St. Regis boys improve to 14-0

Running the gauntlet of the old 14C conference was one thing.

Making it through the newly merged and expanded 13C, a combination of the two conferences, logically has a difficulty factor times two. 

But for the St. Regis boys, who picked up a pair of 13C victories this past week to keep their unblemished, 14-0 overall record intact and run their conference leading mark to 9-0, it was just another day at the office. 

The Tigers knocked off Valley Christian Friday night at home, 50-31, then journeyed to Drummond where they faced a stubborn Trojans team and put them away late, 54-44. 

The St. Regis girls, meanwhile, dropped games to the same two opponents, losing to Valley Christian’s girls 46-34 Friday, then falling 66-42 Saturday in Drummond. 

The St. Regis boys, who knocked Noxon from the ranks of unbeaten 13C teams the week before, roared out to a 15-5 lead at the end of the first quarter versus Valley Christian.  Senior Hunter Stolla led the first quarter attack with a pair of timely, long-range threes. 

The Tigers signature swarming defense held VC to four points in the second quarter while building a 28-9 halftime lead. They increased their lead by three in the third quarter, giving them a 39-17 lead with eight minutes left in regulation. Stolla dropped another trey in the third quarter, then added a fourth three in the final eight minutes as St. Regis rolled to the victory. 

Stolla had 14 points to pace the Tigers, who had nine players score during the game.  Senior forward Kaden Sanders added 10 for St. Regis. 

The next night in Drummond, St. Regis fell behind 19-12 to a Drummond team that was thinking upset after one quarter of play. 

St. Regis trimmed one point off the first quarter lead, leaving Drummond with a 29-23 lead at the half. 

But after the halftime break, St. Regis amped up its defensive pressure, holding the Trojans to 15 second half points while scoring 31 on their way to the 10-point win. 

Sophomore guard Conner Lulis led St. Regis with a game-high 19 points versus Drummond and got 10 points from Dillon Thomas and nine from Stolla.  Valley’s Michael James led all scorers with 24 points. 

Meanwhile, the St. Regis girls were held scoreless in the first quarter against Valley Christian’s Lady Eagles Friday and found themselves in an 11-0 hole at the end of the first eight minutes of play. 

Junior Jamie Cleveland ended the St. Regis scoring drought with six points in the second quarter, but the Lady Eagles still added one point to their total to put them ahead 22-10 at the half. 

Cleveland continued her scoring run in the third quarter with seven points, but VC increased their lead to 37-20 going into the fourth quarter. 

St. Regis guard Shannon Todd scored seven points in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough for the Lady Tigers to overcome the earlier lead as Valley held on for the 12-point win. 

Cleveland led St. Regis with 15 points. 

Saturday night in Drummond, the host Lady Trojans took a hard-fought 13-9 lead after one quarter of play, then broke the game open by outscoring St. Regis 18-8 in the second quarter.  That gave them a 31-17 halftime edge. 

Drummond pushed their lead to 52-29 after the third quarter, then added one to their lead in the fourth quarter to secure the conference win. 

Kimberly Parsons led all scorers with 26 points for Drummond, while Shelby Simkins had 15 points to lead the Lady Tigers. 

The twin losses dropped St. Regis’ girls to 6-8 overall and 3-7 in the conference, while Drummond rose to 5-8 on the year and 4-3 in 13C play. 

Next on the agenda for St. Regis are games tonight, (Feb 4) versus the Frenchtown JV in Frenchtown, the site of the upcoming District 13C tournament two weeks from now.  The Tigers and Lady Tigers then travel to Lincoln for a Saturday showdown with the Lynx, whose boys' team is 13-1 on the year and 8-0 in 13C conference play.