STATE 2A SEMIFINALS: Shell-shocked
<p>JAKE PARRISH/Press St. Maries post Bryant Asbury drives up the court past Firth guard Dylan Holley at the 2A state semifinal game on Friday at Capital High School in Boise.</p>
<p>JAKE PARRISH/Press St. Maries guard Dakota Wilson, center, attempts to get a pass off as Firth guard Dylan Holley (23) and Lucas Orme defend at the 2A state semifinal game on Friday at Capital High School in Boise.</p>
BOISE — Bryant Asbury displayed a little emotion after his 3-point basket capped a run of five straight points by St. Maries.
The hoop gave the Lumberjacks an early 5-4 lead over the two-time defending state champion Firth Cougars.
However, little could St. Maries have known that was the Lumberjacks’ last real highlight of the night.
St. Maries managed just five baskets after that — two of those coming after the issue was well decided — and were handled 58-26 in the semifinals of the state 2A boys basketball tournament Friday night at Capital High.
St. Maries coach Bryan Chase admitted to being “a little shellshocked.”
“We were trying everything,” he said. “They switch every pick, so we were trying to loosen things up and having our guards attacking their posts, and moving them outside. That’s pretty darn good defense when their 6-7 post can guard our point guards out there.”
St. Maries (21-4) will play Wendell (20-5) today at 10 a.m. PST at Capital High in the third-place game.
Wendell lost to West Side 57-45. Firth (23-2) will play West Side (20-7) at 12:40 p.m. at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa in the championship game.
Conner Burkhart, a 6-foot-7 senior, totaled 21 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots for Firth. Lucas Orme, a 6-2 senior point guard, added 11 points and seven rebounds.
The Cougars rarely force a shot and actually got much of their offense from their defense. They trapped at half court a bit, but mostly played solid half-court defense. They were quick, athletic, long … you name it. St. Maries made just 7 of 35 (20 percent) from the field.
“We’ve seen pressure like that before … but we acted like we hadn’t seen that before,” St. Maries junior guard Jake Sieler said. “The height really got to us, but it shouldn’t have.”
Firth started to pull away in the second quarter, after St. Maries pulled within 8-7 on a pair of free throws by Sieler early in the quarter. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Burkhart and lefty Dylan Holley hiked the lead to 21-8. St. Maries went nearly 12 minutes between baskets before Asbury hit another 3 just before the half. But Orme banked in a 3 just before the buzzer and it was 28-12 at intermission.
But what really had the Firth fans cheering in the quarter were a couple of defensive stands by the Cougars where St. Maries tried to run its offense, but was unable to get an open look, and kept trying to run its offense, to no avail.
“We tried about every set we had in the book tonight, to try to get a good look, and then we started settling for 3-pointers,” Chase said. “We kinda died from the 3-point line there in the second quarter.
They were big, and they play bigger than what they are, on top of that.”
The suffocating defense continued in the second half. St. Maries went nearly six minutes before its first basket of the third quarter — by that time, the Lumberjacks were down 38-16. Firth led by as much as 35 in the fourth quarter.
“We honestly thought we could battle with them,” Chase said. “The second quarter was a frustrating quarter for us, we just got out of rhythm. We had some key turnovers in the quarter that led to runouts.
“They are very disciplined,” Chase said of Firth. “Well, well coached. I can see why they’ve won six out of nine state championships — probably going to be seven soon.”
Sieler and post Brady Martin each scored five points for St. Maries, which will try to bring home its second third-place trophy in as many years today.
“There comes a time when you’ve just got to let things go, and realize that there’s always tomorrow,” St. Maries senior Chase Truscott said. “Tomorrow we need to come out on fire and win ourselves a ballgame.”
Firth 8 20 12 18 — 58
St. Maries 5 7 6 8 — 26
FIRTH — Adams 2, K. Chapman 0, Leslie 0, Giles 4, R. Chapman 0, Orme 11, Park 3, Schiess 7, V. Burkhart 0, Holley 6, Folkman 4, C. Burkhart 21. Totals 22-45 11-15 58.
ST. MARIES — Lounsbury 3, Pritchard 3, Sieler 5, Sands 0, Gibson 2, Wilson 1, Asbury 3, Epler 0, Truscott 2, Buell 0, Masterson 2, Martin 5, McGregor 0. Totals 7-35 8-12 26.