Hot Springs boys basketball drops two games

Cold shooting and a few ill-timed injuries were factors in the Hot Springs boys basketball team suffering two lopsided home losses last week.

Thursday, the Savage Heat fell to 14C conference leader Clark Fork, 65-43, then lost to St. Regis Friday, 74-52.

Both Jack McAllister and Kyle Lawson suffered ankle injuries in the second half of the game against the Tigers. The severity of the injuries is not yet known.

Against Clark Fork, which controlled the opening tipoff and built an early four-point lead, the Savage Heat closed to within a single point midway through the first quarter.

Soon after that Carson Callison began to dominate inside as Clark Fork pulled away to a 23-16 at the end of the opening eight minutes of play.

But Hot Springs shaved the lead to four points at halftime, 34-30.

In the opening minutes of the third quarter, Clark Fork senior guard Bryan Mask dialed in a pair of long-range 3-pointers and Callison scored eight of his game-high 27 points to take control of the game, 52-39.

In addition to Callison’s scoring output, Clark Fork got 17 points from Mask and 10 from senior Aaron Waddle.

Junior Mario Garcia paced Hot Springs with 13 points.

Friday night, St. Regis grabbed an 18-13 lead and made it 42-18 at halftime.

In the opening minutes of the first quarter, Tigers standout freshman guard John Pruitt found the range twice from beyond the 3-point line.

Just three minutes into the second quarter, St. Regis fans held their collective breath when sophomore standout guard Caleb Ball, the team’s leading scorer, went down with an apparent knee injury.

He returned later in the game, but his teammates picked up the slack and erupted for a 24-5 run in the second quarter.

St. Regis freshman John Pruitt began pouring in 3-pointers from outside and teammate Tanner Day and senior Andrew Sanford helped the Tigers dominate the rebounding stats during that second quarter run.

Things only got worse for the Savage Heat after that when McAllister left the game halfway through the third quarter with a right ankle injury and was unable to return.

Hot Springs forward Kyle Lawson did his best to pick up the slack caused by the loss of McAllister, pouring in several of his team-leading 20 points in the third quarter.

Despite Lawson’s efforts, the swarming Tigers defense made life miserable for the home team and by the end of the third quarter, St. Regis held a 65-31 lead.

However, Lawson would be forced out of the game midway through the fourth quarter, also with an ankle injury. Without their starting forwards in the game, Hot Springs rallied behind Garcia and outscored St. Regis 21-9 in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to overcome the large deficit they faced.

In addition to the 20 points from Lawson, Hot Springs got 10 from Garcia on the night. Tanner Day also scored in double figures, pouring in 16 for the visiting Tigers.

The loss dropped Hot Springs to 4-3 in both the conference and overall standings.

The win boosted St. Regis to 4-2 in the conference and 6-2 overall.

Hot Springs travels to Charlo this Thursday for its only scheduled game, while St. Regis journeys to Noxon Friday for the only game on the Tigers’ schedule.