Vikings fall short against No. 1 Borah
<p>Coeur d'Alene High's Joe Roletto races Borah's Ben Tucakovic for a loose ball Thursday in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament in Nampa.</p>
<p>Deon Watson dribbles past Cody Spjute of Borah High School after rebounding the ball in the first quarter.</p>
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<p>Vikings forward Chad Chalich puts his weight into Borah's Brock Holubetz before making a move to the basket in the second half.</p>
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<p>Coeur d'Alene's Ty Higbie pauses while waiting for play to resume following a time out in the fourth quarter in Nampa.</p>
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<p>Coeur d'Alene's Deon Watson passes the ball in the second half of state basketball action in Nampa.</p>
<p>Joe Roletto provides the Coeur d'Alene boys team with defense against a Borah guard.</p>
<p>The Vikings' Ty Higbie receives a pass during the first half against Borah.</p>
NAMPA - The start was great, and the Coeur d'Alene High boys basketball team nearly tied it with a furious comeback in the final minutes.
But the third-ranked Vikings had a hard time scoring in between, and fell to the top-ranked Borah Lions 49-45 in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament Thursday afternoon at the Idaho Center in Nampa.
"It was pretty melancholy (in the locker room)," said Coeur d'Alene senior Deon Watson, who scored 12 points. "We fell short of our expectations. Just a few plays here and there. It's definitely disappointing - more disappointing than if we'd lost by 20, knowing that we were that close."
Coeur d'Alene (16-7) will play Highland (15-8) of Pocatello in a loser-out game today at 12:15 p.m. PST. Highland lost 62-50 to Timberline of Boise. Borah (23-1) of Boise, which has now won 21 straight games, plays Timberline (14-10) in the semifinals.
Coeur d'Alene started strong, slashing through Borah's man-to-man defense for a 15-5 lead after one quarter. Watson had six of his points in the quarter, and Borah missed its first seven shots and went 1 for 10 in the quarter.
The Lions switched to a zone in the second quarter, and held Coeur d’Alene to five points the rest of the half. Borah couldn’t hit an outside shot in the first quarter, but made three 3-pointers in the second quarter to pull even at 20 at halftime.
“I thought in the second quarter when they went to their zone defense, we were impatient, and settled for way too many 3-point shots,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss said.
In the third quarter, Watson picked up his third foul in the first minute, and his fourth foul with 3:04 left, and sat the rest of the quarter.
“The key to the game was Deon’s third and fourth fouls,” Leiss said. “For 12 minutes, we played tentatively, hoping your best player doesn’t get his fifth foul. It’s just unfortunate, because I don’t think Deon’s committed four fouls in a game all year.”
Still the Vikings, led by the feisty play of Joe Roletto (12 points, seven rebounds — five offensive — and two steals), kept battling. Roletto banked in a running 30-footer at the buzzer to give Coeur d’Alene a 30-29 lead after three quarters.
Zach Cada of Borah hit a 3 to open the fourth quarter, and the Lions never trailed again. Isaiah Wright, Borah’s sophomore point guard who finished with 15 points, hit two free throws to increase the Lions’ lead to 1:26 left.
To that point, the Vikings had made just two baskets in the fourth quarter — a 3-pointer by Devon Loy and a layup by Ty Higbie after Roletto stole the ball from a Borah player after a rebound.
But despite all that, the Vikings nearly tied the game.
Watson’s 3-point play pulled Coeur d’Alene within 43-38 with 58.8 seconds left. Wright answered with two free throws. Watson hit the first of two free throws. Loy rebounded the missed shot, scored and was fouled. He made the free throw and suddenly, the Vikings were within 45-42 with 33.4 seconds left.
Wright made one of two free throws, and Roletto drilled a 3-pointer to pull the Viks within 46-45 with 20 seconds left.
After a timeout, Braden Corpus threw deep to Ben Tucakovic for a layup and a 48-45 Borah lead. Coeur d’Alene brought the ball up and Roletto, who made three 3-pointers, was short with his 10th try from behind the arc, and the ball went out of bounds. Wright sealed it with a free throw with 3.1 seconds left.
“Joe makes plays,” Leiss said. “He just buried a big 3 from the corner, and he pulls up at the top of the key for a 3 ... I was OK with that shot.”
Tucakovic, the leading scorer in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference, finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for Borah, which lost to Coeur d’Alene in the third-place game last year.
“We were absolutely stationary the first 12 minutes,” Borah coach Cary Cada said. “They beat us to every rebound, they beat us to every loose ball; they were simply playing harder than us.” Coeur d’Alene shot 32.7 percent (16 of 49) from the field, and matched its season average at 57 percent (8 of 14) from the free-throw line.
“I was pretty angry,” Watson said of picking up his third and fourth fouls, “not only at the ref, but at myself, knowing that I didn’t have a chance to help my team out.”
Coeur d’Alene 15 5 10 15 — 45
Borah 5 15 9 20 — 49
COEUR d’ALENE — Tackett 0, Roletto 12, Chalich 6, Loy 6, Moore 3, Higbie 4, Watson 12, Blakley 2. Totals 16-49 8-14 45.
BORAH — Cada 6, Reed 3, Corpus 2, Tucakovic 11, Wright 15, Howland 0, Spjute 12, Holubetz 0. Totals 16-45 11-15 49.