THE FRONT ROW with JASON ELLIOTT: The folks in Mullan tried, and we hope they try again

It’s not their fault.

Again.

Try as the Mullan athletic department did, and trust me, athletic director Stetson Spooner did everything he could to make Friday’s 36th District 1 All-Star boys and girls basketball games happen, it was out of his hands.

Again.

GRANTED, NOBODY could quite see this coming as a winter storm hit the area on Friday morning, making roads unsafe for players and fans to travel to Mullan for the games.

“With growing concern and the condition of the Fourth of July Pass and I-90, the games were canceled,” Spooner said in an email to other athletic directors in the District 1 area, which covers schools from Bonners Ferry to Plummer, as well as Post Falls to Mullan. We are sorry for this inconvenience, but with the idea of keeping athletes and their families safe, we believe that this decision is in everyone’s best interest.”

Sure, the games could have gone on as the weather had let up and temperatures had increased as the day went on, but sometimes, getting to Mullan from Wallace isn’t always the easiest trip.

All it takes is one accident, and the road could be closed for hours at a time, with no real back roads for about 4 miles between the cities.

Spooner said he hopes to reschedule the event.

More importantly, the games also served as a little bit of a curtain call for those area seniors that shined during the regular seasons.

Even more for coaches and players from Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene High, whose girls teams brought home state championships last month and deserved to hear some applause and congratulations for their efforts.

Same goes for Lakeside seniors Vander Brown and Corey Rivera, who captured the state 1A Division I title in an overtime thriller against Lapwai last Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

And also the Kellogg twin brothers Riply Luna and Kolby Luna, who announced their commitment to walk on to play football at the University of Miami next fall.

I mean, when was the last time two players from the Central Idaho League had that kind of chance?

Who wouldn’t want to see them play one last time?

FRIDAY’S POSTPONEMENT marked the second time in four years that the games were called off.

The previous time, it was due to the pandemic in 2020 when, as we later found out, nobody played after that, with the coming weeks seeing some conference tournaments, the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, and that spring sports season getting wiped out due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Being from the Silver Valley, the Mullan all-star games were something exciting year in and year out.

Sure, the games might not have always been that competitive, but having guys from Coeur d’Alene, Lake City and Post Falls high schools come to the Mullan Pavilion and put on a show was something fans didn’t get to see as much during the regular season.

Not that the level of basketball in the Silver Valley wasn’t up to par with that over the hill, but it’s not often that you’d see a point guard from Mullan throwing an alley oop to a player from Lake City or Coeur d’Alene for a dunk.

No, there’s not a lot of dunkers in the Silver Valley. Sure, there’s been a few, but nothing like some of the products that Kootenai County has produced over the years.

FOR SOME of the athletes from the bigger schools, they’ll get another opportunity to show their skills during the Idaho All-Star Basketball Classic at North Idaho College on March 25.

That game features the best of the best from around the state and will be celebrating its 20th edition this year.

You won’t see as many District 1 representatives there, but those that will be are well worth watching.

There’s just something about traditions.

Hopefully that one in Mullan is still one for a long time.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for The Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.