PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: St. Maries buzzes back to state, downs Kellogg on late triple

ST. MARIES — The ninth one might have been the most thrilling.

Senior Dillon Holder drained a 3-pointer from the left baseline at the buzzer, lifting the top-seeded St. Maries Lumberjacks past the second-seeded Kellogg Wildcats 53-50 in the championship game of the 2A District 1-2 tournament Wednesday night at St. Maries High.

It was St. Maries’ ninth straight district title.

“We’ve had some buzzer beaters in the past, but that might have been the best,” ninth-year St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said.

St. Maries (17-5) advances to state next week at Capital High in Boise. The Lumberjacks will be the No. 4 seed, and will play fifth-seeded Ririe (20-4) next Thursday at 4 p.m. PST.

Kellogg (16-7) plays host to Priest River (9-13), the fifth seed at districts, tonight at 6 in a loser-out game, with the winner advancing to a state play-in game vs. New Plymouth on Saturday at Kellogg.

Priest River won 54-44 at third seed Orofino (10-9) in a loser-out game Wednesday. Priest River and Kellogg dropped down from 3A this year.

“It was a much tougher district (this year),” Chase said.

In a wild fourth quarter, Kolby Luna of Kellogg buried a 3-pointer from the right wing with 30 seconds left to tie the game at 50.

On the final possession, Greyson Sands of St. Maries came off a ball screen, drove into the lane, drew the defense to him and whipped a pass behind his head and to his left to a wide-open Holder for the game-winner.

“We put our two best shooters in the corner, Holder and (Trace) Wicks, let Grey come off a ball screen,” Chase said. “Dillon and Trace both shoot the ball very well.”

Sands scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, and hit two of his four 3s in the period. Holder hit two of his three 3s in the fourth.

Kolby Luna scored 17 points, Riply Luna 11 for Kellogg, which led from late in the first quarter until three minutes were left in the fourth. The Wildcats led by 14 points late in the third, before the Lumberjacks began their comeback. The lead changed hands five times before Holder capped a 30-point fourth quarter for St. Maries.

“Give Mike (Martin, the Kellogg coach) credit; he really bottled us up in the first half,” Chase said. “We never got our inside game going.”

Sands also made a key defensive play, drawing Riply Luna’s fifth foul on a charge midway through the fourth.

“They just caught fire in that fourth quarter,” Martin said. “We were better defensively in the first three quarters, but having Riply (Luna) and Luke (Miller) in foul trouble hurt us. But St. Maries hit some shots. Sands hit some bombs and got the crowd back into it. Once he started doing that, the hoop got as big as the center circle for them. They just made some plays down the stretch and finished with the ball in their hands.”

The Lumberjacks wicked up the pressure in the fourth quarter, going from a 2-2-1 press to a full-court denial press, trying to keep the ball out of the Luna twins’ hands.

Chase praised Wicks and Jared Badgett for their role on defense against the Lunas in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve had some good comebacks, but that just might take it,” Chase said.

“I’m proud of how we competed,” Martin said. “Defensively, for three quarters we were locked in. We knew a run was coming and our guys responded well. Our guys battled in a hostile environment and answered each punch they threw at us until the clock was dead. Hats off to St. Maries. They’ve been to eight straight (state) semifinals for a reason. That’s a heck of a program and deserving champion.”

Kellogg 12 9 13 16 — 50

St. Maries 8 8 7 30 — 53

KELLOGG — Miller 10, Whatcott 6, R. Luna 11, K. Luna 17, McLean 3, Maciosek 1, O’Neil 0, Hendrix 2.

ST. MARIES — W. Holmes 8, Sands 16, Badgett 0, Holder 13, Renner 4, Wicks 5, Hill 7.

Lakeland 66

Sandpoint 64

SANDPOINT — Lakeland High senior Nick Nowell gave the Hawks new life on both ends of the court mere seconds apart in the opening game of the best-of-3 game championship series for the 4A Region 1 championship at Les Rogers Court.

Nowell scored on a layup with 1.4 seconds remaining to give the Hawks the lead. After Sandpoint moved the ball to midcourt, Nowell tipped away an inbounds pass at the rim to give the third-seeded Hawks the win over the top-seeded Bulldogs.

“Nick had a great game tonight,” Lakeland coach Tony Hanna said. “They really tried to take Scotty (Hocking) away. Sandpoint is a tough place to play. The crowd is rowdy and they played well during the season to get the top seed.”

Rusty Lee scored 27 points for Sandpoint (8-14). Hocking scored 14 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, going 8 for 8 from the free-throw line for Lakeland (5-16).

“Scotty kind of took over offensively for a while,” Hanna said. “We had some other guys chip in and hit some shots, but when he’s going like that, it’s fun to watch.”

Lakeland now hosts Game 2 on Friday at 6 p.m., and can advance to state starting March 2 at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian with a win either Friday or Saturday.

“It’s great,” Hanna said. “It’s exciting to get another home game and chance to close it out at home. I’m expecting a battle like every time we’ve played them this season and I’m sure it’s going to be a battle again.”

Lakeland 20 11 7 28 — 66

Sandpoint 18 11 15 20 — 64

LAKELAND — Nowell 15, Cameron 8, Ferguson 15, Ryan 5, Loutzenhiser 4, Hocking 19, Anderson 0, Locke 0.

SANDPOINT — Pettit 4, Lee 27, Frank 4, VanDenBerg 8, Eacret 0, Dickinson 9, Childs 5, Lane 7.