Kootenai earns bid to state tourney

HARRISON FLATS - Jake Zarpentine, Greg Wallace and Hayden Kraack had 12 points apiece as the Kootenai Warriors advanced to the 1A Division II state tournament with a 55-35 win over the Mullan Tigers in the District 1 championship game on Friday night.

"I thought we played better in the first half than the second half," Kootenai coach Andrew Whipple said. "We hadn't played in 18 days and they kind of ran out of steam as the game progressed. Mullan played hard with only seven kids."

Kootenai will open the state play against the Dietrich-Meadows Valley winner Thursday at 12:15 p.m. (PST) at Caldwell High.

Zarpentine added 10 rebounds, four steals and four assists for Kootenai (12-9), which earned its first trip to state since 2004.

Casey McKinnon had 16 points for Mullan, which ends the season 7-12.

Mullan 9 3 11 12 - 35

Kootenai 15 16 10 14 - 55

MULLAN - Henderson 13, Johnson 0, Trogden 3, McKinnon 16, Garitone 0, Newell 0, Scheel 3.

KOOTENAI - J. Zarpentine 12, D. Zarpentine 9, Myhre 0, Wallace 12, Dodson 6, Carman 0, Whipple 0, Kraack 12, Reynolds 2, Law 2, Sheppard 0, Bornitz 0.