STATE 2A THIRD-PLACE GAME: St. Maries takes Brawl for the third-place trophy

BOISE — It was like a Brawl for the Ball.

Although, the trophy was for a little more than bragging rights.

Senior Greyson Sands had 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists for St. Maries in a 57-46 win over the Kellogg Wildcats — a rematch of the 2A District 1-2 championship game, as well as two other games this season — in the state 2A third-place game at Capital High on Saturday.

“It was a fun game,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “It was a full crowd on both sides. It was loud and good for the kids to have that in their final game.”

St. Maries beat Kellogg three of four times this season. The school’s used to play in the Brawl for the Ball spirit game, but that was canceled last year and not resumed this year.

“(Kellogg) Coach (Mike) Martin and I were talking, even up until midnight (Friday),” Chase said. “The common theme was that we’re both usually up until after midnight watching game film. This time, we could just go to bed because we both know each other's tendencies. Sometimes, you don’t know the team and you’re up half the night. This time, it was more about ‘let’s get some sleep, roll the balls out and see what happens.’”

St. Maries finished 19-6. Kellogg finished 19-9.

“We know each other inside and out,” Martin said. “Coming into today, it was going to come down to whoever had more left in the tank. Each time we got some momentum, they put together some stops. But I’m proud of how our guys competed all weekend. We knew we could play with anyone in the state and played toe-to-toe with the state champions. It’s an incredible group and has been an incredible season.”

The Lumberjacks, who were runner-up last season, trailed 28-4 in Friday’s semifinal, but battled back to take a lead before eventually falling to state runner-up Melba 62-58.

“The last seven quarters were about as good as it gets,” Chase said. “I couldn’t be more proud of how far our guys have come this season. To finish third, it really means a lot. We fought hard to come back against Melba, but playing Kellogg again was a little more motivation to come back strong.”

Senior Kolby Luna had 13 points and 10 rebounds, his twin brother Riply Luna 12 points and nine rebounds for Kellogg. Both Luna’s are preferred walk-on’s to play football at Miami.

“Our guard Jared Badgett and Trace Wicks did a good job on those guys defensively,” Chase said. “To hold them to 12 and 13 was pretty good.”

Kellogg 9 10 13 14 — 46

St. Maries 14 18 7 18 — 57

KELLOGG — Miller 9, Whatcott 4, R. Luna 12, K. Luna 13, McLean 1, Maciosek 5, O’Neill 0, Hendrix 2. Totals 17-50 8-19 46.

ST. MARIES — Holmes 3, Sands 17, Badgett 6, Barta 0, Holder 13, Renner 4, Wicks 5, Swallows 1, Hill 8. Totals 20-45 14-19 57.