Spartans win consolation championship 'Jacks fall in third-place game

MERIDIAN - Senior guard Jaden Barrett scored 22 points on 6 of 11 from beyond the 3-point line as the Priest River Spartans defeated the Sugar-Salem Diggers in the consolation championship of the state 3A tournament.

"It was an early morning game, so both teams had to get up and back out on the court," Priest River coach Ryan Bodecker said. "I'm proud of my guys for coming back and winning a hard fought game. Jaden can definitely shoot the ball."

Priest River, which defeated Salmon for the 3A title last year, scored 17 points off 13 turnovers by Sugar-Salem.

"It's great to end your season with a win," said Bodecker, who has coached the Spartans to three straight trips to the tournament. "To bring back hardware from the state tournament is hard to do. It was a great season all and all. Our senior class has set the standard for the years to come. They should be proud of their accomplishments for years to come."

Tory Peterson scored nine points, followed by Max Salesky with eight and Eric Holbrook with seven points for Priest River, which finished 19-6.

Colt Davidson scored 18 points for Sugar-Salem.

Sugar-Salem 12 13 10 13 - 48

Priest River 15 15 11 14 - 55

SUGAR-SALEM - Miayaski 7, Marler 7, Briggs 3, Rydalch 2, Somsen 3, Davidson 18, Fogle 0, Larson 4, Hawkes 2, Rhoton 2, Zhao 0. Totals 17-51 10-15 48.

PRIEST RIVER - Barrett 22, Douglas 4, Bach 4, Salesky 8, Peterson 9, Holbrook 7, Mortenson 1, Bradbury 0. Totals 20-56 8-12 55.

Third-Place game

Snake River 67, St. Maries 58:

MERIDIAN - An 8 of 24 first half from the floor doomed the St. Maries Lumberjacks as they fell to the Snake River Panthers 67-58 in the third-place game of the state 3A tournament at Meridian High.

"We came out shooting cold again," St. Maries coach Craig Wicks said. "It seemed like that was the story of the tournament for us. We shot 32 percent in the first half and 41 in the second. We just focused more in the second half, but by that time, it was too little, too late."

Zach Lehman scored 20, followed by Ian Heath with 16 and eight rebounds for St. Maries.

"The kids played hard all year long," Wicks said. "They had to learn a new system and competed all year long. I couldn't be more proud of them. They've got nothing to hang their heads about."

Candon Watt scored 16 points for Snake River.

Jake Mercer scored 13 points and had six rebounds for St. Maries, which concludes the season 19-7.

St. Maries 13 7 12 26 - 58

Snake River 14 13 20 20 - 67

ST. MARIES - Joiner 4, Schetzle 0, Sampson 0, Lehman 20, Guidry 5, Mercer 13, Anderson 0, Kennelly 0, Heath 16, Cordell 0. Totals 20-53 13-20 58.

SNAKE RIVER - Johnson 13, Keller 14, Coombs 4, Watt 0, Rushton 6, Peterson 15, Toulouse 9, Roll 0, William 0, Hrabik 6. Totals 21-49 21-29 67.