Red Devils give superlative effort in loss to Charlo

Playing without their most productive post man Rylan Weltz, Noxon fell just short of Charlo last Friday in Noxon, despite an excellent effort by the Red Devils. The Vikings took home a 62-52 conference win.

It was the first loss for Noxon this season after opening with six consecutive non-conference victories.

Noxon would not let Charlo pull away, trailing 10-7 after one quarter, 26-24 at halftime and 44-41 with a period to play.

“The kids played pretty well,” Noxon head coach Bart Haflich said. “It was kind of a little run that Charlo made.” That was late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

“It was good for those guys to step up a little bit,” Haflich, with the absence of Weltz.

There were two key statistics in the contest. Charlo, which had not been shooting well at all from the perimeter, cashed in on nine 3-pointers. In addition, Noxon missed 19 of their 30 free throws while the Vikings were 12-for-18 from the charity stripe.

The game was closer than the final 10-point margin going into the final minute, but the Red Devils had to foul with hopes of making up some ground.

“The boys did a lot of good stuff,” Haflich said. “We rebounded the ball pretty well. We kept them off the offensive glass.”

Noxon had excellent scoring balance. Logan Wood had a good game with 18 points, and he held Charlo’s leading scorer, Landers Smith, to just 10 points and also rebounded well.

Levi Brubaker turned in a double-double with 12 points and a dozen rebounds. Alex Currie added eight points, and Jeriko Smith and Edison VanVleet had seven each.

“We were being aggressive on the offensive end,” Haflich said. “We just have to convert them (shots) a little bit better.”

Connor Koenig led Charlo with 18 points. Nate Delaney had 16 and Smith 10. Roper Edwards added nine points.

After the holiday break, the Red Devils play Thursday, Jan. 3 at Hot Springs and hosts Arlee on Saturday, Jan. 5. Those are both 14C District games.