Troy takes down Noxon in non-conference meeting

For the Troy boys’ and girls’ basketball teams it was a rare sweep this past weekend of an opponent this season, at the expense of the visiting Noxon Red Devils and Lady Devils.

The Troy boys went wire-to-wire with Noxon for most of the game, finally pulling out a 64-60 win in the final minutes of play. 

Then, for only the second time this season, the Troy girls took an early lead and never looked back in handing the Lady Devils a 55-21 defeat. 

Both games were non-conference in this matchup of Class B versus Class C in the far reaches of Montana’s northwest corner. 

In the boys’ game, Troy used the long ball to construct a two-point, 14-12 lead after one quarter of play, draining a trio of three-pointers in so doing. 

The long-range attack helped the home team Trojans overcome a seven-point performance by Noxon’s 6-5 senior post Shane Murray.   

Murray scored six more points for the Red Devils in the second quarter, but Troy’s offense outscored Noxon 16-12 to take a 30-24 halftime lead. 

Noxon came out in the third quarter and used a balanced scoring attack to out-point Troy 21-13.  That was enough to erase Troy’s halftime lead and give the Red Devils a 45-42 lead heading into the fourth quarter. 

Cameron Blair had eight points to fuel the third quarter Noxon charge. 

Blair had six more points in the fourth quarter, but Troy erupted for 22 points while holding Noxon to 15 over the final eight minutes of play.  The game was tied several times in the final two minutes before Troy was able to overtake Noxon and pull out a four-point win. 

Murray finished the game with a team-high 19 points, while Blair added 18 for the Red Devils, who fell to 7-3 on the year with the loss.   

In the girls’ game earlier Friday evening, the Lady Trojans jumped out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter of play, then outscored Noxon 12-2 in the second quarter to take a 28-10 lead at the half. 

Troy went on to outscore Noxon 27-11 in the second half as they coasted to their third win of the year against 10 losses.  Noxon dropped to 2-9 on the season. Aspen Orr led all scorers with 15 points for Troy. 

Next up for the Noxon boys’ and girls’ teams are crucial Western 13C conference games this Friday in Noxon versus Lincoln, then a road trip to Seeley-Swan Saturday evening for games against the Blackhawks.