THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Catching up, and checking in, with a few local teams at Hoopfest

North Idaho was once again well-represented at Hoopfest on a warm, sunny Saturday in downtown Spokane.

Even those who have since left North Idaho.

They came from Arizona and Nevada, and tried to come from as far away as Louisiana, to once again be a part of the largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament in the world.

FOUR TIMBERLAKE High grads and longtime friends took to their court on Riverside, east of Washington, on Saturday morning.

Mason Cramer, Austin Allen and Bryce Johnson, all 2014 grads, and the youngster, Vance Kistler, who graduated a year later, have been playing Hoopfest together the past 4-5 years, and been buddies long before that.

“We’ve all been hanging out since we can remember in high school,” said Kistler, a headhunter (recruiter) for tech startups, working out of Hayden these days. He pointed to where his office used to be, in downtown Spokane, before they closed it and started working out of Hayden. “One (Johnson) was the best man at my wedding. My wife’s really good friends with Mason’s wife, so we’re always together.

“Bryce and I had jobs together for four years. We lived together for about six. He was there when I asked my girlfriend (former Lakeland athlete Megan Cysewski) to marry me. Hanging out with them is awesome.”

Kistler said he’s played Hoopfest every year since third grade, never missing until COVID canceled the event in 2020.

“it was really weird, because every year, when summer comes along, I look forward to it — and it was just gone,” he said.

He said street ball and high school ball are “totally different.”

“Street ball, you have to be physical enough to handle the contact, and play tough. High school is more about playing smart and playing as a team.”

The Timberlake team, dubbed the Pipe Squad, lost its opener 20-18, but that didn’t matter.

“Oh, it’s awesome,” Kistler said of being at Hoopfest. “Win or lose, we’re just out here, having fun, hanging out. Beautiful day, playing basketball, watching basketball. Couldn’t ask for more.”

Allen lives in Phoenix, and he is an assistant golf superintendent at Blackstone Country Club in Peoria, Ariz.

His dad, Michael “Buck” Allen, was formerly the superintendent at Circling Raven Golf Club in Worley.

“I grew up with him working there, grew up loving to play golf and watching golf,” Austin said.

He said there are outdoor basketball tourneys in Arizona, but “nothing like this. Nothing beats Hoopfest, that’s for sure; It’s a really crazy scene, and 3-on-3 is really fun and competitive.”

“Street ball is way different; it’s a completely different basketball game, to be honest with you,” he added. “You’ve got to be physical, you’ve got to be able to crash rebounds. If you can't do that, you’re not going to win a lot of basketball games.”

DOWN A few blocks, on Main, just east of Lincoln, Team Cuzzos from the Plummer-Worley area — Joseph Nomee, his brother Jonathan Nomee, and their cousins, Talon Twoteeth and Emmitt White — took the court.

And did a double-take, because at least one of their opponents looked familiar.

That’s because their opponent was Miller Cup, a team from the Silver Valley including Wallace HIgh athletic director and former coach Corey Miller, his son Cooper, and Corey’s brothers Jesse and Jase Bennett.

Joseph Nomee, who graduated from Lakeside High in 2012, took a long look at Corey Miller before the game.

“I was like, ‘I recognize you from somewhere,’” Joseph said. “He said ‘Yeah, I was a coach at Wallace, and now I’m the AD.’

“‘I knew I knew you from somewhere.’”

Joseph and Jonathan Nomee, who graduated in 2015, have played Hoopfest for several years. They used to play with their dad, Butch, and Talon’s dad, Lakeside boys coach James Twoteeth.

White and Talon Twoteeth graduated in 2020, and played on the Knights’ state 1A Division II championship team.

“Now that these guys (Talon and Emmitt) are old enough, we’ll take them up in the old man’s bracket,” Joseph said with a laugh.

Joseph Nomee, 30, said he’s played Hoopfest since around age 10.

“It's a really good feeling, good family time,” he said of playing at Hoopfest. “That’s all we do as a family anyway, is play basketball. To come up to Hoopfest and play as a family is a great feeling.”

BACK ON Main, just east of Stevens, Quick Trigger — named after a training company started by former Post Falls High standout Dalton Thompson — took the court.

Which turned out to be an accomplishment in itself.

“It’s probably the most random team ever,” Thompson said. “We needed a guy, because Jake Blakney bailed on us. He got stuck in Louisiana for work, so we picked up Beau (Tilleman), he’s the athletic director at Shadle Park High School. I went to college with him (at Walla Walla Community College) and I knew he was in the area, so I hit him up, and luckily he was down to play.”

Besides Thompson, who helped the Trojans win a state title in 2015, the only other “regular” was Junior Williams, who helped Genesis Prep win a pair of state titles.

And then there was Spencer Cifuentes.

“Spencer is just our guy — he needed a team, so we took him,” Thompson said. “And he hit some big shots, dude. Hit a couple 3s.”

After working as an assistant coach at Lake City High, Thompson moved to California, and was coaching at Mission Viejo High School, and started a training company based out of Orange County.

Recently, he moved to Reno, where he is an assistant coach for the same head coach he worked with at Mission Viejo.

OVER ON Riverside, east of Howard, the Cd’A Lakers — a team of girls in sixth grade going into the seventh grade this fall — took the court.

Or, more accurately, the street.

Brynlee Johnston and Payton Brown, who both attend Woodland Middle School, were joined by Gretah Angle of Kellogg and Noelia Axton of Spokane. All play AAU ball together.

“It’s a lot rougher out on the street,” Johnston said.

“When you’re outdoors you can’t really shoot from long distance because the baskets aren’t as good,” Brown added. “So you have to come up with different ways to figure out how to get to the basket, which I think makes you a better player, because you get stronger playing out here.”

Also indoors, the coach is calling plays, and things are more structured.

Outdoors, the young girls have to figure it out as they learn the game.

Johnston and Brown have played together for years.

“We’ve run a play together since we were in kindergarten,” Johnston said. “And we have plays that are just meant for the two of us.”

“Brynlee and I have played together for a long time, so it is easy for us to get on the same page,” Brown said.

Both agreed that playing outside, as well as inside, will make them better players.

“You get stronger and better playing against bigger girls,” Johnston said.

“You get tougher by playing out here on the streets; you learn how to work as a team,” Brown added. “It’s just fun to sit here and see what you can do, and you realize your strengths and weaknesses, and you go home and you work at it, and you come back next year and try to be better.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @CdAPressSports.