'Jacks come up short
<p>St. Maries High School's Jaden Guidry, bottom, calls for a timeout after a tumble with Priest River Lamanna High School's Jake Weimer during the Boys Intermountain League 3A District Tournament game Friday evening at Lakeland High School.</p>
<p>Zach Lehman (14) of St. Maries takes the ball to the basket Friday night vs. Priest River.</p>
RATHDRUM - The Priest River boys basketball team will try and replicate what their Lady Spartan counterparts just accomplished - win a state championship.
Although the girls team owns the honor of being the first basketball team to bring a state title to Priest River High, the boys would be more than happy to be the second.
"The girls took advantage of opportunities and our guys totally supported them the entire way," Priest River coach Ryan Bodecker said after the Spartans beat St. Maries 58-41 in the 3A District 1 championship game Friday night at Lakeland High's Hawk Court. "Everyone is proud of what they did, but this is a totally different situation now."
Priest River advances to state beginning Thursday at Meridian High. The Spartans (19-3) will open at 7 p.m. PST against Homedale (13-10).
St. Maries (10-8) will play Bonners Ferry (8-13) tonight at 5 for the district's second berth to state. The Badgers eliminated Kellogg with a 71-50 victory on Friday.
Priest River 58, St. Maries 41: Leading by two points at halftime, Priest River outscored St. Maires 18-7 in the third quarter.
"The first half was tight and I thought we forced shots early, but give St. Maries credit for executing their game plan," Bodecker said. "Our three all-league guys (Intermountain League MVP Jake Weimer, Eric Holbrook and Max Salesky) really stepped up for us in the second half. They really started taking better shots and got into a rhythm."
Salesky hit back-to back 3-point shots in the third quarter and scored a game-high 17 points. Weimer played through sickness to record 12 points, eight rebounds and three blocks while Holbrook had 11 points to go along with five assists.
St. Maries managed to tie the game as late as the third quarter but struggled to score after the half. Junior Ian Heath led the Lumberjacks with 10 points.
"We played real well in the first half but the kids got tired," said St. Maries coach Jeff Mercer. He added, "We let them get away with open three's in the second half and that run kind of broke our back."
St. Maries 11 11 7 12 - 41
Priest River 13 11 18 16 - 58
ST. MARIES - Appel 0, Doman 0, Patzer 6, Sampson 0, Andersen 0, Cordell 0, Guidry 3, Heath 10, Lehman 8, Mercer 6, Joiner 2, Schetzle 3, Linnenmeyer 3.
PRIEST RIVER - Barrett 4, Simpkins 0, Douglas 6, Bach 0, Salesky 17, Collins 0, Holbrook 11, Weimer 12, Willig 2, Yount 6, Payment 0.
Bonners Ferry 71, Kellogg 50: Badger senior Alex Kellogg recorded a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds in the loser-out game.
Mat Evans added 15 points and Aaron Moe 10 for the Badgers, which started the game on a 16-9 run.
Joe Bren had 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Kellogg (12-11).
Bonners Ferry 16 20 20 15 - 71
Kellogg 9 13 12 16 - 50
BONNERS FERRY - Moe 10, Clausen 0, Zarate 8, Kellogg 22, Racer 0, Mendez 4, Evans 15, Watt 4, Riebli 2, Everhart 2, Lopez 2, Peycke 2.
KELLOGG - Fields 0, Serrano 0, Orsburn 0, Jerome 4, Debout 5, Bren 21, Groth 3, Lewis 0, Wendt 10, Morgan 7, Hulstrom 0, Hadley 0.
ALL-INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE
PRIEST RIVER - Jake Weimer, sr. (MVP), Eric Holbrook, jr., Max Salesky, jr. ST. MARIES - Zach Lehman, sr., Jake Mercer, jr. KELLOGG - Cody Lewis, sr., Joe Bren, sr. BONNERS FERRY - Alex Kellogg, sr., Mat Evans, jr. TIMBERLAKE - Derek Tymesen, sr.
COACH OF THE YEAR - Ryan Bodecker, Priest River.