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PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Defense carries Timberwolves into title game

| December 18, 2021 1:20 AM

MERIDIAN — Another night, another way for the Lake City Timberwolves.

Nathan Hocking scored 11 points, Zach Johnson had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Timberwolves in a 47-38 win over the Timberline Wolves of Boise in a semifinal game in the Owyhee Holiday Classic at Owyhee High on Friday night.

“Offensively, we’re in a bit of a funk right now,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “There was a lid on the basket no question, but defensively, we played great.”

Lake City shot 3 of 14 from the 3-point line and 17 of 48 from the field for the game.

“We just had a hard time scoring,” Winger said. “We’ve said that if we play good defense and rebound, we’re going to be tough to beat. We just couldn’t buy a basket, but it was almost a double-digit win, so we did a good job with that.”

Blake Buchanan had seven points and eight rebounds, Kolton Mitchell seven points and six rebounds for Lake City (5-0), which faces Pocatello in the championship game today at 12:30 p.m. PST

Wade Zenner scored 15 points for Timberline, which faces Post Falls for third place today.

Timberline 7 9 8 14 — 38

Lake City 10 12 13 12 — 47

TIMBERLINE — Davis 11, Zenner 15, Merits 1, Anderson 2, Gropp 4, La Beau 5.

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 7, Jones 3, Hill 0, Miller 5, Strawn 0, Kiesbuy 4, Hocking 11, Johnson 10, Mitchell 7.

Pocatello 74

Post Falls 50

MERIDIAN — The Thunder jumped out to a 21-6 lead after the first quarter en route to a win over the Trojans in a semifinal game in the Owyhee Holiday Classic at Owyhee High.

“Pocatello was a very physical team that got into us defensively, and we didn’t handle it very well,” said Post Falls coach Mike McLean, whose team trailed 36-15 at halftime. “We didn’t the ball well, but it was a great learning experience. It was our first time playing back-to-back nights, and there was a lot of things we can learn from. They just jumped all over us in the first half and overwhelmed us. They were more physical and we played a little more tentative than I’d like.”

Jack Sciortino scored 15 points and Neil McCarthy added 13 for Post Falls (3-3), which faces Timberline in the third-place game today at 9:30 a.m.

Julian Bowie scored 22 points for Pocatello (6-0), which faces Lake City in the championship game today at 12:30 p.m.

Post Falls 6 9 16 19 — 50

Pocatello 21 15 17 21 — 74

POST FALLS — Sciortino 15, Naylor 0, Shields 7, McCarthy 13, Summers 4, VonBruck 3, Craig 0, Bowie 2, Blake 2, Butler 2, Cooper 2.

POCATELLO — Bowie 22, Hales 5, Christensen 2, Zweigart 4, Evans 6, Payne 8, Jensen 10, Smith 5, Killian 7, Williams 2, Vaughan 2.

St. Maries 41

West Side 33 (OT)

MERIDIAN — Tristan Gentry-Nelson scored all eight of the Lumberjacks’ points in overtime, and finished with 13 points, as the Lumberjacks beat the Pirates of Dayton in the semifinals in the small-middle sized school division of the Owyhee Holiday Invitational at Owyhee High.

“We finally got him going,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “They did a good job of bottling him up in space (in regulation). We got some steals (in overtime).”

St. Maries (5-1) will play Ambrose (7-0) today at 11 a.m. PST in the championship game — a rematch of last year’s state 2A title game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa, won by St. Maries.

St. Maries trailed West Side 29-21 with seven minutes to go, when Chase called timeout.

“They were outrebounding us, outhustling us,” Chase said. “I called timeout and pretty much blew a gasket. I really challenged the kids … and they turned it up a notch.”

Greyson Sands hit a big 3-pointer during the comeback, Colby Renner added a pair of baskets and Coleman Ross had a steal and layup to help force overtime.

Ross finished with 10 points and four steals, and Renner had six rebounds for the Lumberjacks.

Bryler Shurtliff led West Side (3-3) with 11 points.

St. Maries 5 7 9 12 8 — 41

West Side 6 5 14 8 0 — 33

ST. MARIES — Gentry-Nelson 13, Sands 6, Badgett 2, Ross 10, Wolfe 2, Elliott 0, T. Renner 2, Wicks 0, C. Renner 4, Hill 2.

WEST SIDE — Robinson 6, P. Henderson 3, E. Henderson 6, Brown 4, Shurtliff 11, Ralphs 1, Love 2.

Moscow 63

Lakeland 49

RATHDRUM — The host Hawks trailed by just one point at halftime, but were outscored 20-9 by the Bears in the third quarter in the Inland Empire League opener at Hawk Court.

“They’ve got some really good shooters on their team, and we had a few lapses,” Lakeland coach Tony Hanna said. “They came out with energy and we came out flat.”

Bryden Brown led Moscow (4-2) with 14 points. Jamari Simpson added 13, Lance Abendroth 11.

Brown and Cody Isakson each scored five points in the third quarter for the Bears, and Dylan Rehder added four.

Brown and Sam Kees each hit two threes for Moscow, and four other Bears hit one each.

“They can all shoot,” Hanna said.

Abe Munyer scored a game-high 16 points for Lakeland (2-5). Bryce Henry added 13 points, Grant Roth 10.

Lakeland returns to action Dec. 28 at the Eagle Holiday Classic at West Valley, opening vs. Riverside of Chattaroy, Wash.

Moscow 13 16 20 14 — 63

Lakeland 14 14 9 12 — 49

MOSCOW — Kees 6, Simpson 13, Rehder 7, Isakson 5, Abendroth 11, Brown 14, Strong 5, C. Skinner 0, Z. Skinner 0, Hillman 2.

LAKELAND — Nowell 0, Cameron 3, Rings 0, Henry 13, Munyer 16, Hocking 2, Boettcher 1, Roth 10, Haug 0, Loutzenhiser 4, Pearson 0, Anderson 0.

Lakeside 62

Grangeville 42

GRANGEVILLE — Junior Vander Brown scored 33 points as the visiting Knights, missing three players, including one starter, downed the Bulldogs in nonleague play.

“Vander did a good controlling the tempo of the game,” Lakeside coach James Twoteeth said. “They couldn’t keep him out of transition.”

Sophomore Josh Kee added 10 points for Lakeside (4-2), and Nyati Vassar and Quincy Hall each had eight.

“Vassar played really good defense, and rebounded well,” Twoteeth said. “A lot of them had to step up (tonight).”

Miles Lefebvre led Grangeville with 18 points.

Lakeside returns to action Jan. 3 at the Coeur d’Alene junior varsity.

Lakeside 21 16 11 14 — 62

Grangeville 11 17 10 4 — 42

LAKESIDE — V. Brown 33, SiJohn 3, Vassar 8, Hall 8, P. Brown 0, Nomee 0, Kee 10.

GRANGEVILLE — Lefebvre 18, Free 6, Mundt 4, Clement 3, Lindsley 7, Hulls 4.

Genesis Prep 44

N.I. Christian 38

PRIEST RIVER — With his team trailing by six points with 3 1/2 minutes to go, Joey Specht hit three straight 3-pointers to lift the Jaguars past the Royals in the first round of the Spartan Christmas Tournament.

Specht finished with four 3s and 16 points for Genesis Prep (5-1). Caleb Schroeder hit two 3s and added 13 points for the Jaguars, who finished 6 of 19 from deep.

Kameron Heston had 10 points and 10 rebounds for North Idaho Christian (8-3), and Karon Dinkins added 10. The Royals were 0 for 21 on 3s.

Genesis Prep plays Priest River tonight at 7:30 in the championship game. The Spartans defeated Clark Fork 59-20.

North Idaho Christian plays Clark Fork today at 4:30 in the consolation game.

Genesis Prep 13 5 7 19 — 44

N.I. Christian 10 9 10 9 — 38

GENESIS PREP — Lewis 0, Schroeder 13, Daniels 2, Russworm 0, McCluskie 6, Rubert 1, Shinn 1, Specht 16, Snowder 5.

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — O’Brien 8, Heston 10, Grassi 1, Adams 0, Dinkins 10, Alliano 0, Desrochers 5, Koontz 0, McKee 0, Sakae 0, Smith 2, Schlader 2.

Wallace 51

Kootenai 18

WALLACE — No other information was available.