Pruitt powers St. Regis over Alberton

One day the future divisional champions from Alberton High may look back at this one and shake their heads.

Growing pains of this nature can be a cruel part of sports that everyone goes through on their way up the winning ladder.

And despite the lopsided 91-45 final score, the win by St. Regis yielded some positive signs for the young Panthers, who are in just their second season of varsity sports as a stand alone school and do not have a senior on the roster.

St. Regis, which rose to 7-2 on the year with the victory on their home court, was simply too much for Alberton, which continues to battle to the final buzzer in each game of their now 0-7 season.

Good times will come, but for now, reality is nights like this past Thursday, as a major snow event swept through the region.

St. Regis senior John Pruitt scored a game best 23 points, including five three-pointers as the Tigers rolled to victory. They exploded to a 40-10 lead after the first quarter of play, then added to the lead the rest of the way as reserves saw considerable playing time.

By halftime St. Regis held an insurmountable 56-22 lead as four players piled up double-figure scoring totals for the Tigers.

But Alberton also had multiple double-figure scorers, topped by sophomore Shea Fredette’s 12. Teammate Jaxson Zimmerman added 11, and rapid point guard Hunter Ray chipped in nine for the Panthers.

In addition to Pruitt’s 23, St. Regis got 17 points from sophomore Barrett Bassette, 12 from junior Kaden Sanders, and 11 from freshman guard Conner Lulis. Also of note for the Tigers was the return from injury by senior James Roe, a 6-3 forward who has been sidelined all season with a should injury. Roe saw limited action but scored his first two points of the year in the win.

Lulis had a trio of three-pointers as part of his scoring total.

With the win, St. Regis moved to 2-0 in the highly competitive Western 14C conference. A showdown match-up with conference co-leader set for this past Friday night was canceled due to the winter storm.

This coming weekend St. Regis travels to Noxon to take on the Red Devils Friday evening, then returns home for another conference game, this one with Two Eagle River Saturday evening.