePoe. 

Although Noxon was hitting their shots with ease, the Savage Heat kept battling on and stepping up their defense as much as possible.  It wasn’t enough to take the lead against Noxon, however, even after Winebrenner hit a lay-up and got a foul with only ten seconds left in the third quarter putting the score at 47-40.

Tessier was very pleased with his team’s defense and their effort in trying to shut down Winebrenner.  Noxon shined on Friday night both offensively and defensively and beat Hot Springs on rebounds, which was a large factor contributing to their win, especially given Noxon’s smaller size compared to most team’s they face on the court.  Being more of a perimeter team due to their height, Noxon relies heavily on their outside shooting, but also managed to break through Hot Springs tight defense for some inside shots.  Nine players from Noxon scored on Friday night.

“I didn’t think we did a very good job defensively, they (Noxon) scored 60 some points and you can’t win very many games if you let the team score that much, we need to give a little better man to man defense,” said DePoe. 

Noxon held onto their lead throughout the whole fourth quarter, winning the game 68 to 54.  

“It was a lot of fun and a really good atmosphere in Hot Springs and a really good game,” said Tessier. 

Noxon went on to lose to Arlee on Saturday, putting them second in conference with a 4-1 conference record.  Tessier said the team had not fully recovered from the battle against Hot Springs on Friday night and came out flat on Saturday.  They are set to take on Two Eagle Friday night and Charlo on Saturday. 

Winebrenner went home with 21 points on Friday night and Cody Hoff had 12 points.  Hot Springs lost to Two Eagle on Saturday, but is set to play Plains on Friday and Seeley Swan on Saturday.