Twin Falls 75, Sandpoint 56

MERIDIAN — Sandpoint’s Parker Childs and Emerik Jones scored 18 points each as the No. 8 Bulldogs fell to No. 5 Twin Falls, 75-56 in a 4A IHSAA State Tournament loser-out game held Friday afternoon at Rocky Mountain High.

Sandpoint started the game shooting lights out. The Bulldogs took a 19-7 lead late in the first quarter after Jones caught fire and scored nine of his 18 points. In the second, Twin Falls, who will play in the fifth-sixth place consolation game tomorrow, outscored Sandpoint 30-12, taking a 12-point lead into the half.

“I thought we got off to a great start, our kids were ready to play — they were fired up,” head coach Brian Childs said. “We hit a wall early in that second quarter; we were just gassed. A 30-12 scoring difference in one quarter is pretty hard to overcome, but I thought we hung in there in the second half.”

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs fought back, cutting the lead to 10 points, and then eight to start the fourth. Sandpoint trailed by as much as 16 in the third, but Childs hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through to close the gap. 

In the fourth, Caiden Gion, who led Sandpoint in rebounds with seven, was the one who cut the deficit to eight after reaching over the back of a Bruin defender, grabbing a rebound, and sinking an off-balance shot to make it 57-49. Sandpoint trailed by roughly eight to 10 points the rest of the way until the Bruins hit their free throws down the stretch, eventually winning by a 19-point margin.

“There was no quit in us,” coach Childs said. “Their overall strength just wore us down, especially in the fourth. Their main contributors were all seniors … we are mostly underclassmen. We can play as hard as we want, but at the end of the game, the other team just had strong seniors making plays.”

In addition to their 18-point performances, Childs had a team-high six assists and Jones a team-high three steals. Derrick Chamberlain added nine points, battling hard down low. Wil Leisy scored six of Sandpoint’s eight bench points. Knox Williams recorded a game-high three blocks for the Bulldogs.

“Parker led and set the tone for us; I think he left everything he had out there,” coach Childs said. “At this point, you start thinking about everything your seniors have done, and this year it was just Parker. I am proud of him both as a coach and as his dad.”

Coach Childs said he had non-Sandpoint fans approaching him after the game saying they were really impressed with the fight from the Bulldogs, especially for being this young.

“You typically don’t see teams this young make the state tournament,” coach Childs said. “I think there are a lot of people who will be watching what we can do from this point on, and that’s what I wanted to leave everyone with. For us to regroup after what we did — pulling off the improbable — then coming down here and competing. We have a lot to be proud of after our first trip down here in 15 years.”

Twin Falls was led by Ty Hess, who scored a game-high 25 points. The Bruins also got 22 points apiece from Jared Mix and Logan Pittard; Pittard also pulled down 13 rebounds to complete a double-double.

Sandpoint finishes their season 12-14, capturing both the district title and appearing in the 4A state tournament for the first time since 2009.

Sandpoint 19 11 17 9 – 56

Twin Falls 12 30 15 18 – 75

PTS: SPT – Childs 18, Jones 18, Chamberlain 9, Leisy 6, Roos 3, Gion 2, Williams 0, Leavitt 0. TF – Hess 25, Mix 22, Pittard 22, Parker 2, Thompson 2, Plew 0, Rex 0, Jones 0, Stokes 0.

REB: SPT – Gion 7, Childs 3, Jones 2, Chamberlain 2, Williams 2, Leisy 1, Roos 1. TF – Pittard 13, Jones 7, Parker 4, Quigley 3, Thompson 3, Mix 3, Rex 1, Hess 1, Stokes 1.

AST: SPT – Childs 6, Jones 2, Roos 2, Williams 1, Chamberlain 1. TF – Rex 3, Mix 3, Pittard 2, Jones 2, Parker 2, Stokes 1, Thompson 1.

STL: SPT – Jones 3, Childs 1, Gion 1, Roos 1, Leisy 1. TF – Parker 3, Rex 2, Mix 1, Hess 1, Stokes 1, Pittard 1.

BLK: SPT – Williams 3, Chamberlain 1, Leisy 1, Roos 1, Jones 1. TF – None.