Close, as they say, counts only in horseshoes and hand grenades.

It does not count in high school basketball or any level of hoops.

So for the St. Regis boys basketball team, close but not quite meant they kept their unbeaten record intact, with an easy home win over Hot Springs 51-30, and a close until the fourth quarter victory over surprising Two Eagle River in Pablo, 56-47 this past week.

For the St. Regis girls, close worked the other way as they rallied but fell just short in a 52-48 last minute home court loss to Hot Springs, then cruised to a 59-46 victory over Two Eagle’s Lady Eagles Friday night in Pablo.

The boys came into their game with Two Eagle River with an unblemished 7-0 record for the year. After blowing out most teams on the schedule so far, the Tigers found themselves in a dog fight early on.

The two teams traded baskets throughout the opening quarter, which ended with St. Regis holding a razor-thin 16-15 lead over the determined Eagles. They dove for loose balls and ran the court with more energy than St. Regis in the second quarter, which paid off in a 27-26 Two Eagle halftime lead.

The third quarter featured renewed energy on the part of St. Regis, highlighted by the scoring and rebounding of junior forward John Pruitt, who scored 11 points during the period and controlled rebounds on both ends of the court.

A Pruitt two-pointer, along with a long three-point shot by senior Caleb Ball gave the lead back to St. Regis, 31-29, just minutes into the third quarter. That lead grew to 40-31 midway through the quarter before Two Eagle scored five unanswered points to close the gap to 40-36, Tigers, heading into the final eight minutes of play.

A trey by the Eagles put them ahead 42-41, but that brief lead was erased on a two-point bucket by Ayden Rael. Two pointers by Pruitt and Ball pushed the Tigers to a 48-43. From that point on, St. Regis controlled the tempo and clamped down on the defensive end to escape Pablo with the victory.

Pruitt led the Tigers with a game-high 24 points, while Ball chipped in 16 in the victory.

The win over Two Eagle came one day after the Tigers took an early lead over Hot Springs, building a 41-16 halftime lead.

They increased their lead by two in the third quarter, 51-24, then survived a scoreless fourth quarter as the early lead was too much for the Savage Heat to overcome.

Hot Springs fell to 2-5 overall and 1-3 in Western 14C conference play with the loss, while the win gave St. Regis a 7-0 season mark and boosted their 14C record to 3-0.

Friday night was a bounce-back night for the Lady Tigers, who overcame their heart-breaking last minutes loss to Hot Springs the night before with a 59-46 road win over the Two Eagle River Lady Eagles.

St. Regis roared out to a 21-2 first quarter lead, which became 31-15 at halftime as Two Eagle began to find the range offensively. The St. Regis' lead remained mostly the same the rest of the way as they had enough to hold off several spirited Lady Eagles rallies to secure the win and lift their season mark to 4-4 and their conference record to 1-3.

Thursday night it was the Lady Tigers who fell behind early to the visiting Lady Savage heat, then watched as their rally in the second half came up just short after being tied at 48 late in the final quarter.

St. Regis scored the game’s final four points over the last minute and a half to hold off the Lady Tiger’s surge, which was led by senior Macy Hill and sophomore point guard Shylah Dalka. Hill finished with 22 points, while Dalka added 10 and was instrumental in guiding the Lady Tigers offense.

Senior forward Lily DeTienne also had 22 points for Hot Springs, which got nine points from forward Lauryn Aldridge.

The win squared the Lady Heat’s conference record at 1-1 and their season mark at 2-3.

St. Regis fell to 0-3 in Western 14C play and 3-4 overall.

This week Hot Springs has a return match with Two Eagle tonight (Jan 10), then travels to Superior this Saturday for a pair of games against Superior.

St. Regis hosts Alberton this Thursday, then stays at home for boys and girls games Saturday in St. Regis versus Charlo.