Lincoln snaps St. Regis' winning streak

On the positive side, the stress associated with being unbeaten is gone for the St. Regis Tigers basketball team, their 15-game winning streak put to rest by the Lincoln Lynx, 55-34, Saturday night in Lincoln. 

On the negative side, the seemingly invincible Tigers were outscored 14-0 in the first quarter by Lincoln. That’s zero, as in nada. 

Earlier in the week, St. Regis traveled to Frenchtown, site of this coming weekend’s District 13C playoff tournament, and beat the Frenchtown JV team 56-51. 

Meanwhile the St. Regis girls lost both of their games with versus the same two opponents as the boys, falling to Frenchtown’s JV squad 53-40, then being routed by Lincoln’s Lady Lynx 72-26. 

Saturday looked like it would be the battle for the District regular season title. Lincoln took the court just one day after losing 79-66 to Noxon, which St. Regis disposed of the week before. 

But the Lynx, who lost a “no-counter” game at the beginning of the season were waiting for the Tigers with revenge on their minds. 

They stunned the St. Regis squad with the first quarter shutout, then followed that by outscoring the visiting Tigers 14-6 in the second quarter.  That gave the home team a 28-6 lead at halftime. 

The Lynx added four more points to their lead in the third quarter, giving them a 41-15 lead with one quarter to play. 

St. Regis regrouped and outscored Lincoln 19-14 in the fourth quarter, but the early Lynx lead proved unsurmountable. 

The win boosted Lincoln to 9-1 in Western 13C play and 14-1 overall, while St. Regis fell to 9-1 in league games and 15-1 overall. As it stands, Lincoln would have the tiebreaker because their win was an official conference game, unlike the 45-40 win in the Tigers’ first game of the year back in early December. 

Lincoln had four players score in double figures, led by Teegan Riddle’s game-high 19.  They also got 12 from Kayden Riddle and 10 points each from Roegun Dietz and Dylan Jakushak. 

St. Regis was paced by Nathan Bohn’s eight points. 

“All of the credit (for the win) goes to Lincoln,” said St. Regis coach Jesse Allen. “They came out aggressive and outworked us on both ends of the court. We have been struggling all year to find a rhythm in the first quarter.  We will lick our wounds and get back to work.”

In the boys' game versus Frenchtown’s JV, the Broncs, a Class A team, built a 13-3 lead after one quarter of play.  But St. Regis came back in the second quarter, outscoring the host team 17-7 to knot the score at 20-20 heading into the halftime break. 

Senior Hunter Stolla scored seven points during the Tigers’ second quarter rally. 

In the third quarter, St. Regis outscored Frenchtown 18-12 to take a 38-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Frenchtown fought back in the fourth quarter but was only able to shave one point off the St. Regis lead, securing the Tigers’ 15th victory of the season. 

Stolla led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points, while teammate Conner Lulis chipped in 11. 

In the St. Regis girls’ games, the Lady Tigers fell behind 8-6 after one quarter of play, then were outscored 20-11 by the Lady Broncs in the second quarter, giving the hosts a 28-17 lead at the half. 

By the end of the third quarter, Frenchtown had built a 45-30 lead.  St. Regis trimmed two points off that lead in the fourth quarter but could not overtake the home team down the stretch. 

Senior guard Shylah Dalka led the Lady Tigers with 14 points. 

Saturday evening in Lincoln the Lady Tigers fell behind 19-9 after the first quarter of play, then were outscored 13-6 in the second quarter, giving Frenchtown a 32-15 advantage at the half. 

Lincoln, which is 10-1 in league play and 14-2 overall, added seven points to their lead in the third quarter, then blew the game open in the fourth quarter when they outscored St. Regis 29-7 to secure the final score. 

The loss dropped St. Regis to 3-8 in 13C play and 6-9 overall this season. 

Krymzen Dempster led Frenchtown in scoring with a game-best 22 points.  In addition to Dalka’s 14, the Lady Tigers also got 13 from junior forward Jamie Cleveland. 

St. Regis has two games remaining on its regular season schedule, beginning with a home game tonight (Feb 11) versus the Hamilton JV.  They wrap up the regular season Friday versus Victor in St. Regis.