3A DISTRICT 1 BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Wildcats reload, repeat as champs

COEUR d’ALENE — They don’t rebuild in Kellogg these days — they reload.

The Wildcats lost three stars from last year — including last year’s league MVP, Gus Colburn.

But Kellogg returned seven players, including five sophomores, and the young ones — including sophomore guard Chase Jerome, who scored 25 points — helped pick up the slack as the top-seeded Wildcats beat the No. 2 seed Bonners Ferry Badgers 73-60 in in the championship game of the 3A District 1 boys basketball tournament Wednesday night at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court.

“It’s pretty nice when you have five sophomores that come in and contribute. That’s huge,” Kellogg coach Jeff Lambert said. “The future looks good for Kellogg basketball.”

The present doesn’t look too shabby either as Kellogg (18-4), which won its third straight district title, advances to state at Meridian High beginning next Thursday.

Timberlake (7-15) will play at Bonners Ferry (9-12) tonight at 7 in the second-place game, with the winner advancing to a berth in a state play-in game Saturday at Highland of Craigmont. Fourth-seeded Timberlake defeated third-seeded Priest River 65-48 earlier Wednesday at NIC.

Priest River finished 8-14.

Kellogg 73, Bonners Ferry 60: Kellogg led by 14 points at halftime. But Badger junior Caleb Harrington hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 of his 24 points in the third quarter. His fourth 3 pulled Bonners even at 41 late in the quarter, before the Wildcats regrouped and pulled away again.

“Seemed like we did that a few times, didn’t we?” Lambert said. “We’d start to pull away, and then we’d let them back into it. Harrington had a helluva game; we couldn’t seem to find him, we kept losing him.”

Senior guard Ryan Martin added 18 points for Kellogg, and junior forward Toby Colburn, this year’s IML MVP and brother of Gus, also had 18.

Kellogg was much more aggressive against the Badgers than the Wildcats were Monday night vs. Timberlake, when Kellogg trailed in the third quarter before rallying.

Using a mixture of half-court and full-court pressure, Kellogg forced Bonners into eight turnovers in the first quarter, 14 for the half, 18 for the game. Martin and Jerome did most of the thievery up top.

“Monday was not good,” Lambert said. “We discussed how lucky we were; that was more being lucky than good vs. Timberlake. We discussed that, and had a great practice (Tuesday) night. We went hard at practice, kind of like we did tonight. It was encouraging.”

Bonners Ferry 11 8 24 17 — 60

Kellogg 13 20 15 25 — 73

BONNERS FERRY — Price 3, Sabin 4, Stockton 7, Pluid 2, Harrington 24, Blackmore 10, Bateman 10.

KELLOGG — Gibbons 0, Martin 18, Jerome 25, Petersen 0, Mueller 4, Bumgardner 0, Easley 2, Colburn 18, McDonald 6.

Timberlake 65, Priest River 48: Senior post Daniel Smith was a beast inside, with 24 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots for the Tigers.

“He’s a tough kid,” Timberlake coach Tony Hanna said. “The kid has come a long ways in four years; he’ll be sorely missed. He’s a great competitor, a great kid, and never stops working.”

Brayden Menti added 15 points and eight boards for Timberlake, which went on a 10-0 run in the third quarter to increase its lead to 43-32.

“We really focused on defense,” Hanna said. “They shot the ball well in the first half, they hit five 3s. The game plan in the second half was to contest everything, get hands up on the shooters and box out.”

Hunter Hartwig scored 12 points for Priest River, which shot 6 of 22 from 3-point range.

Timberlake 10 19 18 18 — 65

Priest River 12 18 7 11 — 48

TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 0, Smith 24, Hofer 0, George 2, Sommers 5, Hauck 6, Menti 15, Jessen 0, Nowlan 0, Hausladen 12, Ostler 1, Suko 0, Counts 0, Dickinson 0, Kistler 0.

PRIEST RIVER — Storro 6, Clark 8, T. Anselmo 2, Holman 0, Hartwig 12, Haggerty 9, Luckey 0, Simpkins 6, Jeter 3, Huddleston 2, Deremer 2.

ALL-INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE

MVP — Toby Colburn, jr., Kellogg

COACH OF THE YEAR — Jeff Lambert, Kellogg

ALL-LEAGUE: KELLOGG — Ryan Martin, sr.; Chase Jerome. BONNERS FERRY — Caleb Harrington, jr.; Caleb Blackmore, sr.; Kaleb Stockton, jr. PRIEST RIVER — Hunter Hartwig, jr.; Mason Clark, sr. TIMBERLAKE — Daniel Smith, sr.; Brayden Menti, jr.