Spartans get back on track with victory over Miners

WALLACE — Priest River boys basketball throttled Wallace 53-26 Tuesday night to grab its sixth win of the season.

The Spartans outscored the Miners 26-11 in the second half.

"We just came out flat," head coach Jaden Barrett said, "and defensively kind of just looked groggy and tired, which is probably from our Boise trip and not practicing much lately. We did pick it up in the second half."

Blake Barrett led the team with 13 points. Zach Engelson scored 10 points off the bench and also had a solid night on the defensive end, Jaden said. Travis Mathews had 9 points, Luke Butler added 8 and Trentyn Kreager and Jace Yount each tallied 5.

Last week, the Spartans took part in the Parma Holiday Tournament. They opened with a 52-45 victory over the host Panthers last Tuesday, but Priest River stumbled in its final two games at a tourney that gave them a taste of the level of competition they could encounter at state.

In the semifinals, the Spartans fell to Teton 54-48. Mathews and Barrett each scored 12 points and Yount had 11. Teigan Marinello added 8.

Priest River capped its trip with a 69-61 loss to Weiser last Thursday. Blake went off for a team-high 21 points, Mathews tallied 12 and Yount scored 10.

The Spartans were unable to buy a bucket in either game, shooting under 30% from the field in both. The team was without Kreager, the defending co-league MVP, for the duration of the tournament.

"We played hard and showed some heart and grit," Jaden said, "but shot 28% then 25% the last game. We're not going to beat many teams shooting that bad. I'm still proud of how we fought every game. We were still within a couple possessions even though we shot that bad, so that should show my boys what we’re capable of doing if we put some complete games together."

Priest River (6-5) opens Intermountain League play 7 p.m. Friday at Kellogg.

Priest River 14 13 11 15 — 53

Wallace 6 9 3 8 — 26

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 9, Butler 8, Kreager 5, Marinello 0, Gleason 0, Barrett 13, Z. Engelson 10, Berns 0, Thompson 1, Gamber 2, Yount 5.

WALLACE — Davis 0, Tesky 7, Streeter 0, Allisson 3, Jaramillo 2, Hasz 0, Schmidt 2, Murdock 0, Morin 7, Hall 3.

Priest River 11 14 6 17 — 48

Teton 15 16 4 19 — 54

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 12, Butler 2, Marinello 8, T. Engelson 3, Barrett 12, Z. Engelson 0, Berns 0, Thompson 0, Yount 11.

TETON — Thomas 0, J. Heuseveldt 25, T. Heuseveldt 9, Allen 0, Witherite 3, Brown 15, Prissel 0, Wood 4.

Priest River 12 15 15 19 — 61

Weiser 14 17 16 22 — 69

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 12, Butler 6, Marinello 7, T. Engelson 3, Barrett 21, Z. Engelson 0, Berns 2, Thompson 0, Yount 10.

WEISER — W. Shirts 4, Spencer 24, Haggerty 15, Scott 15, Estes 0, J. Shirts 7, Youngberg 4, Walker 0, Thein 0.