Warriors feel Devils' thunder

PABLO – Thunder, feel the thunder, the Red Devil thunder...

The Noxon Red Devil boys basketball team made a statement in the semifinals of the District 14C tournament in Pablo Friday night, playing the defending State C champion and No. 1 rated Arlee Warriors to a standstill early before falling back to a 64-42 defeat.

The Warriors felt the thunder in the opening minutes of play as the fired-up Devils came out ready to play, in spite of being serious underdogs to a team that has won over 30 games in a row over the last two seasons and appears poised to make another run at a State C title in the next few weeks.

The highlights for Noxon came in the first half, several in the first few minutes of play.

Junior Logan Wood bombed in a 3-pointer and Alex Currie got lose for a 2-pointer to put Noxon ahead 5-0. After the Warriors scored to make it 5-2, Devil sophomore Rylan Weltz snapped off another 3-ball to put the Devils up 8-2 with four minutes left in the first quarter.

Answering an 8-0 run by Arlee after that, freshman Braedon Marshall dribbled coast-to-coast after a steal, threw a head-fake on Arlee's All-State star Phillip Malatare, and converted the short shot to make the score 10-10 with only 1:20 left in the first period.

After David Haynes scored a 3-pointer and Billy Fisher a two to give Arlee a 15-10 lead, Noxon junior Alex Currie splashed a 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to make it 15-13 heading into the second quarter.

Currie then scored on a jumper from the free throw line to tie it up 15-15 early in the second, and then took an assist from Marshall and scored it again to knot the score at 17-17 with 6:45 left in the first half.

With 3:54 left in the half, Ethan Hinrchsen, Noxon's only senior, rained in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Devils an improbable 20-19 lead over Montana's No. 1 rated team, and a nervous Arlee crowd was momentarily stunned into silence.

Unfortunately for the Devils and their happy fans that was Noxon's final lead as Arlee went on an 8-0 run to end the quarter and took at 27-20 lead into halftime. The Warriors slowly pulled away in the second half but the Devils had already earned an immeasurable amount of respect with the fine first half showing.

"It was good to see it in their eyes, it gave the boys confidence," Haflich said. "We came out aggressive and were able to play with them. We saw they were just high school kids like us, really not much different than us when it comes right down to it."

Currie finished with 16 points to lead Noxon, Marshall added seven, Wood five, Aiden Galloway and Levi Brubaker four apiece, and Weltz and Hinrichsen three each.

Malatare scored 24 points to pace Arlee and Lane Johnson chipped in with 12.

The Devils started the tournament with a 61-55 win over Two Eagle River Thursday, stayed alive with a 58-45 win over Hot Springs Saturday morning and finally bowed out with a 49-41 loss to Charlo in the 14C consolation game Saturday afternoon.

Weltz scored 18 points and Currie 16 in the win over Two Eagle, Wood added nine, Owen Fisher and Marshall five each, and Hinrichsen and Brubaker four apiece.

Brendan McDonald led Two Eagle River with a game-high 20 points.

Wood scored 22 points and Weltz 19 in the win over Hot Springs Saturday morning, Hinrichsen added six, Marshal and Currie four apiece and Brubaker three.

See other story for Hot Springs scoring.

The Devils played Charlo tough and trailed the Vikings only 21-19 at the half before falling back in the consolation. Weltz led Noxon with 15 points, Marshall added 11, Currie eight, Wood four and Fisher two.

Landers Smith scored 17 and Tyson Petticrew 16 for Charlo.

Haflich enjoyed the uplifting finish to the season. "It was good to see the kids fired up like that and this could be something we could build on," he said. "We are still a young team so it will be interesting to see if they continue working on their games, put in some time on getting better in the off season. We have the potential to be a pretty good team next year if we work at it."