Defensive Savage Heat defeat Noxon Red Devils

HOT SPRINGS - Cameron Barber has been harping on defense with his team ever since he took over as the coach of the Hot Springs boys at the start of the season.

And that attention to defensive detail paid off in spades Thursday night as his Savage Heat shut down the Noxon Red Devils' offense on the way to a 52-37 win over their county rivals in Hot Springs.

"That's the best defense we have played this season," Barber said. "I have been telling the kids that we have to win on the defensive end and it really clicked for us Thursday, and that was nice to see."

In other action last week, the Heat took on another county foe, the Plains Horsemen in Plains Friday, and absorbed a 58-47 defeat. Trailing only 19-18 at halftime, the Heat were outscored 21-12 in the game-deciding third quarter.

"Our game plan was to shut down their inside game and we did a pretty good job of that," Barber said, "but then they hurt us from outside with some 3-pointers, especially in that third quarter."

The Savage Heat have two more District 14C boy-girl doubleheaders at home on tap this week, hosting St. Regis Thursday and Charlo Friday.

"I am impressed with how St. Regis is playing, they are doing some good things," Barber said. "And Charlo is a lot like us, a physical bunch of football players playing basketball that likes to get after it. We are looking for an interesting game with them Saturday."

Freshman Jack McAllister burst on to the scene in a big way for Hot Springs last week, leading the Heat in scoring both nights, collecting a game-high 21 points in the win over Noxon and pumping in 14 more in the game with Plains.

Hot Springs' bookend Tylers, Tyler Knudsen and Tyler Carr, both forwards for the Heat, scored 10 points apiece against Noxon, Brandon Knudsen added seven and Luke Waterbury four.

Brandon Knudsen scored 11 points versus Plains, Tyler Knudsen 10, Waterbury six, Carr four and Kyle Lawson two.

See other stories for Noxon and Plains scoring in last week's games.