PREP BASKETBALL: St. Maries ekes out victory at Lakeside

• BOYS

PLUMMER — Down two starters due to injury, the St. Maries Lumberjacks trailed most of the game before making big plays late to defeat the Lakeside Knights 61-60 on Friday night in a matchup of two of the top teams in their respective classifications.

With the Lumberjacks trailing 60-59, Coleman Ross cut down the lane, took a feed from Tristan Gentry and scored on a layup with about 10 seconds left for the deciding basket.

Lakeside missed a 10-foot baseline runner at the buzzer.

“I told the boys this is probably the best game I’ve been a part of,” said St. Maries coach Bryan Chase, who has guided the Lumberjacks to state tournament appearances each of the last six seasons, including a runner-up appearance in 2019. “It was a great crowd, under the circumstances. “It was a good game for both programs. Had we lost, I would have been almost as excited as if we’d won.”

St. Maries (16-0) is ranked third in class 2A. Lakeside (13-3), last year’s state 1A Division II champions, moved up a division this year and is ranked third in 1A Division I.

St. Maries beat Lakeside 51-40 at St. Maries in early December.

The Lumberjacks trailed by as much as 10 points in the game, and were down six early in the fourth quarter. With less than a minute left, Brett Stancil stole the ball and fed ahead to Eli Gibson for a layup to pull St. Maries within 60-59.

Ross finished with 14 points and three steals. Gibson added 13 points, including back-to-back 3s to tie the game at 35 at halftime. Stancil had 12 points, including five points late, and Gentry had 11 points and nine rebounds.

“We just kept having to make runs to get back into it,” Chase said. “The boys were very resilient. Justin Ledbetter also came in and gave us some energy defensively, and had some key buckets.”

Kenyon Spotted Horse led Lakeside with 13 points. “Day Day” Higgins had 12, Jasper Abuan 11, JJ Hall 10 for the Knights.

St. Maries travels to Lapwai, ranked No. 1 in 1A Division I, on Monday.

Lakeside travels to Wallace next Thursday with a chance to wrap up the Scenic Idaho Conference title.

St. Maries 15 20 13 13 — 61

Lakeside 20 15 17 8 — 60

ST. MARIES — Ross 14, Gentry 11, Stancil 12, Elliott 0, Wicks 0, Gibson 13, Ledbetter 5, Renner 6.

LAKESIDE — Brown 9, Abuan 11, Higgins 12, Q. Hall 5, J. Hall 10, Spotted Horse 13, C. Matt 0.

Timberlake 46

Genesis Prep 39

POST FALLS — Sophomore Ethan Riley scored seven of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and the visiting Tigers topped the Jaguars at The Courts at Real Life after the nonleague game was tied after three quarters.

“Close game, but they had a stretch where they turned us over and built a little lead,” Genesis Prep coach Jeff Hironaka said. “We did not shoot the ball very well.”

Timberlake (5-11) travels to Priest River on Thursday in Intermountain League play.

Nathan Weeks scored 16 points for Genesis Prep (2-9), which returns to action Feb. 16 at St. Maries.

Timberlake 8 15 7 16 — 46

Genesis Prep 6 13 11 9 — 39

TIMBERLAKE — Olivieri 3, Riley 20, Tay. Menti 0, Paslay 4, Yetter 7, Millsap 0, Higgins 8, Tan. Menti 4, Simpson 4, Swensen 0.

GENESIS PREP — Weeks 16, Gonzales 7, Schroeder 9, Specht 0, Daniels 0, Russworm 0, McLuskie 7.

Wallace 64

Priest River 58

WALLACE — Hayden Hogamier scored 22 of his game-high 28 points in the second half for the Miners in a nonleague win over the Spartans at Kirby Krulitz Court.

Blake Barrett scored 19 points for Priest River (10-6), which travels to Bonners Ferry on Monday in a matchup of the two lone unbeaten teams in Intermountain League play.

Brady Tesky scored 17 points for Wallace (6-10), which hosts Lakeside on Thursday.

Priest River 10 20 9 19 — 58

Wallace 15 16 18 15 — 64

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 4, Butler 0, J. Nortz 12, Kreager 9, Marinello 4, Barrett 19, D. Nortz 5, Thompson 0, Yount 5.

WALLACE — Tesky 17, Farkas 0, Hogamier 28, Allison 0, Jaramillo 0, Bailey 10, Denson 6, Hull 3, Hammerberg 0.

N.I. Christian 66

Christian Center 49

POST FALLS — Senior Kessler Johnson totaled 15 points and 10 rebounds as the second-seeded Royals beat the No. 3 Lions from Hayden in a semifinal game of the Mountain Christian League Tournament at The Courts at Real Life.

Cruz Alliano added 13 points, Josiah Desrochers 11 for North Idaho Christian (16-12), which plays top-seeded The Oaks in the championship game tonight at 7 at The Courts. Wyley Pilgrim added 10 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Royals.

Griffin Sanders scored a game-high 22 points for Christian Center School, which beat No. 6 seed Covenant Christian of Spokane in the first round earlier Friday.

Chr. Center 4 13 12 20 — 49

N.I. Christian 19 16 23 8 — 66

CHRISTIAN CENTER — Owens 0, Porter 0, McLintock 0, Sanders 22, Steckman 0, Curson 10, Hanson 9, Smith 8.

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Desrochers 11, Pilgrim 10, Smith 0, McKee 0, O’Brien 10, Alliano 13, Bryan 0, Johnson 15, Grassi 6, Sakae 0, Connelly 0.

• GIRLS

Wallace 58

Mullan 27

MULLAN — Jaden House scored 29 points for the Miners in a nonleague win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion.

Wallace (7-8) hosts Genesis Prep to open the 1A Division I District 1 tournament on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Talowa Fallingwater scored 12 points for Mullan (8-7), which hosts Clark Fork in the 1A Division II District 1 championship game on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

Wallace 14 18 13 13 — 58

Mullan 6 9 8 4 — 27

WALLACE — Specht 2, Cielke 0, House 29, Phillips 6, Welch 4, Burmeister 8, Hemphill 2, Hunter 3, Bergem 4.

MULLAN — Waters 0, Haig 0, Nelson 2, Fallingwater 12, Charvez 1, Frazier 3, Dykes 9.

Royals win twice to

advance to title game

POST FALLS — Danica Kelly had 13 points, six assists and three steals for the Royals in a 64-18 win over Spokane Classical Christian in a semifinal game in the Mountain Christian League tournament at The Courts at Real Life.

Symone Pilgrim had eight rebounds and Kianna Nelson 10 points for North Idaho Christian (20-7), which advances to the championship game tonight at 8:30 at The Courts.

Earlier, Kate Malinauskas had 16 points for the Royals in a 61-29 win over Classical Christian of Hayden in an opening round game.

Christina Connelly had seven assists and three steals, Kelly eight points, five assists and four steals and Maddie Daigle 13 rebounds against Classical Christian of Hayden.

N.I. CHRISTIAN 64, SPOKANE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN 18

Classical Christian 13 1 2 2 — 18

N.I. Christian 21 6 14 23 — 64

CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN — Chaffee 0, Sudlow 0, Ai. Fowlkes 0, N. Anyan 0, J. Anyan 5, Nichols 2, Severn 3, Vermeer 4, Ad. Fowlkes 4.

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Kelly 13, Pilgrim 4, Gwin 6, H. Malinauskas 4, Daigle 8, Nelson 10, K. Malinauskas 8, Connelly 5, Gilmar 2, Overturf 4.

N.I. CHRISTIAN 61, HAYDEN CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN 29

Classical Christian 6 3 8 12 — 29

N.I. Christian 20 19 9 13 — 61

CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN — Bailey 7, H. Williams 5, Abbey 9, S. Darrow 0, A. Darrow 2, Clermount 2, Lopachuk 2, K. Williams 2.

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Monaghan 2, Kelly 8, Pilgrim 4, Gwin 2, H. Malinauskas 7, Daigle 8, Nelson 2, K. Malinauskas 16, Connelly 3, Gilmar 7, Overturf 2.