St. Regis boys No. 1 seed for 14C tourney

The results are in, and the St. Regis boys are the basketball winners.

And while the Tigers are no doubt reveling in their accomplishment of capturing the Western 14C conference regular season crown, they unearthed a new threat to their title prowess.

Noxon’s Red Devils.

The Tigers’ 60-51 home win over Noxon Saturday night left little doubt which team is tops in 14C play as the regular season comes to an end and the District playoffs crash into view this weekend in Polson.

In addition to subduing Noxon, the Tigers clawed their way past top three seed Two Eagle River (TER) 55-43 Friday night in Pablo. The two wins sewed up the regular season title for coach Jesse Allan’s crew, boosting their record to 9-1 in conference play and 15-3 overall.

Their only loss in 14C play was a home shocker to TER last month.

And along the way, St. Regis may have confirmed that without a doubt the best player in the conference is burly senior forward John Pruitt, who poured in 28 points Saturday night to help the Tigers pull away from a stubborn Noxon team.

The Red Devils, who came alive in the second half of the season, were in it until the fourth quarter when Pruitt scored nine of his game-best points, including two rally-killing three pointers.

Pruitt, who is a whirlwind on the court, got big help from 5-9 junior Kaleb Park, who also dialed in two crucial threes in the final quarter to help snuff out a Noxon rally fueled mostly by the inside domination of Noxon’s 6-3 forward Shane Williams, who finished the game with a team-high 22 points, most of them put-backs under the basket.

St. Regis stepped through the dust of the first quarter with a hard-earned 13-9 lead over the determined Noxon bunch, who took down number two seed Charlo three weeks ago in Noxon, sending a message that there is another contender in 14C town.

And if there was any doubt St. Regis had a tiger by the tail Saturday night, it was erased when the Red Devils trimmed two points off the Tigers’ first quarter lead, leaving the home team with a narrow 26-24 halftime lead.

St. Regis got that two points back in the third quarter as Pruitt and company, with coach Allan’s enthusiastic backing, kicked it into a higher gear. Heading into the fourth quarter, however, it was still just a four-point lead for the league champs.

That’s when Pruitt and Park cranked it up, allowing the home boys to build a 10-point, 51-41 lead with just over four minutes to play in the final quarter.

Williams was almost unstoppable for Noxon over the final eight minutes, scoring 11 points in the fourth before Pruitt, who collected his fourth foul of the game in the late stages of the third quarter, re-entered and helped Park put down the Devil’s rally.

Park finished with 11 for the Tigers, earning them the number one seed in this weekend’s District play.

In addition to Murray’s 22 points, the Red Devils got 11 from athletic junior forward Ricky Williams, and 10 points from 6-4 senior Aiden Currey.

The loss dropped Noxon to 5-7 in league play, good for the fourth seed. They concluded the regular season with a 5-9 record, most of those wins coming in the second half of the season.

Friday night St. Regis journeyed to Pablo, home of TER, and took on the only team to spoil an otherwise perfect conference record, 45-43, on the Tigers’ home court last month.

And although the game was close most of the way, the Tigers clearly had a score to settle against the Eagles. St. Regis roughed out a 15-11 first quarter lead, then scrapped and clawed their way to a 26-21 halftime advantage.

Then, in the second half, the Tigers shifted into their higher gear and outscored the home team 21-10 to take control of the game, behind the leadership of freshman guard Conner Lulis, who had 11 points for the game. And of course, Pruitt led the Tigers with 14 points in what was a balanced attack.

They also used their swarming defense to rein in the run and gun Eagles’ frenetic offense.

The win over TER put the Tigers in firm control of the regular season title.

TER and Noxon are likely to meet Friday in the first round of the District playoffs as the 3-4 seeds.

If traditional seeding holds true, St. Regis would play number six seed Alberton in its opening round game.

IN boys 14C play, St. Regis and Charlo have first round byes Thursday.  Noxon takes on Hot Springs in one first round game Thursday at 1:45 p.m., while Two Eagle River and Alberton meet in the other Thursday first round game at 3:30. 

Winner of the TER-Alberton game plays Cjar;p Friday at 6:45 p.m., while the winner of the Noxon-Hot Springs game plays St. Regis at 5 p.m. Friday.