Genesis Prep returns to title game

MERIDIAN — On their way to an apparent blowout victory, the Genesis Prep Jaguars ran into a bit of adversity in a rematch of last year’s state championship game Friday afternoon at Meridian High.

Massive foul trouble during the game eventually led to four Jaguars fouling out.

And the pro-Dietrich crowd, already enthusiastic, got louder and louder as the Blue Devils used a full-court press to trim a 25-point Genesis Prep lead down to seven in the waning moments.

But Jonny Hillman and Junior Williams, two of the few Jaguars who weren’t in foul trouble, made the big plays down the stretch to help Genesis Prep secure the 68-59 victory in the state 1A Division II seminfinals and put the defending state champions back in the title game for the second straight year.

“We knew coming in that it was going to be like this,” said Hillman, who led the Jaguars with 26 points. “Dietrich came out with a lot of intensity, and we fought back with that … that’s kind of what we play for.”

Genesis Prep (21-4) will face Carey (21-5) for the state title this morning at 8:30 PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Carey defeated Tri-Valley 48-46.

Hillman, who hit three 3-pointers, also had four rebounds, four steals and three assists for Genesis Prep. Williams added 14 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

“That was a nice, hostile environment,” Genesis Prep coach Marsell Colbert said. “And I like games like that. I think what that does is encourage the kids to compete just that much harder.”

Genesis Prep’s full-court press, and later its half-court trap kept Dietrich from getting into its offense much of the first half. At halftime, the Blue Devils had more turnovers (13) than field-goal attempts (12). For the game, Dietrich had 29 turnovers.

“I thought they didn’t have many ball handlers, and if we put some pressure on them, we would generate some turnovers,” Colbert said.

But Dietrich was able to stay close thanks to getting to the free-throw line. The Blue Devils had just four baskets, but were 16 of 21 from the line. For the game, they were 27 of 39 from the line, led by senior wing Kade Shaw, whose 13 made free throws (in 19 attempts) set a classification record, breaking the old record of 11.

“I’m pretty much old school,” said Wayne Dill, in his 16th season as Dietrich coach. “We worked the last few days on going hard to the goal. Council (which lost to Genesis Prep on Thursday) proved that the game plan doesn’t need to be cast 3s up from way outside. And we fouled three (actually four) out. What I had a little trouble doing is, we needed them to go to the goal all game long and we’d have had five or six of them out of the game.

“People can take exception to that if they want, but if you have the skills to go to the goal well, which our kids do, good things happen.”

Slade Gill had 28 points and 15 rebounds for Dietrich. Shaw scored just one basket, but added 15 points.

Kon Ajang, Genesis Prep’s 6-foot-9 junior, picked up his second and third fouls in a 12-second span late in the first quarter. He eventually fouled out, but not before scoring 13 points. Max Reidt, Jake Shelton and reserve post Luke Gonzales also fouled out. One other player finished with four fouls, two other with three.

“Four guys fouled out … I’m going leave that right there,” Colbert said.

But Jacob Schultz stepped up with six points and five rebounds off the bench. Jacob Schroeder added four points, Gonzales two but more importantly, gave the Jaguars key minutes with the starters in foul trouble.

“We had a lot of guys from our bench step up,” Hillman said. “Schultz, Luke, Smith (Mwinuka), Schroeder … all those guys stepped up big for us.”

Genesis Prep led 34-26 at halftime. Up 38-31 with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third, the Jaguars went on runs of 6-0 and 7-0 — usually keyed by defense — and led 60-35 after three quarters.

“We always talk about the first five minutes is the most important part of the second half,” Hillman said. “We came out strong, pushing the ball fast, and it worked out well for us.”

Dietrich went to the press, and Genesis Prep got rattled. An 11-0 run pulled the Blue Devils to within 61-53 with 2 1/2 minutes left.

“I think our brains froze, because we know how to break the press,” Colbert said. “We had guys that weren’t on the same page during that time. We were relying on two guys to break the press.

When you’re not on the same page, what happened today, that’s what happens.”

Dietrich pulled to within seven a couple of times, once on a three-point play by Dill with 1:28 left. But Hillman answered with a driving layin moments later, and the Jaguars were able to stave off the Blue Devils.

“We had a real rough third quarter,” Wayne Dill said. “Fourth quarter, I would have liked to have gone to the press a little bit sooner, but we didn’t think we had enough gas.”

Friday’s game was billed as the de facto state title game. Genesis Prep beat Dietrich 68-62 in last year’s title game. Dietrich won the state title in 2016.

“I honestly don’t feel there’s another small school in the state that can play with them,” Dill said of the Jaguars. “I feel like this was our best chance. We just came up short.”

“I was proud of our guys; they showed resilience today,” Colbert said. “They weren’t going to break. And we made a couple of extra plays down the stretch that put us where we needed to be.”

Genesis Prep 16 18 26 8 — 68

Dietrich 13 13 9 24 — 59

GENESIS PREP — Shelton 2, Mwinuka 0, Reidt 1, Williams 14, Schroeder 4, Hillman 26, Schultz 6, Ajang 13, Gonzales 2. Totals 27-53 11-24 68

DIETRICH — T. Shaw 0, Power 0, VanTassell 0, R. Robertson 2, K. Robertson 2, K. Shaw 15, Dill 28, Page 12. Totals 14-40 27-39 59.