3A District 1 boys basketball tournament: Tigers falls in overtime

COEUR d'ALENE - Timberlake's first half against Bonners Ferry on Monday, in the first round of the 3A District 1 boys basketball tournament, "was the best half we've played all season," Timberlake coach Tony Hanna said.

Bonners Ferry picked up the defensive pressure in the second half, but the Tigers hung in there and managed to force overtime.

And so it went, back and forth, in the extra 4 minutes, until junior Caleb Blackmore's jumper from the left baseline with 6 seconds left broke a tie and lifted the No. 2-seed Bonners Ferry Badgers to a 46-44 victory over the No. 3 seed Timberlake Tigers at North Idaho College's Christianson Gym.

"Great game," Hanna said. "Every time we've played them, it's been a battle. We've got some hard-working kids, and they have some hard-working kids. It could have gone either way."

Bonners Ferry (10-9) advanced to play top-seeded Kellogg (18-3) in the championship game Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. at NIC. The winner advances to state next week at Meridian High. Kellogg downed No. 4 seed Priest River 73-41. Timberlake (5-17) will play Priest River (4-15) in a loser-out game Wednesday at 4:30.

Kellogg swept Bonners in Intermountain League play, though the game in Bonners was a close one.

"They'll be tough," Kellogg coach Jeff Lambert said. "They're quite a bit bigger than we are."

Bonners Ferry 46, Timberlake 44, OT: Sophomore Brandon Hausladen scored seven first-quarter points for Timberlake, 10 in the first half as the Tigers took a 20-13 lead. He finished with a game-high 19 points.

But the Badgers' pressure caused seven Timberlake turnovers in the third quarter, and Bonners took the lead at 23-22 on Blackmore's driving layin with 3 minutes left in the quarter.

It went back and forth from there. Wyatt Nelson's spin move in the post gave the Badgers a 36-35 lead with 50 seconds left. Blackmore tacked on two free throws with 35 seconds left for a 3-point lead, but Hausladen took a pass from Brayden Menti, scored, was fouled and made the free throw to tie it at 38 with 21.8 seconds left.

In overtime, Timberlake led by two points three times, only to see the Badgers tie it each time. Collin Stone's foul-line jumper tied it at 44 for the Badgers, and after a steal by Pat O'Hara, Bonners called timeout with 47.5 seconds left.

With the clock winding down, Blackmore drove the left baseline, stopped and hit a pull-up 15-footer with 6 seconds left to break the tie. Timberlake brought the ball up, but Elijah Price of the Badgers knocked the ball out of bounds with .1 seconds left. A lob from mid court hit the rim, and time ran out.

Blackmore finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and three steals for Bonners Ferry. Kaleb Stockton added 10 points, and O'Hara had 10 rebounds and three steals. Nelson had nine points, five rebounds and three steals.

"It was a tight game," Badgers coah Andy Rice said. "We started out slow, but we got back in it in the second half."

Daniel Smith had nine points, eight rebounds and two steals for Timberlake.

"That first half, holding a team to 13 points, I thought we did a great job on the boards," Hanna said. "And we did a great job executing our offense."

Bonners and Timberlake split their two meetings in Intermountain League play. Both finished 3-3 in the IML, but Bonners Ferry won the coin flip for the No. 2 seed, meaning if the two teams meet again in the second-place game on Thursday, it would be at Bonners Ferry.

"We're down, but we're not out," Hanna said. "We'll see if we can come back, and try to get that second spot."

Timberlake 12 8 7 11 6 - 44

Bonners Ferry 5 8 12 13 8 - 46

TIMBERLAKE - Somershoe 4, Smith 9, George 0, Hausladen 19, Hauck 7, Jones 1, Menti 0, Kistler 2, Hardy 0, Nowlan 2.

BONNERS FERRY - Price 0, O'Hara 4, Stockton 10, Stone 7, Nelson 9, Blackmore 16, Bateman 0.

Kellogg 73, Priest River 41: Tucker Gust had 19 points, five rebounds and five steals for the Wildcats, who broke open the game early, then put it away with a 20-0 run in the third quarter to build the lead to 58-18.

Gus Colburn added 12 points, six steals, five assists and four rebounds for Kellogg, and Caleb McDonald had 11 points.

"I think our effort was really good," Lambert said. "I liked our effort, and the way we pushed the ball; I don't think we had too many (turnovers) pushing it."

Kellogg forced Priest River into 23 turnovers, many of them coming off a half-court trap. That 20-0 run was fueled mostly by steals by the Wildcats - usually Gust or Colburn - in the mid court area.

"We have, oh, I don't know, six or seven different presses we can use, depending on that they're doing against it," Lambert said. "The boys have really figured out which one to jump into; they're getting pretty good recognizing what they're trying to do to us, and how we want to take it away."

Marcus Mathews led Priest River with 11 points. Zach Huddleston had seven rebounds.

Priest River 6 11 11 13 - 41

Kellogg 14 18 31 10 - 73

PRIEST RIVER - Clark 0, Slinger 3, Anselmo 0, Storro 0, Holman 5, Luckey 6, Simpkins 7, Mathews 11, Huddleston 7, Jeter 2.

KELLOGG - G. Colburn 12, Martin 5, Jerome 7, Petersen 2, Waechter 2, Gibbons 0, Stott 8, T. Colburn 0, Easley 7, Gust 19, McDonald 11.