Heat in fight to the end

The Hot Springs Savage Heat are in this fight until the end.

Coach Scott Fredrickson and his Savage Heat will be fighting the District 14C war from now until the end of the season, unless they can raise themselves above the fray and go on to fight more wars at the Western C and State C level later on.

Fresh off a pair of tough conference losses – the Heat lost 65-53 to Plains in Plains Thursday and 55-52 to Noxon in Noxon Saturday – the Heat have two more 14C contests on tap this week, visiting St. Regis Thursday and closing out the regular season hosting Charlo Saturday.

The Heat’s loss to Plains was nonetheless encouraging as the Horsemen came into that game unbeaten in league play and the Heat were down a player or two due to grades. “We gave Plains a good game,” Fredrickson said. “We felt like we were right in it up until the fourth quarter.”

Plains led only 43-41 going into the fourth quarter but won those eight minutes 22-11 to win going away.

Brandon Knudsen scored 26 points to lead Hot Springs, Jack McAllister scored 14, Luke Waterbury five. Kyle Lawson four and Lincoln Slonaker three. Please see other story for Plains scoring.

Against Noxon, the Red Devils threw a box-and-one defense on Knudsen, limiting the Savage Heat senior to a season-low nine points. “They forced the ball into the hands of our more inexperienced players,” Fredrickson said.

Turning to their own one-man wrecking crew, Noxon was led to the win by Rylan Weltz, who scored a game-high 36 points, including 12 of 14 free throws.

Fredrickson said he still felt his team could have won in the West End. “We didn’t play badly, Noxon just played a little better than we did,” he said. “They are playing some good ball lately, are getting better as the season goes on.”

McAllister led the Heat in Noxon with 13 points, Lawson and Slonaker (who nailed three 3-pointers) 12 each, Knudsen nine and Waterbury six. See other story for complete Noxon scoring.