Wildcats hold off Timberlake

COEUR d’ALENE — For the second time in less than a week, the Timberlake Tigers held a third-quarter lead against the fourth-ranked team in the state 3A media poll.

Though the Tigers were unable to hold the lead each time against the Kellogg Wildcats, including Monday night in the semifinals of the 3A District 1 boys basketball tournament, Timberlake coach Tony Hanna remains upbeat.

“It’s always hard to lose, but I’m pleased with the way we’ve been battling,” Hanna said after No. 4 seed Timberlake fell to top-seeded Kellogg 50-44 at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court. “We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity this season. That’s the fourth-ranked team in the state, and we held our own with them. I’m extremely pleased.”

Kellogg (17-4) will play No. 2 seed Bonners Ferry (9-11) in the championship game Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. at NIC. Bonners Ferry defeated No. 3 Priest River 67-53 earlier Monday. Timberlake (6-15) will play Priest River (8-13) in a loser-out game Wednesday at 4:30.

Kellogg 50, Timberlake 44: Timberlake led most of the first half, and led by as much as nine points three times in the third quarter, the last time at 36-27 with three minutes left. Kellogg picked up the pressure and went on a 14-2 run, taking the lead for good on two free throws by sophomore Chase Jerome that made it 39-38 Wildcats with 4:44 remaining.

Kellogg’s guards came up big during that run, with Jerome and sophomore Tyler Gibbons each scoring four points, senior Ryan Martin two.

Timberlake committed 12 of its 19 turnovers in the second half.

“I don’t feel they pressured us more in the second half,” Hanna said. “But I felt we made more mistakes. We haven’t had much experience with leads to be able to close them out. Instead of being calm, we got a little out of control.”

Kellogg finished 17 for 26 from the line, but its guards did not miss a free throw, with Jerome going 8 for 8 and finishing with 14 points, Gibbons going 4 for 4 and adding 12 points, and Martin hitting both of his and scoring six points.

Brandon Hausladen had 14 points and eight rebounds for Timberlake, and Brayden Menti added 12 points and eight boards.

Tobias Colburn had seven rebounds and three steals for Kellogg.

Timberlake 9 15 14 6 — 44

Kellogg 10 11 12 17 — 50

TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 0, Smith 6, George 7, Sommers 0, Hauck 5, Menti 12, Jessen 0, Nowlan 0, Hausladen 14.

KELLOGG — Gibbons 12, Martin 6, Jerome 14, Petersen 9, Mueller 2, Easley 1, Colburn 3, McDonald 3.

Bonners Ferry 67, Priest River 53: The Badgers trailed by five points in the second quarter before picking up the defense. Bonners caught up by halftime and led by one, then forced 12 second-half turnovers by the Spartans in opening up a lead.

It was mostly an inside job by the Badgers. Junior Caleb Harrington had 12 of his 19 points in the second half, and senior Caleb Blackmore had 13 points and six rebounds.

Junior Hunter Hartwig scored a game-high 25 points for Priest River, which took 23 of its 52 shots from 3-point range, but made only 4.

Bonners Ferry took just nine 3-pointers, making five. Three of the makes were by sophomore guard Chris Sabin, two of those coming in the last five minutes of the first half, turning a 19-14 deficit into a 25-24 halftime lead.

Sabin finished with 13 points, Kaleb Stockton 11 for the Badgers, who shot 26 for 40 (65 percent) from the field.

Priest River 10 14 10 19 — 53

Bnnrs Ferry 10 15 20 22 — 67

PRIEST RIVER — Storro 5, Maltba 0, Clark 2, R. Anselmo 0, T. Anselmo 4, Holman 0, Hartwig 25, Haggerty 2, Luckey 0, Simpkins 8, Jeter 5, McCracken 2, Hegel 0, Huddleston 0.

PRIEST RIVER — Price 2, Sabin 13, Minor 0, Kelson 0, Stockton 11, Pluid 0, Carle 0, Harrington 19, Blackmore 13, Bateman 9, Duffins 0, Figueroa 0.