PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Defense propels St. Maries to first win
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 1 week AGO
POTLATCH — Seniors JJ Yearout and Jack Barta had six steals each and the St. Maries Lumberjacks got out to a strong start en route to their first win of the season, 44-33 over the Potlatch Loggers on Thursday night.
“Those steals came at critical moments,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “In the second half both jumped the passing lane and got some steals and baskets to get the momentum back in our favor.”
Yearout and senior Isaiah Gustaffe each scored 12 points for St. Maries (1-1). Yearout scored 10 of his points in the second half.
Junior Landon Riberich added nine points and seven rebounds for the Lumberjacks, and junior Jaxson Harold had three steals off the bench.
St. Maries held the Loggers to one basket in the first quarter and led 13-3.
“Our kids did a good job talking on defense, and made it difficult on them,” Chase said.
Chase said Barta did a pretty good job defending Chase Lovell, who finished with a hard-earned 21 points for Potlatch (1-2).
St. Maries plays host to Kendrick on Saturday.
St. Maries 13 5 17 9
Potlatch 3 8 6 16 — 33
ST. MARIES — Herold 2, J. Barta 3, Yearout 12, Gustaffe 12, B. Barta 0, Riberich 9, Speakman 4, Sloper 2.
POTLATCH — Marshall 4, Lovell 21, Morris 3, Brown 0, Mitchell 1, Redman 3.
Damien (Calif.) 59
Lake City 49
MERIDIAN — The Timberwolves fell behind early, caught up, then saw the Spartans of La Verne, Calif., pull away late on the first day in the Platinum Bracket of the Pro Image Sports Holiday Classic at Owyhee High.
“We knew they’d come out and really pressure us,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “But I was proud of our response and being able to battle back into it. We came here with the goal of getting better, and I’m thrilled with what we got from this. We’ve just got to figure out a way to close out some of these big-time games and we’ll go from there.”
Junior Jordan Carlson had 16 points, five rebounds and three steals for Lake City (2-3). Junior Jackson Anderson hit 3 of 4 3-pointers and finished with 14 points for the T-Wolves. Paxton Winey had four assists.
"Collectively, our defensive effort was really good," James Anderson said. "We gave up some 3's that hurt us late. Jordan was phenomenal and we need to do a better job of getting him some shots in the fourth quarter. But we did a better job of hitting some outside shots that really opened things up for other guys."
Junior Zaire Rasshan scored 19 points, senior Eli Garner 17 for Damien (11-1). Rasshan hit four 3-pointers, three in the first quarter, for the Spartans.
Lake City faces Ridgeline of Millville, Utah, tonight.
Lake City 11 13 17 8 — 49
Damien 16 10 16 17 — 59
LAKE CITY — Williams 0, Winey 2, Carlson 16, Watson 7, Bowman 8, Anderson 14, Pearson 0, Irgens 2.
DAMIEN — Smith 10, Mariles 0, Nickleberry 0, Rasshan 19, Franco 11, Murray 2, Garner 17, Martin 0, Gholar 0.
Kuna 57
Post Falls 52
KUNA — The visiting Trojans led by eight points at halftime, and by three after three quarters, before falling to the host Kavemen.
“We just ran out of steam,” Post Falls coach Jayson Ulrich said. “Shots we were getting to fall in the first half weren't in the second half. They were a strong, physical team, and that’s what we’ve got to get better at.”
Senior Jaxon Lysne scored 17 points, junior Cashton Bodman 16, senior Connor Carver 14 for Post Falls (2-2).
Senior Jackson Edwards scored 21 points for Kuna (3-1), which built a nine-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Trojans got it to within four.
Post Falls plays at Centennial tonight at 6:30 PST.
Post Falls 13 17 11 11 — 52
Kuna 13 9 16 19 — 57
POST FALLS — Auble 0, Norisada 0, Bodman 16, Lysne 17, Naylor 3, Munday 3, Carver 14, Bresee 0, Dean 0.
KUNA — Chabuka 8, Vazquez 0, Helvey 0, Edwards 21, Hoffler 2, Br. Barrus 4, Ba. Barrus 12, Castro 8, Hodges 2.
Star Valley (Wyo.) 62
Coeur d’Alene 32
IDAHO FALLS — Davis Whittaker and Caden Symons scored nine points each for the Vikings, who fell to the Braves of Afton, Wyo., in the first round of the TitleOne Tipoff Classic at the Mountain America Center.
Junior Collin Wright, making his season debut after missing the first two games with a knee injury, added six points for Coeur d’Alene (1-2).
“They outworked us. Outhustled us. They played harder,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss said. “When that happens it’s the head coach's fault. It’s my job to get my players to compete. Today, they did not.”
Cooper Lancaster, a 6-foot-4, 185-pound three-sport standout, scored a game-high 26 points for Star Valley, all in the first three quarters.
“Star Valley is a very good team; a bunch of football players,” Leiss said of the Braves, who were coming off a 12-0 season and their fourth straight state football title. We had no answer for Cooper Lancaster.”
Coeur d’Alene plays Shelley (0-4) today at 10 a.m. PST in the consolation bracket. The Russets lost 51-50 to Sandpoint on Thursday.
Coeur d’Alene 10 11 7 4 — 32
Star Valley 24 18 18 2 — 62
COEUR d’ALENE — McCall 5, Fagan 1, Braga 0, Stern 2, Gentry 0, Rasor 0, Gatten 0, Wright 6, Whittaker 9, Symons 9, Priebe 0.
STAR VALLEY — Linford 8, Co. Lancaster 26, Liddiard 10, Shumway 12, Neuensdwander 0, Delgado 0, Thompson 2, Brag 0, Cr. Lancaster 0, Lawson 2, Kleeman 2.
Rocky Mountain 62
Lakeland 33
MERIDIAN — Senior Brayden Carrel had 22 points and eight rebounds for the Hawks (3-1) in the loss to the host Grizzlies (4-2) in the first round in the Gold Bracket of the Pro Image Sports Holiday Classic at Rocky Mountain High.
No other information was available.
Lakeland plays Ridgevue (3-3) of Nampa today at 4 p.m. PST in the consolation round.
Rogers 48
Timberlake 37
SPOKANE — The slow-starting Tigers fell to the Pirates of the Greater Spokane League on the road.
Max Simpson scored 11 of his 16 points in the second half for Timberlake (2-2).
Kayoni Ray scored 15 points, Kaiden Wirth 10 for Rogers (3-1)
“The energy and effort was there on the defensive end,” Timberlake coach Juston Henry said. “We just had a night where the ball would not go in the hoop. We had plenty of open looks during the game and just didn’t convert them. Proud of how hard the guys played.”
Timberlake travels to Wallace on Tuesday.
Timberlake 4 8 15 10 — 37
Rogers 9 18 11 10 — 48
TIMBERLAKE — Shively 2, Short 0, Walter 0, Simpson 16, Van Gundy 0, Vallieres 5, Hiaasen 5, Rush 3, Smith 1, Barnhart 1, Martin 4.
ROGERS — Dionne 2, Ray 15, Wirth 10, Warrick 7, Muhammad 9, Peabody 3, George 0, Bigelow 2, Wright 2, Shaw 0.