Devils finish 1-2 on week

Things are finally looking up for the District 14-C Red Devils as they welcomed back injured starter Banks Stocking and claimed their first victory in a month after defeating St. Regis, 65-25 on Friday.

“It kind of felt like this weekend we started to get back on track with our full crew back into place,” Noxon head coach Mike Tessier said. “It’s been a rough start for us, I didn’t think we’d be 2-6 at this point, but right now records aren’t all that important. You want to be playing your best basketball in February when tournament time rolls around.”

On Thursday, in Stocking’s return game, the Red Devils came up short, 33-48, against Mission in a non-league contest.

The district 6-B Bulldogs forced 23 turnovers including 11 steals as they improved to 3-4 with the win.

“They played us pretty tough. Their defense was good and they shot the ball really well,” Tessier said. “It was a tough game, up there, and we didn’t really play all that well, we turned the ball over quite a bit and that really hurt us.”

Noxon junior Jordan Eichert scored nine to lead the Red Devils while Tyler Wilkinson chipped in seven and Stocking added six in his first game back after breaking his fibula in a game earlier this season.

Nikko Alexander came off the bench to lead the Bulldogs with a career-best 16 points in the victory.

On Friday, it was as if Noxon had bottled up the frustration from five straight losses with the intention of popping the cork against St. Regis, as the Red Devils exploded to a 40-point conference victory.

“We’d kind of been in a funk over the last few games with Banks being gone,” Tessier said. We hadn’t had a win in awhile, and we were looking at that game as a chance to get back on track.”

Austin Tucker and Wilkinson led nine different Red Devils who scored in the blowout, each tallying a dozen points.

By halftime, Noxon held an irreversible 38-6 advantage over the winless Tigers (0-4, 0-6).

“The kids played really well and played as a team and we hustled and worked hard on defense too. It all came together for us that night. I was happy for us” Tessier said.

On Saturday, the Red Devils traveled to Victor where they fell, 43-54, to the District 13-C Pirates.

“Aside from losing, I was happy with the way we played. Those guys are a pretty good team and we played pretty good up there,” Tessier said of his team’s back and forth defeat.

A few turnovers, converted into points by the Pirates hot shooting put Noxon in an early 7-18 hole at the end of the first. They battled back, however, cutting their defecit to 21-28 at the half, and again to 31-36 at the end of the third quarter. With about five minutes to play in the final period, the Red Devils had crawled their way to within three points, but several Victor 3-pointers forced Noxon to begin fouling on every possession.

Stocking scored a game-high 24 points for the Red Devils. Wilkinson was also in double digits, scoring 11 in the loss.

For Victor, Dalton Buker racked up 20 points and Kyle Ball was right behind him, tallying 19 and adding five steals as the Pirates advanced to 6-1 with the win.

“We still have a little ways to go, but we’re working on it,” Tessier said.

In a pair of league games, Noxon will travel to Hot Springs on Friday before hosting Arlee on Saturday.