Sometimes, even the best shooters could swear the opposing team put a clear plastic lid over their basket.

Nothing’s going in, couldn’t throw it in the ocean.

The cure for that, they say, is to let the good shooters keep shooting. Let them, in effect, shoot their way out of the slump.

And that’s just what happened to one of the area’s best shooters and players, Caleb Ball, Saturday during “one of those games” against an upset-minded Darby Tigers team during this past weekend’s Hamilton Tip-off tournament.

Ball, who last season averaged in the 30 ppg range most of the year, suddenly found himself in the middle of a basketball time warp. He also found himself at the end of coach Jesse Allan’s bench to get his head cleared and refocus.

Fortunately for Ball and his Tigers teammates, he was able to shake it off with just a few minutes to play as St. Regis held on for a 44-42 barn-burner of a victory.

His awakening kept St. Regis’ record clean at 2-0 in the season’s first unofficial action, which included a win the day before of a Plains team desperate for a “W”. St. Regis boys won that game 60-41.

Meanwhile the St. Regis girls went 1-1 during the two-day event, easily handling Plains 47-22 on the Friday, then losing a heart breaker 35-33 to Darby’s girls.

The Lady Tigers had little trouble dispatching of the Trotters from Plains, posting a 10-5 first quarter lead, then boosting it to 26-14 by halftime.

With their more aggressive line-up and the marksmanship of St. Regis’ female shooter, Macy Hill, the Tigers moved the score to 41-16 by the end of the third quarter and coasted to the victory in what was their unofficial season opener. Hill was on target most of the game and got loads of rebounding help from Avery Burnham and company under the basket.

Saturday was a different story for the girls versus Darby, as it was for the St. Regis boys in their game against Darby.

The Lady Tigers tried throughout the game to shake free from the pesky Darby squad, but after a 4-3 first quarter lead, St. Regis found itself still ahead by one 13-12 at halftime.

St. Regis managed to grow that lead to three, 25-22 heading into the final eight minutes of play, but Darby would not let them pull any further away. In fact, Darby was the team that build a seven point lead midway through the final quarter, only to see St. Regis pull within four with 40 seconds to play.

A long outside shot from Hill was not enough to erase the four-point lead and Darby escaped with the 35-33 win.

Had it not been for Ball’s late game revival, that would have been the exact scenario for the St. Regis boys.

After easily dispatching of Plains on Friday, at least in the first half when they bolted out to a 22-2 lead, St. Regis was in total control of the Horsemen. But the Plains crew also hung close in the second half and denied St. Regis a potential rout.

Still the early St. Regis lead was ample to preserve the season-opener for the defending 14C champs and set up what looked like a cinch to emerge from the tournament with a 2-0 record.

Ball’s cold streak, which also included several uncharacteristic turnovers by the usually sure-handed senior guard, played a key role in allowing Darby to hang within one point, 43-42 with one minute to play. A few players earlier he had buried his first three-pointer in more than a half.

With time running out and Darby down by one, Ball came up with a huge steal and was fouled while shooting.

He missed the first charity toss, then sank the second one to give St. Regis a 44-42 lead. Ball then snared the rebound from a missed Darby last-second shot to ward off the challengers and preserve the St. Regis victory.

St. Regis’ next games are this Friday at home against Valley Christian before they take to the road for a rematch with Darby this coming Saturday.