STATE HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS: A year wiser, Coeur du Christ back for more

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

1A

The Coeur du Christ Academy boys basketball team that is headed back to state this week for the second straight season is pretty much the same group that qualified for state last year — the Saints’ first year as a full member of the Idaho High School Activities Association. 

That is, unless you count the graduation of their leading scorer from last season. 

And the fact the Saints have a new coach this season. 

Other than that ... 

“There wasn’t a huge adjustment,” Coeur du Christ senior Jerome Cools said. “I loved our coaching last year, but this year has been amazing. Both do a great job, both know so much about the game, they do a good job of making sure each player is getting better every single day.” 

“I loved both systems,” Saints senior Aedan O’Neill said. “But this year, our coach (Austin Paulsen) is really, really competitive, keeps us driven to be the best version of ourselves, both on and off the court. He’s very intense, which we love and it pushes us to be the best version of ourselves.” 

Coeur du Christ (15-6) is the seventh seed to this year’s state 1A tournament. The Saints play second seed Watersprings School (22-3) of Idaho Falls, last year's consolation champions, in the first round tonight at 6 PST at Caldwell High. 

“This is such a good group of kids, great parents and staff here,” said Paulsen, a fitness instructor who played at Timberlake High and then at Coeur d’Alene. "It’s different. They don’t need discipline in terms of, they’re not out doing bad things after school. We’re just breeding confidence around here.”

Coeur du Christ played as an associate member of the IHSAA for two seasons before becoming a full member last season, which made it eligible to qualify for state. 

Through last year, the Saints’ top scorer was Ben Connolly, who averaged 30.3 points per game last season.  

He is an assistant coach on this year’s squad, which features more balanced scoring. 

"We knew that it was coming,” Cools said. “Coming into this year, there was a lot of like, ‘who’s going to pick up that slack?’ It wasn’t going to be one person that was going to have to take it all on. It’s going to be a team effort. We have done a good job of getting everybody to fit into their roles ... even though he was missed, it didn’t hurt us as bad as it could have, if we didn’t pick up that slack.” 

“This year, everyone can score; everyone’s a threat on the court,” O’Neill added. “It’s like having a threat from all five positions now. We all have our specific roles, and we run them quite well.” 

Sophomore Grant Clemens averages 16.7 points and 3.9 assists for the Saints. O'Neill is at 8.8 points and 11.4 rebounds.

Last year, as the eighth seed, Coeur du Christ was competitive at state. In the first round, the Saints lost just 69-56 to top seed and eventual champion Dietrich. 

Coeur du Christ then took No. 4 Cascade to double overtime before falling, 64-57 in a loser-out game. 

“We knew that we could go down there and be competitive,” O’Neill said. “But last year we had a really young team, and that was the first time our school’s ever been to the playoffs. We were all kinda new to it. But this year, now that we have some experience, we’re cautiously optimistic at our chances to at least be competitive at state.” 

This year, the Saints head south with the experience of the atmosphere and intensity of basketball at the state tournament level. 

“We had a lot of issues at the beginning of the season taking care of the ball, and putting up points on the board as well,” said Paulsen, who replaced Chris Kiefer, who resigned after one season. “Spent a lot of time in practice growing with the grit, the mentality ... and that’s our biggest weapon. If we get that mindset going down to state, I really think we have the talent and the ability to do well.” 

Notes: Dietrich, the defending champion, lost seven seniors from last year's team ... Started the season 0-6 and are 0-4 vs. 1A state qualifiers ... Carey is at state for the first time since 2023 and won 11 straight games ... Beat Dietrich three times during season ... Greenleaf Friends is at state for the first time since 2007, when it finished second in the 16-team combined 1A tournament ... Grizzlies won only state title in 1982 ... Rockland is at state for the sixth straight season and 11th time in 12 seasons ... Bulldogs are tournament's top seed and enter on an 18-game win streak ... Watersprings, at state for the fourth straight year, won the first trophy in program history, winning the consolation championship game last year.

6A 

Defending champion Owyhee of Meridian opens at state on a 12-game win streak ... Senior Logan Haustveit, who averages 17 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, has signed with Utah Valley ... Lake City, last year's runner-up, are at state for the seventh straight season ...  Timberline of Boise, Lake City's opponent in the opening round, is in its fourth straight trip to state and finishing third last year and second in 2024 ... Junior Collin Morris, who is 6-foot-7, averages 18.7 points per game ... Rigby is at state for the first time since 2022, when the Trojans finished third ... Quincey Clay, a sophomore from Capital High in Boise, leads the state at 26.7 points and scored 51 points against Mountain View in January ... Centennial of Boise is at state for the first time since 2022, when it finished second ... Patriots' lone losses came to Owyhee (twice) and Post Falls.

5A

Bishop Kelly of Boise, at state for the 12th time in 14 seasons, defeated Columbia of Nampa in the District 3 championship game ... The Knights are on an eight-game win streak ... Bonneville faces Preston in a rematch of a semifinal game from last season ... Burley is at state for the first time since going 0-2 in 2022 ... Five of Burley's six seniors have been on varsity for the past three seasons ... Columbia returns four starters from a team that won the consolation championship last season ... Lewiston enters state with wins in 17 of its last 18 games ... The Bengals went 0-2 at state last year as the tournament's second seed ... Preston, the defending champion, is at state for the eighth time in 11 seasons, with championships in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2025 ... Twin Falls is at state for the fourth straight year and seeks its first title since 2014 ... Vallivue of Caldwell beat Sandpoint in a state play-in game.

4A

Bonners Ferry, despite losing the bulk of their two-time defending state championship team, are at state for the sixth straight season. Three players off last year's champs are now playing in college, including two-time All-Idaho Player of the Year Asher Williams, now at NAIA Montana Tech .. Cole Valley Christian is at state for the fourth straight year ... The Chargers have won 15 straight entering the tournament ... Filer, the eighth seed is at state for the third straight year, going 0-2 in both seasons ... Gooding is at state for the first time in nine seasons ... Marsh Valley, in its third straight state tournament, has lost in the consolation final the previous two seasons ... Teton, the tournament's top seed, finished second in 2024, the program's last appearance ... Snake River, which fell to Bonners Ferry in the championship game last year, is at state for the 11th straight season.

3A

Wendell, the defending state champion, is lead by twins Jonathan and Jordon Swainston, both of which have scored 1,000 points in their career .... St. Maries, the tournament's top seed is back at state after having its 10-year streak snapped last season ... The Lumberjacks won the program's first title in 61 years in 2021 and was runner-up in 2019 and 2022 ... Parma, the eighth seed, is at state for the first time since 2019, when it played in what's now the 4A classification ... The Panthers have not won a first-round game since 2016 ... Ririe is at state for the first time since 2023, and second time in seven years ... Bulldogs allowing 40.9 points per game defensively ... Orofino advanced to state by winning in District 1 second-place game against Kellogg 47-44 ... New Plymouth last reached the state finals in 2013 and returns four starters from last season ... Firth is at state for the fourth time in five years.

2A

Rimrock won the consolation title in 2022, in its first state appearance since 2008 ... Lakeside, Rimrock's first-round opponent, is at state for the sixth time in seven seasons, including state titles in 2020 and 2023, and a runner-up finish in 2024 ... The Knights were also third in 2021 and lost in the third-place game last year ... Kendrick, the tournament's top seed, has only lost to Lewiston (5A), St. Maries (3A) and Prairie (2A), all state tournament teams ... Grace, the defending consolation champions, are at state for the 12th time in 16 seasons ... Murtaugh is at state for the first time since 2011 ... North Star Charter is at state for the first time since 2014 ... Prairie, at state for the first time since 2021, defeated Compass Charter in a state play-in game last Saturday 70-46 ... Valley lost seven seniors from a team that entered state last year unbeaten .. Vikings at state for the third straight year.