1A DIVISION II DISTRICT 1 BOYS BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: A Genesis dream come true
<p>SHAWN GUST/Press Genesis Prep Academy’s Elijah Schreibeis goes up against Kootenai High’s Kaden Hammond for a rebound in the second quarter of the 1A Division II boys basketball tournament Wednesday at Timberlake High School in Spirit Lake.</p>
<p>SHAWN GUST/Press Genesis Prep Academy’s Caleb Symons passes the ball under pressure from Kootenai High’s Kaden Hammond, left, and Hunter Whipple during the first quarter.</p>
SPIRIT LAKE — You’ll always remember your first.
And for the Genesis Prep Academy Jaguars, in their first year as an Idaho High School Activities Association program, they’ve made plenty of great memories.
Starting next Thursday, they’ll get to make a few more.
Jonny Hillman scored six of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter as the Jaguars beat the Kootenai Warriors 52-25 in the championship game of the 1A Division II District 1 championship game at Timberlake High on Wednesday.
“I’ve been dreaming about it since I was a little kid,” Hillman said. “And our work is not done yet. We’ve still got three more games to play. We’re going to fix the things that went wrong in this game and play hard next weekend.”
Genesis Prep (18-4) will face Rockland (15-7) next Thursday at 12:15 p.m. PST at Caldwell High.
“It’s here, it’s finally here right here and now,” said Genesis Prep coach Marsell Colbert, who coached the team last year as an associate member of the IDHSAA. “I’m so happy for our seniors — I’m happy for all the guys — but it’s not about one of us, it’s about all of us. And the guys bought into being a team and being a family. It’s a family thing. They battled and they worked hard this year, and they deserve it. They did everything we asked them to do. I can’t say enough about them. It’s a blessing.”
Genesis Prep outscored Kootenai 29-10 in the second half to pull away.
“I’m not sure what our chances are at state,” Hillman said. “It’s really us against ourselves. We’ve got to play our best and defense is going to be what will win it for us. Offense will be there, but it will be there if we continue to play defense hard.”
“Jonny’s been around the game most of his life,” said Colbert, who won a state 5A title as an assistant coach at Post Falls High in 2010. “And that experience is nice to have. In reality, we’re a young team and we don’t have a lot of guys that have played state sanctioned basketball. This is huge. This is a great moment for the guys. We wanted to make it down to state and compete, Kootenai gave us everything we wanted and more, and we definitely had to earn it. We definitely had to earn it and I think it’s good preparation to get into the state tournament, because the atmosphere is going to be a lot like tonight. It’s going to be the same as tonight’s game was. We’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game every night.”
Hunter Whipple scored seven points for Kootenai, which finishes 12-11. The Warriors finished with six field goals in the game.
“Credit to their defense, they’re long and they’re fast,” first-year Kootenai coach T.J. Hammond said. “We’re short, young and inexperienced. And we didn’t compete against them either time we played them. And tonight, we competed, and for me, it’s a win. I can’t be any prouder of my kids and at the end of the night, I don’t know what else you can ask of with these kids.”
Kootenai 5 11 3 6 — 25
Genesis Prep 8 15 12 17 — 52
KOOTENAI — J. Whipple 0, David 2, H. Whipple 7, Wright 3, Hammond 6, Maitland 2, Usdrowski 5, Ausman 0.
GENESIS PREP — Hillman 16, M. Reidt 2, Ebune 10, A. Reidt 2, Symons 10, Hearon 0, Miles 0, Shelton 6, Schultz 0, Schroeder 0.