Mixed results for St. Regis basketball teams

This week’s lone game for the St. Regis boys and girls basketball teams was a mixed bag.

For the boys, a stretch of games where several things didn’t go well came to an end during a 70-46 win over host Noxon Saturday night.

For the girls, despite a 55-45 setback after a promising 2-0 start, it was a matter of running into a strong Noxon Lady Red Devils team on the road.

The Tigers’ boys team bounced back from a 1-2 start with an impressive showing against the host Red Devils.

In an early season where shots just hadn’t been falling, especially from long-range like they did last year, the lid finally came off the basket for the Tigers’ sharpshooters.

Sophomore Caleb Ball and freshman John Pruitt got things going for St. Regis in the opening eight minutes of play. Pruitt drained two 3-pointers and Ball added three 2-pointers in the first quarter as the Tigers rolled to a 19-10 lead at the end of one.

The youngsters kept things going in the second quarter as Pruitt had a 10-point outburst. Ball added seven points as St. Regis broke the game open with a 24-5 second quarter advantage, giving them a 43-15 lead at the half.

Pruitt, who did not score in the fourth quarter as coach Jesse Allan continued to experiment with lineup variations in his search for roster depth, finished with a game-high 23 points.

Ball added 21 points and Tanner Day contributed 12.

Noxon was paced by Brody Hill’s 17 points.

The win boosted the Tigers’ Western 14C conference mark to 1-2 and squared their overall record at 2-2. Noxon, playing only its second game of the year due to virus challenges, fell to 0-2.

Coach Allan was pleased and relieved to see shots falling for his young Tiger team.

“We were able to find a rhythm on defense and make some shots,” he said. “We have been shooting around 20% from deep. It’s tough to win when you can’t get anything to fall, so it was nice to see those guys get some shots to go in.”

The boys have a busy schedule this week, hosting football co-partner Mullan, Idaho tonight and entertaining Plains Friday. They close out the week’s work with a trip to Charlo Saturday evening.

For the Lady Tigers, who started the year 2-0, the loss to Noxon was their second straight. In Noxon, they ran into one of the conference’s top players, Avery Burgess, but also welcomed an impressive showing from one of their own, Baylee Pruitt, who is returning to form after battling multiple knee injuries.

Both players scored 22 points to lead their teams Saturday night.

Noxon led 13-12 after one quarter before St. Regis battled back to grab a narrow 26-24 lead at the intermission.

With the two high scorers pouring in points, Noxon found a way to forge a 14-4 lead in the third quarter as defensive pressure slowed the Lady Tigers’ attack.

Heading into the final eight minutes of the game, Noxon had crept to a 38-30 lead as Burgess bombed away from outside. The Lady Devils narrowly outscored St. Regis 17-15 in the final frame, on their way to the 10-point victory.

The loss dropped the young Lady Tigers to 1-2 in 14C play and 2-2 overall. Noxon, which was playing its second game of the year, improved to 2-0, both wins being conference games.

The Lady Tigers face the same three opponents as the boys team this week.

Noxon next faces Hot Springs on the road Friday, then returns home to take on Clark Fork Saturday night.