THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Long layoffs even get the best of the best

Sometimes, a break can do a team some good.

In some cases, going from a fall sport to a winter sport with little to no time away doesn’t help too much.

Sure, playing in holiday tournaments are good for building concepts that could pay off in the postseason.

But taking a few days off in December, as well as the first part of January, we’ll excuse it if it returns a nice new trophy at some point.

IT HAD been close to three weeks since the St. Maries boys basketball team had played a game, finishing runner-up in the small school/middle-sized school division of the Owyhee Holiday Tournament in Meridian on Dec. 18. St. Maries lost in the championship game to Ambrose, the team the Lumberjacks defeated for the state 2A title last March at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

As for Wednesday’s return to the court against Genesis Prep, it was a win, but far from what coach Bryan Chase was looking for.

“We came out and looked a little sluggish on offense,” Chase said. “It was almost like a few of our guys forgot some of the sets. It was kind of surprising just how our offense looked tonight.”

St. Maries won the nonleague game 56-36.

“We couldn’t remember a set to save our life,” Chase said. “We dribbled the ball off of our foot and had a couple other uncharacteristic mental errors that could have been from not handling the basketball in a couple of weeks.”

Typically, St. Maries played in a holiday tournament in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, but opted not to this year.

“It had been two weeks since we’d played,” Chase said. “We were missing a few kids here and there, but nothing too bad. Our defense was really solid, but we sure didn’t get much going offensively.”

St. Maries is averaging 55 points per game through its first eight games this season, while allowing 45 per game.

BEFORE YOU know it, we’ll be right into the postseason.

And a lot can happen, both on and off the court before we get there.

In case you’ve missed it, the brackets have been posted for the state boys and girls basketball tournaments, albeit we’ll have to wait to see who’s seeded where until all the state-qualifying tournaments conclude.

For those headed to state this year, it could look a little different, depending on the site of your favorite team's tournament.

In the past, the 3A girls tournament has often rotated between Skyview High in Nampa or Middleton High. This year, with Skyview’s gym not usable due to some water damage, the tournament will be held at Eagle High.

At the start of the year, the tournament had been listed to be held at Middleton for the third straight year, but …

“Middleton High was actually a misprint,” Idaho High School Activities Association Executive Director Ty Jones said. “The tournament should have said Skyview, but we had to move that to Eagle because Skyview has some damage from rain and seating would have been an issue.”

If you’re planning on going, like last year, games will be played earlier in the day, with the first game tipping off at 11 a.m. Pacific, with the final game of the day starting at 6. In previous years, games started at 12:15 p.m., with the final game of the night at 7.

“It worked well last year, so we just left it that way,” Jones said. “Every tournament that we spoke with liked it as well.”

Trust me, we like it too.

More than you know.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.