STATE 3A BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Harold, St. Maries put clamps on Compas, Parma in opener

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

MERIDIAN — The stat line for St. Maries High junior guard Jaxson Harold on Thursday afternoon:  

Two point, two rebounds, three assists ... 

... And a game-changing defensive job on Parma’s top player, senior Nathan Compas. 

“Just irritate him,” Harold said of his mindset, after top-seeded St. Maries defeated eighth-seeded Parma 64-54 in the first round of the state 3A boys basketball tournament at Meridian High. 

Compas, who came in averaging 23.7 points per game, finished with 17 points for Parma (14-11). But he was pressured into 6-of-20 shooting from the field, including 1 of 7 from 3-point range. 

“We really focused on not letting 3 (Compas) take the game over,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “We knew he was going to get his points; we tried real hard to make sure he didn’t have a lot of legs in that fourth quarter.” 

St. Maries (19-3), which didn’t make it to state last year after coming down here 10 straight years, will play fourth-seeded Ririe (16-9) in the semifinals tonight at 4 p.m. PST at Meridian High. Ririe defeated fifth seed Firth (15-10) 52-40.

Senior JJ Yearout scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half for St. Maries, including 3 of 7 from deep — some of those from REAL deep. 

St. Maries started in a man-to-man, face-guarding Compas and putting a double team on him. But when Yearout and senior Isaiah Gustaffe picked up two fouls each early, Chase summoned the 5-foot-10 Harold from the bench late in the first quarter. 

“Super proud of how Jaxson came in.” Chase said. “Him coming in and really frustrating (Compas) and not letting him touch the ball for a while made a big difference.” 

“Jaxson did a great job on him; he was forcing him into tough shots,” Yearout said. “I don’t think he scored anything on him for 7, 8 minutes. It was sweet, that defense.  

“We double-teamed him, and that made him mad, and he couldn’t score much after that,” Yearout added. 

Senior Jack Barta hit 3 of 5 3-pointers, seemingly all of them whenever Parma made a move, and finished with 11 points. Senior Isaiah Gustaffe scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. Junior Landon Riberich had 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. Senior Xavier Sloper had eight points and 12 boards. 

“Landon did a good job protecting the paint; he did a good job changing shots, and blocking shots,” Chase said.  

St. Maries led most of the game, and had an answer for every Parma run. 

Parma senior Trevor Mann, who hit three 3s and led the Panthers with 19 points, sank a 3 with less than two minutes left in the first half to put his team up 20-19. 

But Yearout responded with a three-point play, and Riberich scored inside for a 24-20 halftime lead, and the Lumberjacks were never headed. 

Parma was just 22 of 57 (38.6%) from the field. St. Maries was 23 of 47 (48.9%). 

Parma     10    10    14    20    —    54 

St. Maries     11    13    15    25    —    64 

PARMA — Mann 19, Stell 2, Jensen 0, Compas 17, Hein 2, Roche 0, Lewis 4, Peterson 0, Davison 10, Mitchell 0, Herrera 0. Totals 22-57 5-11 54. 

ST. MARIES — Harold 2, Dickison 0, Pugh 0, J. Barta 11, Yearout 20, Gustaffe 12, B. Bara 1, Riberich 10, Speakman 0, Sloper 8, Blackwell 0. Totals 23-47 12-22 64. 

    MARK NELKE/Press St. Maries junior Landon Riberich (21) blocks a shot by Parma senior Colton Davison (22) in the first half of a state 3A boys first-round game Thursday at Meridian High.

    MARK NELKE/Press St. Maries junior Jaxson Harold (0) guards Parma senior Nathan Compas (3) as Lumberjack senior Brock Barta (11) looms nearby in Thursday's first-round game of the state 3A boys basketball tournament at Meridian High.

    MARK NELKE/Press St. Maries senior Isaiah Gustaffe looks to pass the ball as fans hold oversized mug shots of Lumberjack players in Thursday's first-round game against Parma at the state 3A tournament at Meridian High.