Hot Springs boys beat Noxon in consolation final
Noxon post Aiden Currie shoots over Hot Springs' Nick McAllister during their consolation final game at the District 14C tournament Saturday in Polson. (Chuck Bandel/VP-MI)
Coming out of the District 14C postseason tournament, the Hot Springs boys basketball team as the consolation round winner, had to wait until Monday night before they knew if their season was still alive.
As the third seed following their 42-34 consolation round final victory Saturday afternoon over Noxon, the Savage Heat faced a Division round play-in game with the third seed from District 13, Drummond Monday night in Alberton.
The winner of that game gets a spot in the next round as a third seed. The game was played after press deadline.
In the meantime, the Heat had their hands full with Noxon, which earlier Saturday eliminated one of the pre-tournament favorites, Charlo, in a thrilling 52-50 win.
Hot Springs advanced to the consolation final after beating Alberton 49-34 Saturday morning.
The two weary teams battled to an 8-7 Hot Springs lead at the end of the first quarter behind the scoring of 6-3 junior forward Nick McAllister . McAllister has been playing with foot injury the past three weeks but gave it a go Saturday.
It paid off for the Savage Heat.
The second quarter was another back and forth affair, as neither team could pull away from the other, leaving the halftime score at 20-19 in favor of Noxon, who got solid play from junior forwards Ricky Williams and 6-3 junior Shane Murray.
Noxon then came out after the halftime break and outscored Hot Springs 10-4 to build a tenuous 30-23 lead with one quarter to play.
The fourth quarter belonged to Hot Springs.
With junior guard Weston Slonaker scoring from all angles and playing tight defense, Hot Springs outscored Noxon 19-4 to erase the Red Devils’ lead in the first few minutes of quarter number four.
McAllister sank a pair of two-pointers and senior Quincy Styles-Depoe threw in a long three-pointer to put the Heat up 31-30 with 5:58 to play. But Noxon senior Aiden Currie scored twice to keep the game close at 35-34.
Slonaker hit a two-pointer and McAllister sank a pair of free throws to put Hot Springs out in front 39-34 with 1:12 remaining in the game. Slonaker sealed the deal with a pair of free throws with 41 seconds remaining.
Slonaker had a game-best 16 points for Hot Springs, while McAllister contributed 11.
Williams and Currie led Noxon with 10 points each.
The win improved Hot Springs’ overall season mark to 7-13, while Noxon slipped to 6-11.