St. Regis smothers Superior in I-90 rivalry

The big guy in the middle for Charlo could be a problem for a couple more years.

Wesley Anderson, Charlo’s 6-5 sophomore post is already starting to establish himself as a top flight player and his 26 point performance in a 73-29 win over Superior’s boys this past Saturday did nothing to soothe opposing coaches.

And a night later, Superior went up against I-90 rival St. Regis and was smothered by the home-standing Tigers 72-41.

And the nightmare week continued Friday night for the Bobcats as they fell to Western 14C rival Hot Springs 67-46 in Superior.

Friday night the Cats were looking to salvage their week when they hosted Hot Springs but the visitors proved to be bad guests on the basketball court.

The Savage Heat, behind the rebounding prowess of junior forwards Nathan Lawhead and Garth Parker jumped out to an early 18-12 lead after the first quarter and never trailed in upping their conference mark to 5-2, keeping them tied with Charlo for second place in the 14C.

By halftime the swarming Hot Springs defense increased their lead to 42-22 and were well on their way to dropping Superior to 2-6 in the conference and 2-10 overall.

Superior managed to shave one point off the large Savage Heat lead and trailed 51-32 with the fourth quarter to be played.

But the Hot Springs lead was too large for the rebuilding Bobcats to overcome, despite an 18-point performance from junior forward Orion Plaake. Superior also got 10 points from improving sophomore post Wyatt Haworth.

The Heat were led by the 20 points poured in by senior forward Kyle Lawson and the 19 points from Lawhead.

This past Wednesday night in a covid rescheduled game in St. Regis, the Bobcats found the going was even tougher against the conference leading Tigers.

Tigers’ guard Caleb Ball dropped in a pair of three-pointers leading the home-standing St. Regis team to a 19-9 first quarter lead. He was joined by five points from senior forward Tanner Day in the first eight minutes.

Superior fought back in the second quarter behind the 11 points from Plaake and were able to trim one point off the early lead. Still, they trailed 33-24 at the half.

Plaake would be held in check the rest of the game while Ball hit for eight points in the third quarter and sophomore guard John Pruitt tossed in a pair of long-distance threes as St. Regis broke the game open by outscoring Superior 24-5 in the third quarter, giving the Tigers a 57-29 lead with one quarter left to play.

Pruitt and Ball tied for game-high scoring honors with 20 points each. They also got 13 from Day in their winning effort.

Superior travels to Plains this Friday night for an encounter with the winless Horsemen, then ventures over to Charlo Saturday evening for a return engagement with the Vikings.