By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

BOISE — The St. Maries Lumberjacks are headed back to the state 2A high school boys basketball championship game for a second straight year, and the third time in four years.

And the court at Capital High has the marks on the floor to prove it.

Third-seeded St. Maries put on a hounding display of defense for the second straight night, this time holding No. 2 West Side to 34% shooting from the field in a 59-50 victory in a semifinal game Friday night.

“We all just try to hustle all over the court, try to play tough ‘D’ all the time,” said St. Maries senior point guard Coleman Ross, who finished with eight points and four rebounds. “We like to be aggressive; we’re going to get at it; got to get up in their grill for sure.”

“That’s just Lumberjack basketball,” junior guard Greyson Sands said. “We’ve been like that since coach (Bryan) Chase got here. Back to the Idaho Center, two years in a row. Defense wins championships; I think that shows.”

St. Maries (20-3), the defending state champion, will play No. 4 Melba (22-3) in the title game today at 12:40 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Melba defeated top-seeded North Fremont 61-52 in the other semifinal.

St. Maries, which held Firth to 34 points in a 12-point victory in the first round, will be trying to win its third state title in program history; the Lumberjacks also won in 1960.

The pressure started early, with a three-quarter court trap that sparked St. Maries to a 9-0 lead after just 2 ½ minutes. Then the Lumberjacks relied on a man-to-man defense that limited drives to the basket by West Side (19-9), which settled early for 3s, many of them wild.

Official stats on steals were not kept, but guards Ross, Sands, Jared Badgett and Connor Wolfe made life miserable for West Side’s perimeter players. The Pirates were 7 of 24 from 3, several of the makes coming after the outcome was pretty much decided.

A total of 41 fouls were whistled, and 49 free throws were shot in the rugged game.

“Our defense is what we hang our hats on,” said Chase, in his eighth season as head coach at St. Maries. “Tonight, we really focused on (Bryler) Shurtliff; we knew he was one of the best players in the state. I think we held him to zero points in the first half. Our goal on the board was 12 for the game (for Shurtliff), and that’s exactly what he got. I thought if we could contain him, then good things would happen.”

Sands and Ross divvied up the defensive duties on Shurtliff.

Big man/sometimes ballhandling guard Tristan Gentry-Nelson, a 6-foot-6 senior, totaled 16 points and 11 rebounds for St. Maries, which beat West Side in overtime at a holiday tournament in Meridian in December. Senior Colby Renner added 14 points. Junior Greyson Sands had 14 points and three assists, and hit three 3s, all in the third quarter when the Lumberjacks built their lead up to 14 points.

“Man, I haven’t been able to shoot like that all year,” said Sands, who finished 3 for 6 from behind the arc. “I’ve been trying to keep my head up, telling myself that I’m a good shooter, I know how to shoot. I’ve worked too hard to stop shooting. Once one goes in, the basket gets bigger, and you just let ’em fly.”

“I don’t think we shot 40% from the 3-point line all year, and we were pretty excited that we went 4 for 10 tonight,” Chase said. “We’ve been doing a lot more shooting in practice to get our percentage up, and it’s nice to see him (Sands) break out.”

Senior post Ryker Love scored 12 points for West Side, which went two-and-out at state last year after finishing runner-up to North Fremont in 2020. Sophomore guard Eli Brown hit three 3s and added 10 points for the Pirates.

St. Maries beat Melba 63-52 last year in the first round at state. The Mustangs won their only state title in 2011.

“They’re probably the most athletic team here,” Chase said. “They pass the eye test; strong athletes that jump out of the gym. It’s going to be a fun battle.”

Joe Reiber, a lefty shooting 6-2 senior, had 20 points and eight rebounds for Melba in the win over North Fremont.

St. Maries 18 9 16 16 — 59

West Side 8 12 14 16 — 50

ST. MARIES — Gentry-Nelson 16, Sands 14, Badgett 0, Ross 8, Wolfe 0, Elliott 6, Wicks 0, C. Renner 15, Hill 0. Totals 19-39 17-30 59.

WEST SIDE — Robinson 1, P. Henderson 1, B Brown 6, Shurtliff 12, E. Henderson 2, Ricks 0, Nielsen 6, E. Brown 10, Love 12. Totals 16-47 11-19 50.