Bonners Ferry 70, Timberlake 48 

One net has now been cut this season. The Bonners Ferry boys basketball team hopes there will be more to celebrate, as they are now officially 2025-26 Intermountain League and district champions following a 22-point win over the Timberlake Tigers in the district playoffs. It is the third win in three games for the Badgers this season against their biggest rivals.  

The Badgers are now through to a state play-in game at Grangeville on Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. in which the season is on the line. Win and Bonners Ferry moves on to the state playoffs. Lose and their season is over. 

It was a tentative start to the game and the Badgers trailed 6-5 after the first four minutes of the game before Ty Schrock received an inbounds pass at the half-court line. He fed it to Jameson Cartwright-Kissee, who gave it to Micah Thomson on the three-point line.  

Thomson held the ball, never thinking about taking the shot, before throwing an inch-perfect pass to Peyton Hinthorn for an easy layup. The points gave the Badgers a 7-6 lead with 3:57 left in the first quarter. 

The next time Timberlake made a shot was with 3:45 left in the second quarter. In total, the Tigers did not score a single point for nine minutes, 33 seconds. By the time they did, the Badgers held a 20-6 lead. At the end of the half, the score was 30-10. 

Turnovers were a significant factor in the game. Bonners Ferry did not have many, while they forced several that turned into wide-open scoring opportunities. One example was a minute into the third quarter; Schrock deflected a Timberlake pass, causing a loose ball, but it looked as if the Tigers would retain possession.  

However, Schrock put his body on the line, diving for a ball and causing his opponent to make an ill-timed touch. Two seconds later, Hinthorn had an open route to the basket, dunking the ball to make the score 57-28. 

Four minutes later, the opposite occurred, as Sulay Abubakari got down low to create a loose ball that Hinthorn recovered and threw to Schrock, who had a wide-open layup of his own. 

Schrock led the team 23 points despite going scoreless in the first quarter. Abubakari and Hinthorn scored 16 points each, while Cartwright-Kissee, Thomson and Allred had key contributions on both sides of the ball.  

Throughout the game, the Badgers committed just nine fouls, with no player having more than three. Three was also the number of three-pointers the Badgers made, as they mainly scored from shots inside the line. 

Bonners Ferry 13 17 22 18 — 70 

Timberlake 6 4 18 20 — 48 

PTS: Schrock 23, Abubakari 16, Hinthorn 16, Thomson 6, Allred 5, Cartwright-Kissee 4 

    Sulay Abubakari cuts the net off one of the hoops in the Bonners Ferry High School Gym. Each of the players and the coaches did the same following their win.
 

    Peyton Hinthorn dunks for the second straight home game.