Timberlake earns second berth to state

SPIRIT LAKE — Timberlake rallied from five points down midway through the fourth quarter, and Brayden Menti’s free throw with just over a minute to play broke a tie and lifted the Tigers to a 42-41 victory over the Priest River Spartans to earn 3A District 1’s second berth to the state tournament.

“I’m relieved,” first-year Timberlake coach Michael Scott said. “This week, for some reason, was real stressful.”

Timberlake (13-8), which qualified for state for just the second time in school history, will play District 6 champion Sugar-Salem (17-5) in its state opener Thursday at 12:15 p.m. PST at Meridian High.

Trailing in the fourth, Timberlake went to the press, and junior Jordan Hardy created a couple of steals, and the Tigers pulled even at 41 with a minute and a half remaining.

Menti scored 12 points, Colton Counts 10 for Timberlake.

“Jordan Hardy was causing some chaos and causing some steals,” Scott said of the fourth quarter. “He was the one to get us going at the end.”

The teams were playing for the third time in eight days, and fourth overall this season. Three days after losing by 31 points at home, Priest River upset Timberlake 65-57 on Tuesday in the semifinals of the district tournament at North Idaho College for its lone win over the Tigers this season.

Hunter Hartwig scored a game-high 20 points for Priest River, which finished 7-16.

Priest River 5 17 10 9 — 41

Timberlake 7 15 7 13 — 42

PRIEST RIVER — Storro 7, Hegel 4, R. Anselmo 0, T. Anselmo 6, Hartwig 20, Haggerty 2, Luckey 2, McCracken 0.

TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 6, Dickinson 0, Ostler 5, James 10, Counts 4, Sommers 0, Menti 12, Jessen 4, Hausladen 1.