Idaho High School All-Star Games: Dunk and done

POST FALLS — Region boys basketball coach Mike McLean's message to Lakeland High senior Noah Haaland was simple.

"Slam it, and take the rim home with you."

Well, one out of two isn't bad.

With 3.6 seconds remaining, Haaland caught the inbounds pass at the top of the 3-point line, drove down the lane past a defender and dunked at the buzzer as the Region rallied to beat the Metro 109-108 in the 17th Idaho high school all-star games at The Arena in Post Falls.

"I knew I was up there high enough," said Haaland, who was named the boys MVP following the game. "I just wanted to throw it down as hard as I could."

Trailing 108-107, the Region advanced the ball to center court with 3.6 seconds remaining. After a timeout, McLean told Haaland to just go for it.

"It worked out exactly how we planned it," Haaland said.

In the girls game, Carey guard Kylie Wood scored 19 points to earn MVP honors, leading the Region past the Metro 76-58.

Between games, Madison's Taden King hit 19 3-pointers in the finals to beat Snake River's Josee Steadman — who finished with 10 — in the coed 3-point contest.

The games, hosted by North Idaho College, were moved to Post Falls to ensure fans could attend the games after they were postponed due to COVID-19 in 2020.

BOYS: Some boys dream of a game-winner on a slam. Haaland got to live that in his final prep game. Where he'll play next is still to be determined.

"With the COVID delay and seniors being able to stay another year, it's all still up in the air," Haaland said. "There's still some things to figure out, so I'm undecided right now."

Haaland, who finished runner-up in the slam dunk contest in between games to Fruitland's Hyrum Lindsey, scored seven points in the win.

"It was fun to play with Benny (Kitchel) from Moscow," Haaland said. "He's a good kid. And so is George (Forsmann) from Lewiston. I played against a lot of those Boise kids in AAU. It's cool to play with these guys. It's an honor."

St. Maries senior Eli Gibson is no stranger to the dramatic himself, with a semifinal win for the Lumberjacks as time expired and another rally in the state 2A championship game — beating Ambrose of Meridian 51-50 — two weeks ago for the program's first title since 1960.

St. Maries took on Lakeland during the 2019-20 season, but was unable to schedule a game this past season.

"It was a bit of a step up to play with the 4A and 5A kids this year," Gibson said. "It's just a lot faster-paced game and a little more physical with the 5A kids."

For Gibson, it could have been his final basketball game.

"As far as right now, yes, this is it," Gibson said. "I'm not planning on playing in college, but you never know."

Lakeside's Kenyon Spotted Horse, named the state 1A Division II Player of the Year by the Idaho Statesman as a junior, finished with two points for the Region.

"It was weird at first," Spotted Horse said. "I had to get the hang of playing at that speed, but they're all really good ballplayers."

Spotted Horse plans to continue his playing career next year, either at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Mont., or Eastern Washington.

Lloyer Driggs of Thunder Ridge, who is getting interest from Idaho, Tarleton State, Utah and North Idaho College, scored 16 points for the Region.

Centennial's Lukas Broadsword scored 16 points for the Metro.

Metro 22 19 39 28 — 108

Region 17 28 29 35 — 109

METRO — Lukas Broadsword (Centennial) 15, Cooper Lumsden (Timberline) 14, Blake Thurston (Cascade) 11, Hyrum Lindsey (Fruitland) 11, Covy Kelly (Garden Valley) 13, Joe Mpoyo (Meridian) 11, Whitt Miller (Boise) 12, Jason Janish (Eagle) 4, Josh Gilliespie (Garden Valley) 8, Brody Rowbury (Meridian) 4, Sean Austin (Kuna) 3, Jacob Ankeny (Marsing) 2.

REGION — Lloyer Driggs (Thunder Ridge) 16, Caden McLean (Post Falls) 9, Cole Harris (Preston) 6, Emmett Holt (Century) 8, Brayden Stapleton (Deary) 4, Noah Haaland (Lakeland) 7, Taden King (Madison) 15, James Bodily (North Gem) 14, Eli Gibson (St. Maries) 8, Kenyon Spotted Horse (Lakeside) 2, Benny Kitchel (Moscow) 9, George Forsmann (Lewiston) 11.

GIRLS: Fans around the Timberlake program know that when things are rolling for the Tigers, it's tough to stop them.

Add in players at the 5A level, and it really goes well.

Timberlake's Brooke Jessen, who has signed with Texas-Rio Grande Valley of the Western Athletic Conference, scored six points and Tiger teammate Taryn Soumas added eight points for the Region.

"It was awesome," Jessen said. "We just clicked right away and were having fun. We just went out and played together. Having those 5A and 4A kids, it really brought another aspect to the game that we don't usually see. It was great to see them play."

The Region led 64-45 after three quarters.

"The energy, especially with our team, was super good," Soumas said. "When we made mistakes, everyone picked each other up and when we did stuff that was good, we praised each other. It was super good."

Last summer, Soumas played on an All-Northwest AAU team with Tori Younker, a guard from Coeur d'Alene.

"It was a really good experience getting to be on the court with them one last time," said Soumas, who verbally committed to NAIA College of Idaho in Caldwell last weekend. "It was just a lot of fun getting to know everyone."

Younker was an alternate to the game at first.

"When I found out I was in, I immediately checked the list to see who else was in the game," Younker said. "When I saw that Dylan (Lovett of Post Falls) and Taryn (Soumas of Timberlake) were in the game, it was really cool since we've played with and against each other since we were really little. It was just kind of cool to get to play with them again."

Coeur d'Alene handed Timberlake, which finished 23-2 this season, its only two losses of the season.

"I've always had so much respect for them," Younker said. "They beat us in our first two years until we developed our team up. I've always had a lot of respect for them because they're great players. I was just ecstatic. They're no joke and going to be great college players. I'm just blessed to share the court with them."

Metro 15 16 14 13 — 58

Region 24 19 21 12 — 76

METRO — Allison Ross (Boise) 4, Kate Clark (Melba) 10, Mia Nottingham (Columbia) 7, Darbi Avery (Kuna) 0, Emma Hollon (Tri-Valley) 2, Jazzy Jenkins (Emmett) 5, D’Nia Williams (Mountain View) 6, Anna Veeck (Cole Valley Christian) 5, Jalessa Lawrence (Meridian) 11, Trinity Slocum (Mountain View) 4, Madison Hodnett (Liberty Charter) 4.

REGION — Taryn Soumas (Timberlake) 8, Glory Sobotta (Lapwai) 2, Madison Shears (Prairie) 2, Tylie Jones (Rigby) 8, Josee Steadman (Snake River) 5, Dylan Lovett (Post Falls) 7, Tori Younker (Coeur d’Alene) 0, Brooke Jessen (Timberlake) 6, Mardee Fillmore (Sugar-Salem) 11, Brooklyn Rewers (Lake City) 9, Kylie Wood (Carey) 19, Lauren Davenport (Thunder Ridge), did not play, injured.