Noxon boys, girls go 1-1 at Tip Off

One thing for certain in the wake of this past weekend’s Hamilton Tip-off tournament is this could be an up for grabs year for local Class C basketball teams.

And the latest entry into the wide-open sweepstakes known as the 13C conference is your Noxon Red Devils and Lady Devils. 

The boys' team finished the Hamilton round-robin with a 1-1 record, including a 66-35 loss to Seeley, then a bounce back 69-39 win over Darby.  

As for the Lady Devils, they opened tourney play Friday losing to Hot Springs 55-12, then rebounded for a 36-22 win over Arlee. 

Head scratchers will look at this tournament and be stumped to find a clear-cut favorite. 

One thing that is for sure is that Noxon senior post Shane Murray is a really good basketball player. 

Buoyed by the return of senior forward Ricky Williams who suffered a broken collarbone in football this past season, the Red Devils quickly became a team with which to be reckoned. 

Murray, a 6-5, athletic player scored 30 points in the win over Darby, followed up an eight-point first quarter with 16 points in quarter number two as the Red Devils built a 44-17 halftime lead. He was held to six points in the second half, but the damage had already been done as Noxon rolled to an easy win. 

Guard Justice Kayser threw in 12 points for the Red Devils and Cameron Blair added 11 to the cause. 

The win over Darby was in stark contrast to the loss to Seeley. 

In that game, the Blackhawks grabbed an 11-7 lead after one quarter, then outscored Noxon 15-5 in the second quarter to take a 26-12 lead into the halftime intermission. 

Murray was held to a team-high 14 points by the Seeley defense, while Williams contributed seven. 

Seeley outscored Noxon 38-23 in the second half to seal the lopsided victory. 

The Lady Devils ran into a hot-shooting Hot Springs team in their tournament opener Friday, as the Lady Heat rolled up a 13-2 first quarter lead behind an aggressive, swarming defense. 

Hot Springs added five points to its lead in the second quarter and took a 24-8 lead at the half. 

The second half was even worse for Noxon, which was outscored 21-4 in the third quarter and 10-0 in the fourth on their way to the 55-12 win. 

But the Lady Devils shook off the opening game loss and bounced back in a big way against Arlee Saturday. 

Arlee had a hard-fought 7-6 lead after the first quarter, but Noxon outscored the Scarletts 10-5 in the second eight minutes of play to take a 16-12 lead at the half. 

Noxon added to that lead in the third when they held Arlee to five points while putting up 12 of their own, giving them a 28-17 lead going into the fourth quarter. 

In the fourth quarter, Arlee staged a mini rally that pulled them to within 28-21, but the Lady Devils bumped that lead to 31-21 and then pushed it to the game’s final score, 36-22 to even their tourney record at 1-1. 

Both Noxon teams have a pair of road games this week, traveling to Idaho Friday to take nearby Clark Fork, Idaho, then making the trip to Missoula Saturday for a pair of games against Valley Christian. 

They open their home schedule December 21 when they host Victor in a pair of Saturday afternoon games.