Priest River, Kellogg win playoff openers

After a wide-open and highly competitive Intermountain League season, form held in Monday's first-round games of the 3A District 1 tournament.

The top-seeded Spartans avenged a recent loss to Timberlake by topping the visiting Tigers 56-43 on Monday, while Kellogg held off visiting Bonners Ferry 59-56.

Those results mean the second-seeded Wildcats (10-7) will visit Priest River (13-8) tonight at 6 for the district title, and a spot at the 3A state tournament next week.

Timberlake (7-14) travels to Bonners Ferry (8-8) tonight in a loser-out game, also at 6.

Priest River 56, Timberlake 43

PRIEST RIVER — A 14-0 run that started in the third quarter and ended midway through the fourth allowed the host Spartans to overtake Timberlake.

To take down No. 4 Timberlake, the Spartans made a key adjustment — they switched to a zone defense.

In the two regular season matchups with the Tigers, Priest River played man. In the first game, the Spartans walked into Spirit Lake and squeaked out a 73-71 win over Timberlake. In the second last Wednesday, the upstart Tigers claimed a 66-55 road win.

"Our man-to-man defense against these guys both times we played them was just not there because they've got good guards," Priest River head coach Kevin Wylie said.

So on Sunday night, Wylie installed a zone defense to slow down Timberlake's dribble-drive offense. Wylie started drawing up the zone defense on a whiteboard during last Wednesday's game against the Tigers and after one day of walking through it in practice, the Spartans utilized it Monday to stifle the Tigers.

"We had to go to a zone defense and we went to a couple different zone defenses, and that seemed to be key," he said. "Honestly we're not a zone team. I don't like zone, but sometimes you got to make those adjustments and you got to do what it takes to win the game."

That defensive adjustment really started to pay dividends in the closing minutes of the third quarter when Priest River trailed 36-33. In the final minute of the quarter, Trentyn Kreager hit back-to-back baskets to give the Spartans a 39-36 advantage. From there the Spartans cruised and held the Tigers scoreless for nearly six minutes to take a 47-36 lead with 4:43 left in the game.

During that 14-0 run, Priest River kept going right at the Tigers and attacking the paint, and they were relentless on the offensive glass.

"We weren't really in a rhythm to knock down our 3's like we normally are," Wylie said, "so with Blake [Barrett] and Trentyn [Kreager] we know their physicality and their post presence is a big key and in that third quarter we just told them, 'We're pretty close to getting them in foul trouble and getting them in the bonus, so keep pounding the ball inside and that is what's going to win this game,' and that's what the key was."

Timberlake head coach Mike Menti said his team just couldn't buy a shot during that Priest River run.

"We got a little cold offensively which means your defense has to pick up and that didn't happen," he said, "and [Priest River] shot well ... Kudos to them. Their boys came to play today, that's why they're league champs."

Kreager led Priest River with 17 points and six rebounds. Jordan Nortz hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Barrett added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Zach Yetter had a team-high 12 points for Timberlake, Taylor Menti scored 11 and Hunter Higgins added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

"The one thing about these boys is there's no quit," coach Menti said of the Tigers. "They'll come back tomorrow and they'll put everything they have on the court, I have no doubt in my mind."

Timberlake 12 10 14 7 — 43

Priest River 15 12 12 17 — 56

TIMBERLAKE — Olivieri 8, Riley 0, Tay. Menti 11, Paslay 2, Yetter 12, Millsap 0, Antone 0, Higgins 10, Tan. Menti 0, Swensen 0.

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 6, Butler 3, J. Nortz 16, Kreager 17, Marinello 2, Barrett 10, D. Nortz 2, Thompson 0.

Kellogg 59, Bonners Ferry 56

KELLOGG - The Luna brothers, Riply and Kolby, combined for 34 points and 13 rebounds as the Wildcats used a key steal late in the game to top the visiting Badgers.

Trailing 31-28 at halftime, Kellogg outscored Bonners Ferry 18-10 in the third quarter to regain control of the game.

"We got back to what we had been doing at the start of the game: getting stops and getting out in transition," Kellogg coach Mike Martin said of the third quarter. "We gave up a ton of offensive rebounds in the first half that kept them in it, and they closed out the second quarter on a 13-0 run."

The Badgers drew an offensive foul with about 3 seconds remaining and had the ball with a chance to tie, but KJ Walker stole the inbounds pass and the Wildcats ran out the clock, Martin said.

Braeden Blackmore scored 26 points for Bonners Ferry, while Riply Luna hit 9-of-12 free throws and scored 21 points for Kellogg.

Kolby Luna and Logan Jerome added 13 points apiece for the Wildcats.

Bonners Ferry 16 15 10 15 - 56

Kellogg 20 8 18 13 - 59

BONNERS FERRY - Williams 11, Petersen 2, Rice 8, Henslee 0, Stockton 6, Hubbard 2, Mai 1, Beazer 0, Blackmore 26.

KELLOGG - Miller 0, Whatcott 0, R. Luna 21, K. Luna 13, McLean 0, Groves 7, Frohlich 2, Walker 3, Jerome 13, Lonn 0.