St. Regis boys remain unbeaten in 14C play

When the dust had settled from this past week in the Montana 14C conference only one team stood alone on top.

And that team, the St. Regis High boys Tigers came out of the conference carnage as the only unbeaten 14C team with the District and Divisional tournaments visible just beyond the basketball horizon.

After beating Hot Springs 58-50 Tuesday night in a much anticipated and once delayed battle for the top of the 14C pile, the Tigers stayed on the road where two days later they dispatched the Charlo Vikings by an 80-68 count, sending them into the battle for second and third with Hot Springs.

Then, in a showdown with a likely Divisional opponent, Drummond in St. Regis Saturday, the Tigers fell to the Trojans 62-38 to close out a busy, co-vid makeup game week.

First things first.

On Tuesday, St. Regis traveled to Hot Springs for an encounter with the Savage Heat with first place in the conference on the line. And St. Regis wasted little time defending their home court, jumping out to a 20-10 first quarter lead. Paving the way for the early lead was St. Regis junior Caleb Ball who dumped in eight points, including two long-range threes.

He followed that performance with another seven points in quarter number two, propelling the Tigers to a 29-23 hafltime lead.

Turns out Ball was just getting warmed up. He drained two more three-pointers in the third quarter, adding another 10 points to his total and helping St. Regis build a 49-27 lead with one quarter to play.

And the Tigers’ big lead came without the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, Tanner Day, who was home with a positive co-vid test.

Hot Springs then caught fire, thanks to the rebounding and scoring of 6-3 junior post Garth Parker.

Parker poured in 10 points during the fourth quarter when the Savage Heat went on a 10-0 run and pulled to within seven points. But with just over a minute to play and this one still not fully settled, Hot Springs’ lost their leading scorer Jack McAllister to five fouls.

Free throw shooting would save the Tigers the rest of the way and they ran their 14C record to 5-0 and 7-2 overall. Hot Springs, meanwhile, dropped to 3-2 in conference play.

Ball wound up scoring a game high 32 points, while sophomore John Pruitt pitched in 10 points for the St. Regis cause. Parker was Hot Springs’ leading score with 16 points and Kyle Lawson added 12 for the Savage Heat.

On Friday night, St. Regis took its first-place standing into Charlo to take on the Vikings, who like Hot Springs came into the game with a 3-1 conference mark.

With a tie for first place at stake, the Tigers took an early 19-15 lead after one quarter during which both teams waged a physical battle for rebounds and loose balls.

Charlo rode the scoring and rebounding of 6-5 sophomore post Wesley Anderson in the second quarter as the Vikings outscored St. Regis 22-15 for a 37-34 halftime advantage.

With Anderson sitting on the bench with four fouls, and Day back in the St. Regis lineup scoring and rebounding at will, the Tigers scratched out a 21-8 third quarter edge to build a 10-point, 55-45 lead heading into the final eight minutes of play.

The fourth quarter turned out to be a fast and furious exercise in scoring for both teams, with St. Regis pounding out a two-point, 25-23 fourth quarter edge to secure the victory and establish a two-game lead atop the conference heap.

Day led all scorers with 28 points following his return from a brief encounter with co-vid. Caleb Ball added 23 for the Tigers, while Kaleb Park had 15, most of those points coming from beyond the three-point arc.

Anderson, who eventually fouled out with less than a minute to go, paced the Vikings 23 points.

The win improved St. Regis to 6-0 in 14C play and 8-2 overall.

It was perhaps only fitting then, that the Tigers would wrap-up their week with a game against Drummond which came in as the 13C conference leader at 6-0 and 8-1 overall.

After two draining battles in the fight for conference supremacy the Tigers could not keep pace with the Trojans.

Drummond battled to a 17-10 first quarter lead, then outscored the host Tigers 19-9 in the second quarter to take a 36-19 halftime lead.

The Trojans would go on to amass a 53-31 lead at the end of the third quarter and the game was all but decided.

Caleb Ball scored 12 to lead the home town Tigers. No other St. Regis player reached double figures in scoring.

Heading into the home stretch on the 2021-22 season, the Tigers have two games scheduled this week including a Thursday night home game against I-90 rival Superior, then a Saturday rematch with Hot Springs on the Savage Heat’s home court.

St. Regis will play at Superior Friday night, then come to St. Regis for their Saturday match up.