Same song, different year
LOREN BENOIT/Press Glover Buell is surrounded by Ririe defenders in the paint during Friday’s 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressKiefer Gibson (12), of St. Maries, gathers an offensive rebound but is swarmed by Ririe defenders Matthew Johnson (35), Jace Johnson (15) and Michael Ure (42) during Friday's 5A state semifinal game at Capital High School.
LOREN BENOIT/PressSt. Maries guard Bryant Asbury passes the ball to a teammate during the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressKiefer Gibson (12), of St. Maries, gathers an offensive rebound but is swarmed by Ririe defenders Matthew Johnson (35), Jace Johnson (15) and Michael Ure (42) during Friday's 5A state semifinal game at Capital High School.
LOREN BENOIT/PressRirie and St. Maries players battle for a loose ball.
LOREN BENOIT/PressKiefer Gibson (12), of St. Maries, gathers an offensive rebound but is swarmed by Ririe defenders Matthew Johnson (35), Jace Johnson (15) and Michael Ure (42) during Friday's 5A state semifinal game at Capital High School.
LOREN BENOIT/PressKiefer Gibson, center, of St. Maries, gathers a high pass from a teammate during the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressThe St. Maries High School student section erupts after a three-pointer during the second half of the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressSt. Maries' Jake Sieler goes for a layup after a fast break against Ririe during the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressSt. Maries Dakota Wilson (22) drives to the basket against Ririe's Andy Bowden during the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressKiefer Gibson (12), of St. Maries, drives the ball around Ririe's Dylan Anglesey.
LOREN BENOIT/PressDakota Wilson (23), of St. Maries shoots a three from beyond the arc during the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressRyker Parkinson, of St. Maries, looks for a teammate to pass to during the 2A state semifinal game at Capital High School. Ririe defeated St. Maries 50-33.
LOREN BENOIT/PressKiefer Gibson (12), left, of St. Maries, applies pressure to during Ririe's Jace Johnson Friday's 5A state semifinal game at Capital High School.
BOISE — The third time wasn’t any kinder to the St. Maries Lumberjacks.
In their third trip to the state 2A semifinals in as many years, the result was the same as the first two.
This time, it was the Ririe Bulldogs with an aggressive zone defense and some size that caused problems in a 59-41 victory over the Lumberjacks on Friday night at Capital High.
“I’m kind of getting tired of doing this,” St. Maries senior guard Jake Sieler said. “I’m sad, because it’s my last chance to get to the semifinals, but that’s what happens. You have to recover, and get ready for tomorrow.”
One night after shooting 68.2 percent in a 29-point victory over Parma, St. Maries (13-5) shot just 24.6 percent (14 of 57) against Ririe (22-2).
“We shot lights out one night, and couldn’t find the ocean the second night,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “Their length caused some of that. We haven’t seen a lot of 6-7, 6-6 teams. We played so well yesterday, I really thought we’d have a good chance moving forward today. … just some days the ball doesn’t go through the hoop, and this was one of them.”
St. Maries will play New Plymouth (13-11) in the third-place game today at 10 a.m. at Capital High. The Lumberjacks lost last year’s third-place game, after winning the year before.
Bear Lake beat New Plymouth 54-40 to advance to the championship game.
St. Maries made just 5 of 31 3s against Ririe.
“Their pressure, they were really intense,” Sieler said. “Playing Melba yesterday, we were really intense, and seeing that intensity right back at us, it just kind of threw us off, I think.
“The defense they were running was something we weren’t used to seeing all season. We had open looks, we just weren’t making our baskets. It was a high 2-3 (zone), trap up top. A lot of intensity, a lot of pressure. Something we haven’t seen all year.”
Meanwhile, left-hander Dylan Anglesey hit all four of his 3-pointers in the first half and led Ririe with 17 points. Matthew Johnson, 6-6 and thick, added 16 points and teamed with 6-6 Michael Ure on a nice high-low post. Point guard Andy Bowden scored 11.
Jackson Pritchard hit three 3-pointers off the bench and added nine points for St. Maries. Sieler had six steals.
Ure had 11 rebounds, Johnson eight as Ririe clobbered St. Maries 41-20 on the boards. Chase called a couple of timeouts early on to try to rally the troops, and the Lumberjacks turned it into a full-court scrap in the second half, but it was not enough.
“Yesterday it looked like our hair was on fire, the way we played,” Chase said. “I give them (Ririe) a lot of credit. They had a great game plan; they locked in on our players. We tried to extend our range, and sometimes it works. It didn’t work tonight.”
Ririe 14 15 15 15 — 59
St. Maries 10 6 13 12 — 41
RIRIE — J. Johnson 3, Ure 6, Anglesey 17, Torgerson 4, M. Johnson 16, Smith 2, Bowden 11. Totals 21-42 11-17 59.
ST. MARIES — Martin 8, Howard 2, Hammond 2, Sieler 12, Wilson 4, Buell 2, Pritchard 9, Asbury 2. Totals 14-57 8-10 41.