Devils show effort

Put in your best effort and give winning a chance.

Noxon boys basketball coach Bart Haflich wanted his Red Devil boys to show a little more of that effort that Noxon is famous for in Plains Friday after a lackluster 48-36 loss to Troy in Troy the night before.

Haflich got the effort he wanted and his Red Devils almost knocked off the Horsemen, losing only 40-33 by the time their latest hoop test was over.

"The kids played hard, we gave ourselves a chance in that game," Haflich said. "And that's what we talked about before we played; going out there and giving it our best effort."

Playing intense, scrappy defense, the Devils put themselves in position to possibly win early in the fourth quarter, even taking the lead at 28-27 with 5:20 left in the game on a pair of made free throws by Alex Currie.

Although Plains closed out the game with a 13-5 run to win, the Red Devils' efforts in the game encouraged Haflich and have him thinking good things are possible in the coming weeks. The Devils were to have hosted Thompson Falls in a non-conference game Tuesday (results were not available) and will host Two Eagle River for a 14C conference-counter Friday.

"We played well in Plains even though we ended up with the loss," he said. "If we can maintain that kind of effort the rest of the season, and get a little more offense going, we can live with the results win or lose."

Senior playmaker Logan Wood led the Devils in Plains with 14 points, Currie scored eight, Owen Fisher and Jeriko Smith four apiece, Levi Brubaker two and Edison VanVleet one.

Please see other story for Plains scoring in the game.