STATE 2A BOYS THIRD-PLACE GAME: An offensive stall for St. Maries
<p>JAKE PARRISH/Press St. Maries post Brady Martin takes a jump shot over Wendell guard Logan Bowers at the 2A state third place game on Saturday at Capital High School in Boise, Idaho. St. Maries fell to Wendell, 71-62.</p>
<p>JAKE PARRISH/Press St. Maries guard Jake Sieler is tripped up by Wendell guard Josh Rocha at the 2A state third place game on Saturday at Capital High School in Boise, Idaho.</p>
BOISE — It looked good early on for the St. Maries Lumberjacks in the first quarter of the state 2A third-place game at Capital High.
Then the Wendell Trojans started hitting some shots.
And the Lumberjacks, couldn’t.
Brady Martin had 20 points and 14 rebounds for St. Maries, which fell behind 38-23 at halftime, eventually losing to Wendell 71-62 to finish the season 21-5.
“A couple things happenend,” said St. Maries coach Bryan Chase, whose team jumped out to a 7-1 lead before the Trojans closed the first quarter on an 18-2 run. “Kiefer (Gibson) got his second foul, and we had to sit him for five minutes and just stalled out offensively. He’s an important piece of the puzzle for us and we just went cold shooting the ball.”
St. Maries shot 7 of 35 in Friday’s semifinal loss to eventual champion Firth.
“That was probably our biggest nemisis of the tournament,” chase said. “We just weren’t shooting the ball as well as we have all season. Even in that opening round game, (a 45-42 win over Soda Springs), we just kind of stalled out. I thought our defense was really good the entire tournament.”
St. Maries used an 11-1 run in the third quarter to get back into the game.
“We really amped up our pressure and got back into it,” Chase said. “We were within five in the fourth quarter, and we had some good chances. I’m proud of the way the kids played. They were a little down in the dumps. Other than that second quarter, we had a good game plan. They played well and didn’t give up.”
St. Maries starts five juniors (Jake Sieler, Gibson, Dakota Wilson, Bryant Asbury or Nate Masterson, and Martin). Sieler had 17 points for St. Maries.
“It was nice to have those guys on the floor,” Chase said. “We’ve got a couple more that rotate in that will help us out down the road. I think it was good to have them see it was like to be on the floor down here.”
Johnny Lancaster scored 30 points for Wendell (22-5).
Wendell 16 22 13 20 — 71
St. Maries 9 14 21 18 — 62
WENDELL — Matos 0, Rocha 5, Nebeker 0, John 8, Swainston 2, Espino 1, Bowers 13, Zacarias 0, Weg 0, Lancaster 30, Geer 1, Laudert 11, Kelsey 0. Totals 18-48 28-48 71.
ST. MARIES — Lounsbury 2, Pritchard 0, Sieler 17, Gibson 13, Wilson 2, Asbury 0, Epler 0, Truscott 6, Masterson 2, Martin 20. Totals 24-61 9-16 62.