Noxon looks to bounce back after tough week of hoops

It was a busy and tough week for Noxon basketball.

Prior to closing out the week with Superior, where both the Red Devils and Lady Red Devils lost, the boys and girls teams from Noxon ran into two other very good teams with similar results.

Noxon opened their week by hosting Clark Fork, Idaho in boys and girls games Tuesday evening. The Lady Devils put up a good fight against the Wampus Cats, overcoming a big early deficit before falling 50-41.

Friday, the Noxon girls ran into second place Charlo in a Western 14C conference game and lost 59-33.

The boys, meanwhile, lost an overtime thriller to Clark Fork, 63-53, then went up against 14C leader Charlo and were defeated 67-27.

The most exciting game of the Tuesday and Friday games was without a doubt the boys contest vs Clark Fork.

The visiting Wampus Cats, named after a kind of yellowish cougar, pounced on the Devils early, building a 23-13 lead after one quarter of play. The second quarter was a combination of tight defense and cold shooting by both teams, who battled to a 5-5 draw to preserve Clark Fork’s 10-point, 28-18 lead at the half.

Noxon then began chipping away at the lead in the third quarter, trimming three points off the Wampus Cats’ advantage as the Red Devils inside game starting asserting itself behind 6-4 junior Aiden Currie and 6-3 sophomore Shane Murray.

Murray scored the final three points of regulation with an inside jumper and a free throw to tie the score at 44-each and send it to overtime.

Clark Fork then opened the overtime period with three straight steals that led to a quick five-point, 49-44 lead. The Wampus Cats were able to hold off one last Noxon rally and escape with the extra period victory.

Against Charlo, Noxon looked good in the opening quarter, trailing the league leaders by one, 12-11 at the end of the initial period. However, Charlo then used it’s height and experience to outscore the Red Devils 24-4 in the second quarter in building a 36-15 halftime lead. The visiting Vikings continued to pull away from Noxon in the second half, including a 17-2 advantage in the third quarter that helped them coast to the victory.

The loss dropped Noxon to 3-6 in conference play and 3-9 on the season. Charlo moved to 8-1 (following a loss to Two Eagle River Thursday, 68-61 in OT) and 10-3 on the year.

The Lady Red Devils had a similar outcome versus Clark Fork’s Lady Wampus Cats Tuesday in Noxon.

The host team fell behind 23-5 after the first quarter and trailed 35-21 at the half.

That early deficit proved to be too much for Noxon to overcome despite outscoring the visitors 20-15 in the second half.

Lady Devil standout Emily Brown led all scorers with 30 points. The non-conference loss dropped the Noxon girls to 6-6 on the season.

First half woes continued to plague the Lady Devils in their Friday meeting with Charlo in Noxon. They trailed by four, 14-10 at the end of the first quarter, then were outscored 17-3 in quarter number two and found themselves behind 31-13 at the half.

Charlo added to their lead by outscoring Noxon 28-20 in the second half.

Noxon is now 4-4 in 14C conference play, while Charlo remained a game behind league leader Superior, which is 9-0.

Brown was once again the game’s high scorer with 25 points versus Charlo.

Noxon travels to Pablo Friday night for a pair of games against Two Eagle River, then returns home Saturday where they will host Alberton.