Noxon ousts Hot Springs in rivalry game

Rivalry games are something special for sure.

Despite the score, the “BIG GAME” is a big thing, especially to fans of small town Montana basketball.

So it wouldn’t get any more rivalry-big in these parts than Noxon and Hot Springs, two schools who once a year bang heads with each other on the six-player football fields, usually with a playoff seed at stake.

That being said, what about two rivalry games, with the same two teams in the same week?

That’s what transpired in the far reaches of Sanders County this past week when, due to a Montana snowstorm, their normally scheduled game was snowed out just before Christmas.

The schedule makers made things interesting by moving the canceled game to this past Tuesday, with the regularly scheduled second meeting of the year on the books for this past Friday.

Either way, it was a momentous event which came out heavily in favor of the Red Devils boys and girls from Noxon High.

The girls took both games from Hot Springs, winning 48-46 Friday night in Hot Springs after picking up an easier win Tuesday, 52-33 in Noxon.

The outcome was nearly identical for the boys, as Noxon won them both, but the final scores were different as Noxon held on for a narrow 41-38 win Friday in Hot Springs, after escaping their home town with a Tuesday win over the Savage Heat, 54-47.

Friday night in Hot Springs, both boys teams started off cold from a shooting aspect and the first eight minutes resulted in a 6-6 draw.

Hot Springs senior post Garth Parker got things going in the second quarter when he scored eight of his team-high 16 points, helping the home-standing Heat pull away to a 23-12 halftime lead.

Parker then threw down six of his team’s eight third quarter points, but it was not enough to prevent Noxon from trimming four points off the Hot Springs lead behind a balanced offense.

Then in the fourth quarter, the Hot Springs offense went cold, thanks in part to a scrambling Noxon defense that sparked a 17-7 Red Devils win over the final eight minutes. They held off some last minute Hot Springs attempts to tie and overtake them to emerge with the 14C conference win.

Shane Murray scored 11 points to lead the Noxon offense.

Tuesday night in Noxon, the Red Devils grabbed a 13-6 first quarter lead, then watched as Hot Springs roared back to take a slim 25-21 lead at the half, thanks in part to a buzzer beating lay-in by Savage Heat junior forward Quincy Styles, who had 10 of his team-high 18 points in the first half.

The Heat added two more points to their lead in the third quarter before their shooting eyes went cold and Noxon heated up. The Red Devils outscored Hot Springs 22-10 over the final eight minutes of play on their way to the victory.

The two wins boosted the Red Devils to 2-4 in 14C conference play and 3-8 overall. Hot Springs fell to 3-8 on the year and 2-6 in league games.

The girls also had a squeaker of a win in their Friday night encounter in Hot Springs as they rallied from a 23-15 halftime deficit by outscoring the Lady Heat 33-23 in the second half.

Hot Springs senior Lily DeTienne put the Heat ahead with 12 points in the first quarter, part of her game-high 26. She was then held to three points in the second quarter as the Noxon defense, led by standout senior Emily Brown, turned up the pressure.

Brown scored a team-best 24 points for the Lady Devils as she played a key role in the Noxon comeback with her scoring and rebounding down the stretch.

The Friday win was a sharp contrast to the first meeting of the week in Noxon when the Lady Red Devils opened a 13-2 lead at the end of the first quarter and never looked back. By halftime the score was 24-9 in favor of Noxon.

Hot Springs cut the deficit by three points in the third quarter but could not overcome the early Noxon lead. Brown led all scorers with 26 points, while teammate Aubry Erwin added 13 for the Lady Devils.

DeTienne was the high scorer for Hot Springs with 10 points.

The two wins moved Noxon to 3-2 in the conference and 5-4 overall, while the two losses dropped Hot Springs to 2-4 in 14C play and 3-6 on the year. Noxon closed out the week with losses by both the boys and girls to St. Regis.

Noxon has another busy week ahead, with a home game tonight (Tuesday) against Clark Fork, Idaho, then another home encounter with Charlo this Friday. They close out the week with a road trip to Superior.

Hot Springs hosts St. Regis this Friday, then stays home for a Saturday night game versus Alberton.