St. Regis boys knocked out of tourney

In the end, the tangled trio of teams atop the 13C conference came back to keep two of them out of the upcoming state tournament.

For St. Regis, the end of their season came in the Western Division tourney in Butte this past weekend at the hands of Noxon, whom they defeated twice prior to the Butte tourney, falling to the Red Devils 69-63 after a fierce rally fell short.

The loss to Noxon, ended the Tigers’ season at 21-3 overall. They finished in a three-way, 10-1 regular season tie with Noxon and Lincoln. Noxon lost in the consolation finals to Seeley-Swan, while Lincoln made it to the Division finals where they fell to powerful Manhattan Christian 60-39.

Lincoln does advance to the state meet in Butte March 13-15, but for Noxon and St. Regis their successful seasons are over.

In their game versus Noxon Saturday, a consolation round semi-final, the Tigers fell behind 23-12 after the first quarter of play, and despite rallying to close the gap to a couple points late in the game, could not overcome the Red Devils in the fourth quarter.

Noxon held a 43-33 halftime lead, which decreased by two points in the third quarter as the Tigers began hitting three-pointers while doing their best to hold Noxon’s standout senior post Shane Murray mostly in check after he dominated inside play in the first half.

Entering the fourth quarter at Butte’s Civic Center Saturday morning, the two teams engaged in a frantic back and forth scoring situation, which saw St. Regis pull within four points, 67-63 with 46 seconds left in regulation play. St. Regis sophomore Conner Lulis scored eight points in the fourth quarter but Noxon had just enough to hold them off and secure the win.

The Red Devils moved on to the consolation final, where they lost to Seeley-Swan, 56-48, ending their season with a 19-7 record.

Lulis paced St. Regis with 17 points, while teammate Ayden Rael chipped in 12.

Cameron Blair scored a game-best 21 points for Noxon, while Murray added 20 and Williams had 18.

St. Regis won the regular season matchup between the two then unbeaten teams, then nipped Noxon in the District championships.

Earlier in the tournament St. Regis ran into Lincoln in a semi-final game and once again fell behind early, trailing the Lynx 10-3 after one quarter of play and 28-10 at the half.

Lincoln managed to hold onto their lead the rest of the way, outscoring St. Regis 27-21 in the second half. Lulis topped the Tigers in scoring versus Lincoln, which got double-figure scoring from three players, topped by the 16 points from 6-5 junior post Roegun Dietz. The Lynx also got 14 points each from Andrew Brown and Kayden Riddle.

The game advanced Lincoln to the Divisional championship game against eventual winner Manhattan Christian.

St. Regis coach Jesse Allan had high praise for Lincoln and for his team’s keep fighting spirit.

“All the credit goes to a determined group from Lincoln”, he said. “They seized an opportunity that has never happened in school history, Congratulations to the kids, school and community of Lincoln.

“It was a great opportunity for this year’s team to show true metal and get back a little pride. As we all know, the beauty of sports and competition isn’t measured in trophies collecting dust...the real prize is seeing what you’re really made of on the inside”.

St. Regis opened the tourney this past Thursday with a 69-51 win over Two Eagle River, the Tigers’ third straight win over the Eagles.

The two teams were tied at 19-19 after the first eight minutes of play, but St. Regis outscored TER 15-8 in the second quarter, taking a 34-27 lead into the second half.

The Tigers outscored the Eagles 35-24 in the second half to preserve the win and move to the game against Lincoln. Lulis led St. Regis with 20 points, while the Tigers also got double-figure scoring from senior Hunter Stolla (17) and junior forward Barrett Bessette (13).

Talon Addison topped Two Eagle with 13 points.