Bonners Ferry 62, Gooding 60

EAGLE — Senior Sulay Abubakari muscled his way to a double-double of 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and 10 rebounds, senior Peyton Hinthorn tallied 12 points, nine rebounds and a game-high five assists, and the No. 5 Badgers used a 12-2 start to the fourth quarter to take down the No. 4 Senators in 4A State Championship tournament quarterfinals play on Thursday afternoon at Eagle High.

Junior Jameson Cartwright-Kissee scored all nine of his points from behind the 3-point line, two of which came during the Badgers' 10-0 run to begin the first quarter, and recorded five rebounds and four assists for Bonners Ferry, which led 29-27 at intermission. Junior Ty Schrock was consistent as ever as he registered 18 points, including two 3-pointers, three rebounds and three assists in the winning effort.

Gooding, playing in their first state tournament since 2017, got a game-high 28 points from Bridger Pope and 20 more from Eli Esterbrook as they stormed out to a 49-44 lead after a 22-15 third-quarter scoring advantage. Cougar Stockham had eight points, 13 rebounds and threw down a couple of slam dunks for the Senators (14-7), which will face Filer (10-15) in their consolation semifinals matchup today.

In the fourth, Abubakari, who scored 10 of his 21 points in the frame, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the away crowd riled up as he stretched the Badgers' lead to 56-51 at one point. Down two with 12 seconds to go, Gooding was able to get off a last-second heave from just over halfcourt, but it hit the shot clock above the scoreboard as time expired.

Bonners Ferry (13-8), two-time defending state champions and now on a seven-game winning streak, will face No. 1 Teton (21-5) today at 4 p.m. PST in the 4A State Championship semifinals. The Timberwolves defeated Filer by a score of 63-36 in their opener. The last time the Badgers went up against the Timberwolves was in the 2024 state championship game, which Bonners Ferry won by a 54-47 tally.

Bonners Ferry 14 15 15 18 — 62

Gooding 10 17 22 11 — 60

PTS: BF — Abubakari 21, Schrock 18, Hinthorn 12, Cartwright-Kissee 9, Thomson 2. G — Pope 28, Esterbrook 20, Stockham 8, Kelsey 2, Patterson 2.

REB: BF — Abubakari 10, Hinthorn 9, Cartwright-Kissee 5, Thomson 4, Schrock 3, Allred 1. G — Stockham 13, Esterbrook 7, Kelsey 4, Pope 4, Patterson 3, Johnson 1.

AST: BF — Hinthorn 5, Cartwright-Kissee 4, Schrock 3. Allred 1. G — Stockham 3, Kelsey 3, Patterson 1, Esterbrook 1, Pope 1, Curits 1.

STL: BF — Schrock 1, Allred 1. G — Stockham 2, Patterson 2, Esterbrook 2, Pope 2, Curtis 1, Kelsey 1.

BLK: BF — Abubakari 1, Hinthorn 1. G — Esterbrook 1.