Lumberjacks edged in 3A opener

MERIDIAN - Jason Hawks had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Sugar-Salem Diggers past the St. Maries Lumberjacks 48-44 in the opening game of the state 3A tournament on Thursday at Meridian High.

St. Maries, which was ranked No. 1 in the final state media poll, went 4-of-20 shooting from the field in the first half, while Sugar-Salem was 10 of 25 to take a 22-11 halftime lead after outrebounding the Lumberjacks 26-6 in the first half.

"It's hard to compete and win a basketball game with that kind of margin," St. Maries coach Craig Wicks said. "The first half, we just weren't ready to compete and it might have been jitters. We didn't even challenge them in the first half at all. We dug ourselves a hole that we had to battle back from."

The Lumberjacks outscored the Diggers 16-4 in the third quarter, but were eventually done in at the foul line, where Sugar-Salem made 14 of 17 attempts in the second half.

"They play a physical brand of basketball down here," Wicks said. "A couple of our kids got taken out of their normal routines."

Rhett Ryle and Austin Linnemeyer had 11 points apiece for St. Maries (19-6), which faces Bear Lake (18-6) today in a loser-out game at 12:15 p.m. Bear Lake lost to Fruitland 59-51 in another opening round game.

"They're probably a tougher team than the one we played today," said Wicks of Bear Lake. "We'll see what we're made of tomorrow. Do we want to respond and fight for the consolation championship or pack it in for next season."

Satchel Schetzle had six assists, five points and three steals for St. Maries.

Kevin Zhao scored a game-high 22 points for Sugar-Salem (18-6), which faces Fruitland (15-8) in a semifinal game today.

St. Maries 5 6 16 17 - 44

Sugar-Salem 9 13 4 22 - 48

ST. MARIES - Joiner 6, Stapleton 0, Sampson 0, Schetzle 5, Kennelly 3, Ryle 11, Linnemeyer 11, Cordell 0, McMaster 8. Totals 18-56 3-8 44.

SUGAR-SALEM - Spackman 9, Zhao 9, Miles 15, Jeppson 0, Saunders 0, Hawkes 13, Small 0, Smith 2. Totals 16-49 14-21 48.