Vallivue 68, Sandpoint 64

GRANGEVILLE — Saturday's 5A state play-in game had a little bit of everything — even a 25-minute delay in action.

Senior Tyler Weisz netted a career-high 18 points, including two 3-pointers, and registered five rebounds and a pair of steals, senior Logan Roos compiled 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and the Bulldogs, competing against the Falcons for the second time this season, were defeated in a battle for a state berth at Grangeville High.

Junior Brock Yarbrough drove the lane early and often and scored 12 points while fellow junior Derrick Chamberlain recorded 10 points and four rebounds for Sandpoint, which led 16-5 after one quarter of action and 24-5 at one point early in the second quarter.

Dominik Betancourt had a game-high 24 points, including six 3-pointers, and Victor Gutierrez had 10 points, four assists and a game-high seven steals for Vallivue, which stormed back to take a 43-42 lead midway through the third quarter. Weisz was crucial in helping the Bulldogs take the lead back, scoring eight consecutive points, including a 3-point play, a putback, and an off-balance buzzer-beating trey, as Sandpoint took a 50-46 advantage heading into the final quarter.

But in the fourth, that's where things got interesting.

With about four minutes to go, and with Sandpoint leading 57-56, malfunctions with the scoreboard and the shot clock occurred where the time was no longer being displayed. Organizers temporarily fixed the problem, but after a minute of action and a Falcon triple, the scoreboard continued to malfunction and another break ensued. After some more deliberations, the solution provided was that the teams would play the remaining three minutes with no time displayed on either the scoreboard or the shot clock. Vallivue, which won by a score of 59-54 earlier in the season, ultimately held on for the four-point win despite an unorthodox ending.

"A tough end result; the one thing I'd love to do is give these kids a trip to state, but we came up against a team that we knew was solid and wasn't going to back down," Sandpoint High head coach Will Love said. "Incredibly proud of the team's effort throughout the entire game — they did a good job of following our gameplan, especially in the first half where we were able to roll to that lead."

Senior Caiden Gion tallied six points and had four rebounds and junior Knox Williams had five points, including a 3-pointer and dished out a game-high six assists in what was the final game of the season for Sandpoint, which finished their first year under coach Love with a record of 12-13.

Vallivue 5 21 20 22 — 68

Sandpoint 16 19 15 14 — 64

PTS: SPT — Weisz 18, Roos 13, Yarbrough 12, Chamberlain 10, Gion 6, K. Williams 5. VV — Betancourt 24, Wilson 12, Mitchell 11, Gutierrez 10, Z. Hogg 6, Perez 3, Bingham 2.

REB: SPT — Roos 8, Weisz 5, K. Williams 5, Gion 4, Chamberlain 4, Iverson 2, Yarbrough 2. VV — Mitchell 8, Wilson 6, Z. Hogg 4, Gutierrez 4, Bingham 3, Perez 1.

AST: SPT — K. Williams 6, Roos 2, Yarbrough 2, Weisz 2, Iverson 1, Chamberlain 1, Gion 1. VV — Gutierrez 4, Perez 3, Mitchell 3, Betancourt 1, Z. Hogg 1, Wilson 1, Bingham 1.

STL: SPT — Roos 3, Weisz 2, Iverson 1. VV — Gutierrez 7, Mitchell 2, Wilson 2, Z. Hogg 1, Perez 1.

BLK: SPT — Roos 2. VV — Wilson 1.