Hot Springs boys split final games
Plains guard Aaron Pfister works to control the ball under the watchful eye of Hot Springs' Quincy Styles-Depoe (32) during Tuesday game in Hot Springs. (Chuck Bandel/Valley Press)
With the 2021-22 class C basketball regular season in the rear view mirror, the Hot Springs Savage Heat boys closed things out with a split of their final two games this past week.
Tuesday Hot Springs hosted Plains and upended the win-less Horsemen 66-44. They then traveled to Seeley this past Saturday night where they lost to the Seeley-Swan Blackhawks 62-47.
The Tuesday game was marked by ceremony as Hot Springs paid tribute to it’s two senior standouts, Jack McAllister and Kyle Lawson.
The duo, who also starred on the football field for the past three seasons, helped Hot Springs take control early, with a big assist from 6-1 junior forward Nathan Lawhead.
By the end of the opening quarter, the Savage Heat were up 22-5, thanks in large part to six points from Lawhead, whose leaping abilities created havoc for the Horsemen from the start.
McAllister, who ended up as the game’s leading scorer, contributed four points and Lawson added five in the second quarter as the Savage Heat extended their lead to 38-15 at the half.
McAllister added seven points in the third quarter to go with the six tallies from junior post Garth Parker, helping Hot Springs take a comfortable 56-27 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Plains tried but could not cut the big lead as Hot Springs rolled to a successful Senior Night sendoff.
In addition to McAllister’s 20, the Savage Heat got 14 points each from Lawson and Parker as they improved their overall season mark to 11-4. Hot Springs had already completed its Western 14C schedule last week and will go into this weekend’s District tournament in Ronan with a 7-3 record and a second of third seed.
Jayden Weeks paced the Horsemen with 13 points as they prepare for the Western 7B tourney, also this weekend, in Pablo. The loss to Hot Springs dropped Plains to 0-12 on the year.
Fresh off their relatively easy win over Plains, the Savage Heat journeyed to Seeley-Swan this past Saturday evening where they faced the Blackhawks in a non-conference matchup.
In a role reversal from the Plains game, Hot Springs fell behind early, trailing 21-9 at the end of the first quarter of play. Hot Springs was able to chip four points off that lead by halftime, but still trailed 33-24 going into the second half of play.
After playing to a standstill in the third quarter, Seeley-Swan took control of the game in the final eight minutes of play when they outscored Hot Springs 20-12 to secure their ninth win of the season.
Seeley-Swan will take part in the Western 13C District tournament this weekend.
Sean Mercado led the Blackhawks with 13 points while Nathan Lawhead threw in 12 to top Hot Springs in scoring. McAllister added 10 to the Savage Heat cause.