Different, but same expectations

Last year’s Genesis Prep boys basketball team was experienced and deep.

The Jaguars boasted six seniors — three started, and three all came off the bench.

All six played key roles as Genesis Prep rolled to a 22-4 record and its second straight state 1A Division II championship.

The Jaguars won their three games at state by a combined 68 points.

This year, four-year starting guard Jonny Hillman (22.8 points, 2.3 assists, 2.6 rebounds per game) and 6-foot-9 center Kon Ajang (15.2 points, 6.5 rebounds) are back, surrounded by others who are new to the varsity, or are varsity returnees asked to play bigger roles this season as the Jaguars (15-8) seek a three-peat, starting today vs. Salmon River (21-5) of Riggins in the first round at state at 5:15 p.m. PST at Caldwell High.

New to the starting lineup this year are senior guard Jacob Schultz (8.3 points), senior center Joshua Bohannan and junior forward Seth Neely.

Junior guard Scott Mwinuka, whose brother Smith was a senior reserve guard last year, is often the first player off the bench this year.

“We’re growing man,” Genesis Prep coach Marsell Colbert said. “We’re getting better. It’s hard to replace the guys that we lost last year. It took me up until (last) Monday night to realize that — this is just a different team that teams we’ve had in the past. They play differently, but they still work hard for us.”

Colbert said Bohannan, a 6-foot-7 center, has improved as the season has progressed. So has Mwinuka and Neely.

“When Jakob Peterson (a junior forward) gets on the floor, he brings some good things; same with Eli Gonzales (a 6-5 sophomore forward). We have guys that are stepping up. The difference is, they have less experience than the guys we had coming in and helping us out last year.”

Record-wise, at least, the road to the title game appears to be tougher this year as well.

Salmon River is at state for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2013 and ’14 with Leighton Vander Esch, a second-team All-Pro linebacker with the Dallas Cowboys last fall.

If they beat Salmon River, the Jaguars figure to face in the semis top-ranked Lighthouse Christian (23-0), which is averaging 69.4 points per game, and has had just two games decided by less than 10 points.

5A

Post Falls (17-6) was going to get one of the toughest teams in the tourney right off the bat either way — either Borah (21-3) or top-seeded Rocky Mountain (21-3).

And when Borah, on its home court, upended Rocky in the District 3 championship last week, Post Falls ended up matched up against top-ranked Rocky, in the state tourney opener today at 12:15 p.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Rocky, the two-time defending state champion, is led by junior guard Briggs Ranstrom (13.3 ppg, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists), who has an offer from Idaho State.

Junior wing Colby Gennett is the lone returning player with state tournament experience for the Trojans. But all six sophomores on this year’s roster got a taste of state last year.

As freshmen last year, Cole Rutherford, Caden McLean, Alex Horning, Tommy Hauser, Isaac Ballew and Josiah Shields — as well as Terrell Mitchell, now a junior — made the trip with the varsity. All were listed in the scorebook, and most (if not all) warmed up with the team before the games, and watched from the bench.

“The first year most of these kids go to state, they have zero expectations on them,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “They’ve all been there before. They’ve warmed up on that court, seen the Xs and Os... they’ve all been there when they didn’t have any pressure on them. Now, they have some more pressure on them, but it’s not new to them.”

Post Falls is at state for the 10th time in 12 seasons under McLean, who coached the Trojans to state titles in 2010 and ’15.

McLean said the Trojans have three goals each season. The first two are obvious — win the league, and win the regional tournament.

The third goal?

“We want to play Saturday at the state tournament,” McLean said. “If we play Saturday morning, we’re happy. If it’s Saturday night, we’re really happy.”

3A

Not many teams could lose their starting point guard to a season-ending knee injury, and seemingly not miss a beat.

And, truth be told, first-year Timberlake head coach Mike Menti would love to still have senior J.T. Wilfong in the lineup. But the Tigers (9-14) were able to adjust, and are back at state for the third straight season, and will face Sugar-Salem (15-9) in the first round today at 12:15 p.m. at Meridian High.

“The thing that it did was allowed (junior) Dawson Cramer to step in that role, and he’s done a fantastic job,” Menti said.

Cramer was coming off the bench for the Tigers, as Menti usually used just six players. He’s still playing just six, with senior forward Wyatt Dickinson stepping into that sixth-man role.

Seniors Chase Gardom and Sheldon Kistler, and junior Jacob James, are returning starters. Senior guard Dylan Kluss came off the bench last year.

“A lot of these kids have had state experience,” Menti said. “It’s not going to be a huge surprise. The grit we’ve shown the last couple weeks was impressive.”

Menti was the assistant boys basketball coach at Timberlake for three seasons before succeeding Michael Scott, who resigned after two seasons as head coach.

Menti said he didn’t make a whole lot of changes as head coach.

“The biggest difference between this year and last year — I’m a much more vocal coach; I’m a yeller,” he said. “But I have their back. I coached most of these kids in football, so they know me pretty well.”

Kellogg, which beat Intermountain League champion Timberlake last week to win its sixth straight district title, is at state for the seventh time in eight seasons. But only senior guard Brennen Atkins and junior center Gavin Luna — he of the game-winning four-point play with 1.1 seconds to go in last week’s district title game — are the lone returnees with varsity experience from last year.

Kellogg (9-13) faces Marsh Valley (17-10) in the first round today at 5:15 p.m. PST at Meridian High.

2A

Since the annual Brawl for the Ball spirit game at rival Kellogg, St. Maries has been pretty battle tested.

Road game at Orofino, followed by a nonleague game against visiting Wallace — both wins.

Then came the 2A District 1-2 tournament.

St. Maries moved past the loser-out game with Orofino. Then grinded out two wins in a best-of-3 series against Grangeville to advance to state.

All told, six games in a matter of eight days, with the Lumberjacks finishing 6-2 in those games.

“I really feel like having a full week of games, I think it will help us,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “Having to play Grangeville three times, I don’t think we’ll see a lot of teams like that at state.”

Grangeville was ranked third in the final state prep boys basketball media poll, released on Feb. 13.

“You can’t prepare yourself much better than that at state than playing these last couple of days,” Chase said.

St. Maries (17-7) opens tonight against West Side (15-9) at 5:15 PST at Capital High in Boise. Bear Lake (20-4), the winner of the past two 2A titles, opens with Cole Valley Christian (16-6) at 2 today.

St. Maries has reached the semifinals four straight years, where the Lumberjacks lost each time. St. Maries bounced back to bring home the third-place trophy in 2017 and ’15.Keep connected during state

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throughout the tournaments.

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