ST. REGIS – Dare we call the St. Regis Tiger boys a juggernaut?

Viewing the wreckage of the previously unbeaten, No. 8 ranked Seeley-Swan Blackhawks after an 81-46 shellacking from the still unbeaten, No. 9 St. Regis juggernaut, uh Tigers, in St. Regis Saturday, one would have to say yes, the omnipotent description seems to fit.

Coach Jesse Allan and his red-hot Tigers, who improved to 8-0 overall with the more than convincing win, appear to be “an overwhelmingly powerful, unstoppable force or entity,” the definition of a juggernaut. Coach Michael Haines and his Blackhawks, now a humbled 6-1, would have to agree based on what they saw in St. Regis Saturday. Right now at least.

But this story isn’t fully written yet, a fact Allan and his Tigers are painfully aware of. There is still a sense of more work to do before this St. Regis team can rest on its laurels. There are still goals to be reached, important games to be played in the coming weeks. And the memories of games played in the past.

“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little bit of heightened excitement from our guys, when we play Seeley,” Allan said. “We have been knocking on the door to State the past three of four years really, and just haven’t gotten the job done at Divisionals.”

Allan thinks these two teams could likely meet again in important games, and respects the situation, and his opponents. “Mike is a great coach, that group of kids from Seeley competes hard, and last night was not their best stuff,” he said Sunday. “I can certainly picture a scenario where we see each other again, and I know Seeley will be ready for that matchup, it’s up to us to do the same.”

Although all the Tigers were fired up for Saturday’s game, junior Nate Bohn was the most en fuego, throwing down a game-high 26 points to lead St. Regis, going long with a pair of 3-pointers but also hurting the Blackhawks with strong drives to the hoop.

Junior running mate Conner Lulis added 17 points, with three threes, and seniors Isaac Kelly and Barrett Bessette added 13 and 12 points each, respectively.

Kelly ripped the nets for another three treys and Bessette, in addition to his scoring and rebounding, made life difficult for his All-State counterpart Derrick Brovold of Seeley on the defensive end.

Brovold did lead the Blackhawks with 18 points but Bessette made him work very hard for every one of those points, in fact checking one of his late game outside shots and taking the ball coast to coast for a driving layup as an exclamation point. Jay Garland added 12 points and Blake Irwin nine for Seeley.

Closing out scoring for the victorious home boys, Denver Thomas hit a couple of big shots early in the game to help get the Tigers started and finished with eight points, Kaden Church scored three and Chet Hill two.

In other action last week, the Tigers defeated the Alberton Panthers 58-36, also in St. Regis Friday.

Lulis scored 18 points to lead St. Regis in that game, Thomas added 13, Kelly nine, Bohn five, Bessette and Demor Hostetler four each. Tucker Desoto three and Hill two.

Devin Hill scored 14 points to pace Alberton, Jaxson Zimmerman added 11, Shea Fredette six and Caiden Delaney five.

St. Regis faces two important District 14C tests this week, visiting Superior Thursday and hosting Two Eagle River Friday. In an interesting result, Two Eagle topped Superior 79-71 in Superior last week. The Eagles, 3-0 in conference play and 6-2 overall, and Bobcats, 2-2 and 6-3, are considered the other contenders in the district right now.

“Superior has the right pieces to be a really good team and I think they are figuring that out each game,” Allan offered. “Two Eagle has put in a lot of work over the summer, they can score and our game styles are similar, so it should be a lot of fun.”

    JUMP SHOOTING Tiger junior Conner Lulis gets up high on a shot attempt over Blake Irwin of Seeley-Swan during St. Regis’ 81-46 win over the visiting Blackhawks Saturday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)
  

    TIGER JUNIOR Nate Bohn scored a game-high 26 points in helping lead No. 9 St. Regis to a surprisingly easy win over No. 8 Seeley-Swan in St. Regis Saturday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)