St. Regis just misses state berth

It's a long held, often mumbled under the breath complaint common to Western C Divisional basketball fans and coaches: the “tournament” is really about who’s going to finish second.

Perennial power and tournament winner Manhattan Christian, at least three coaches and several fans complained, is not bound by traditional geographical boundaries and therefore can actually “recruit” student athletes to the parochial school.

“Everyone knows it happens and has been for several years now,” said one area coach. “They should be playing at Class A, not Class C or B given the advantage they have.”

That being mumbled, Manhattan Christian once again rolled to the West title and built a 24-0 record in so doing.

For St. Regis and other teams playing for “second” this past week in Frenchtown, the Tigers came out of the Western 14C field as the number one seed with hopes of earning a trip to the state finals in Great Falls March 10-12.

St. Regis, which was 10-0 in 14C play, opened their part in the tournament Thursday when they took on the Wildcats from Harrison-Willow Creek from the south central part of the state.

In the end, Harrison rallied in the last quarter and held on for a 51-48 opening day win.

Five players scored for the Wildcats in the first quarter as they got off to a 13-5 lead. Be it a case of first day jitters or not, the Tigers were able to shake it off and outscore and out-hustle Harrison in the second quarter and tie the game at 23-all at halftime.

Quarter number two saw junior standout Caleb Ball score eight points on a pair of three pointers and a pair of free throws. Ball, who ended up with a game high 24 points got help from sophomore guard John Pruitt, who played despite a badly sprained ankle suffered in the District tournament a week earlier. Pruitt scored five points in the second quarter to help pull the Tigers back into the game.

The third quarter belonged to Ball, who poured in 10 points including two more long-range threes, and Pruitt, who added seven points, including a trey. The duo helped St. Regis take a 43-35 lead after three quarters of play.

But the fourth quarter saw heightened defensive pressure by Harrison and some untimely turnovers committed by the Tigers as the Wildcats roared back to outscore St. Regis 16-5 and hold on for the three point win.

In addition to Ball’s point total, Pruitt scored 12 for the Tigers, who fell to the consolation round.

Friday afternoon they took on the Drummond Trojans, who had beaten St. Regis twice during regular season play, 69-38 in December and 62-38 in January.

Ball helped reverse that situation in Friday’s win, a 63-49 triumph by St. Regis.

This game was closer than it seemed as both teams battled back and forth in the early going. By halftime, it was obvious how much the Tigers had improved from the early part of the season as they held a 23-17 lead.

Ball, who scored a game and team-high 31 points, kept the offense rolling and was instrumental in defensive pressure that rattled Drummond throughout the game.

St. Regis outscored the Trojans 19-14 in the third quarter to take a 42-31 lead with one quarter to play.

Offense was the name of the game in the final eight minutes as both teams went on scoring runs, but St. Regis actually added three points to its lead and rolled to the win.

Senior forward Tanner Day had 17 points to go with his offensive and defensive rebounding haul for the Tigers.

The win over Drummond kept alive the Tigers hopes of somehow snatching the number two seed.

They played the Shields Valley Rebels Saturday morning with a shot at the consolation title and a possible challenge game for the second ticket to state, but the Rebels put an end to that with a thrilling, hard-fought 65-62 win that eliminated the Tigers and ended their season.

Once again Ball was on the mark as the Tigers fell behind early, 21-14 at the end of one quarter of play. Those totals were reversed in quarter number two as St. Regis rallied behind Ball, Day and Pruitt to send both teams into the halftime break tied 35-each.

The score would remained tied at the end of three quarters as each team scored 14 points to set up a thrilling fourth quarter.

Heading into the final frame with the scored tied at 49, the action and tempo amped up several notches, given the win-or-go-home aspect of the double elimination tournament.

In the end, despite a game-high 28 points from Ball, 17 from Day and 14 from Pruitt, the Tigers came up just short.

In their two tournament losses, the Tigers lost both games by three points with each game going down to the final minute of play.

The loss closed out St. Regis’ season at 16-5.

“I guess we let that first one get away and it cost us,” said Tigers coach Jesse Allan. “The guys played hard the whole time.”