SPIRIT LAKE — Priest River boys basketball executed down the stretch and fended off a pesky Timberlake team to open Intermountain League play with a 73-71 victory on Saturday night.

Juniors Trentyn Kreager and Blake Barrett combined for 50 points and nine 3-pointers.

Head coach Kevin Wylie said it wasn't the Spartans best game, but they got the job done.

"We definitely didn't play as good as we can play," he said. "We just had a tough night defensively, but our offense was just strong enough to pull off the win."

The Tigers jumped out to a 23-16 first-quarter lead, but the Spartans battled back in the second and held Timberlake to just nine points in the frame to take a 36-32 advantage into halftime.

The teams continued to trade blows in the second half and Priest River built a big enough lead in the fourth quarter to hold on for the win.

"It seemed like every time we'd make a bit of a run and get it to eight or 11 points, they'd answer right back," Wylie said about Timberlake. "They hit some big shots and definitely kept the game close."

Moving forward, Wylie said he'd like to see his team step it up defensively.

"We just got to pick up the energy and intensity on the defensive end," he said, "and again, we're playing a little tougher competition now, so the defense has got to be able to match that."

Wylie added that it feels great to start IML play with a W.

"It's huge," he said. "Timberlake's a good team. They're a 3A team, but they are quite a bit bigger in school size than us and to beat them and start league off with a 1-0 record is definitely something we're happy to see happen tonight. I'm just super proud of the guys for hanging tough and fighting through a little adversity."

Kreager led the team with 29 points and Barrett had 21. Jordan Nortz tallied 13 and Travis Mathews added 6.

Priest River (7-2, 1-0 IML) hosts Sandpoint at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Priest River 16 20 17 20 — 73

Timberlake 23 9 18 21 — 71

PRIEST RIVER — Matthews 6, Butler 0, Jordan Nortz 13, Kreager 29, Marinello 0, Barrett 21, Dylan Nortz 2, Thompson 0, Yount 2.

TIMBERLAKE — Riley 16, Taylor Menti 10, Paslay 6, Yetter 20, Millsap 3, Higgins 11, Tanner Menti 0, Simpson 5.