Alberton improves between weekend games

ST. REGIS – In their Friday game, the St. Regis Tigers saw an approximately 40-point loss against the Noxon Red Devils.

With a final score of 17-57, the Tigers had a tough game. Noxon was able to get a big lead early on with a score of 1-23 at the end of the first quarter.

Even through the tough loss, some members of the team shined and were able to perform well to bring in good ranks on the charts.

Head Coach Taylor Nordby especially praised junior Dakota Wickham for the strong plays he made throughout the game. Wickham had a good game and scored a team best of 10 points. The remainder of the team’s points were divided between freshman Trevor Lowry and junior Gibson Lowry.

“[Wickham] scored all the points for the first, second and third quarter,” said Nordby. “Other than that, it was just a struggle.”

While the Tigers were able to get more points in the second and fourth quarters, it was not enough to make up for the high scores gained by Noxon in the first half. As halftime began, the scoreboards read 5-46 to Noxon. One of the biggest handicaps the Tigers faced was the temporary loss of one of their members.

According to Nordby, the team had to play without of one of the lead scorers. He said eighth grader Brandon Managhan was hurt in practice, but was expected to be back up for the team’s next game.

“We’re just taking a precaution,” said Nordby.

With an already small team, the loss of one member can lead to big problems. With six people on a seven-man team, the difference was huge, but it was not the only factor. Nordby felt some of the guys on the team had also not fully recovered from winter break.

St. Regis played a strong defense in the second half of the game. However, the weaker first half led to a 5-46 score at the end of the second quarter. According to Nordby, one of the main problems the team faced was a weak offense with weak shots to try for scores. One of the other problems, as mentioned above, was lethargy after the two week break, which caused game skills to fall out of use.

In the time before their next game, Nordby will work with the Tigers on offensive plays. The team will also devote time to improve their shot percentage.

The Tigers had a game on Tuesday, January 7, in Two Eagle River. Information on the outcome of the game was unavailable at the time of press. St. Regis will play in two more games this week.

The team’s next games will be Friday, January 10, in Arlee at 7 p.m. and Saturday, January 11, in Darby at 6 p.m.

As the games approach, the hope was for the team to get better at offensive plays and shot percentages. One way or another, the coach predicted it would be a long week for the boys.

“[There’s] not a lot of time to practice and a lot of traveling,” said Nordby. “Hopefully we’ll get healthy, we’ll have Managhan back, we’ll be able to squeak out a win.”