PREP ROUNDUP: Sophs lead St. Maries to another league title
• BOYS BASKETBALL
ST. MARIES — A team with a whole lot of new faces this season, the St. Maries Lumberjacks managed to find themselves in a familiar spot Friday night.
A team with seven sophomores and just two seniors, St. Maries won its ninth Central Idaho League championship in 10 seasons, beating the Orofino Maniacs 75-61.
“This one means a lot,” 10th-year St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “I don’t think people gave us much of a chance to win league this year. The boys have played well the last month of the season. The sophomores have started blossoming, and the seniors gave us a lot of stability. There was definitely a lot more focus this week in practice.”
Sophomore JJ Yearout totaled 24 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and three assists for St. Maries (11-6, 6-1 CIL). He also held Loudan Cochran of Orofino (6-10, 5-3), who scored 27 points in a win over the Lumberjacks last week, to four points. Cochran was ejected with his second technical late in the third quarter, with St. Maries leading 52-40.
“JJ tried to faceguard him a lot and not let him get the ball when he didn’t have it,” Chase said. “And when he got rid of the ball, he didn’t get it back.”
Sophomore Xavier Sloper added 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists for St. Maries. Senior Wyatt Holmes had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Nice to see those sophomores step up,” Chase said. “Pretty proud of those kids, how they performed under that pressure.”
Under Chase, St. Maries has won or shared the league title every year except for 2019. The Lumberjacks have won nine straight district titles under Chase.
Hudson Schneider led Orofino with 18 points.
St. Maries plays at Kendrick today at 2:30.
Orofino 17 4 19 21 — 61
St. Maries 18 13 24 20 — 75
OROFINO — Bonner 8, Hudson 0, Schneider 18, Naranjo 10, Runia 6, Cochran 4, Olive 15, Connolly 0.
ST. MARIES — W. Holmes 10, J. Barta 4, Yearout 24, Gustaffe 3, B. Barta 2, L. Holmes 3, Sloper 21, Swallows 8, Smith 0, Defoort 0.
Coeur d’Alene 80
Lakeland 52
COEUR d’ALENE — Senior Max Entzi scored 19 points as the host Vikings started strong in defeating the Hawks in Inland Empire League play at Viking Court.
Entzi scored 13 of his points in the first half, including nine in the first quarter, for Coeur d’Alene (17-3, 8-0 IEL).
“Max is a slashing player; he forced a lot of the turnovers in the press, he runs the lanes hard and the guys found him,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “That was one of the best games he‘s had in a long time. He was scoring in a lot of different ways …he’s so long and active that he forces a lot of those turnovers on the press.”
Sophomore Caden Symons scored 10 of his 16 points in the third quarter for Coeur d’Alene. With top rebounder Kai Wheeler sitting out with an injury, junior Reed Sylte stepped in with 10 points “and I bet he had 10 rebounds as well,” Adams said. “Trey Nipp played some at the point, and he threw some dimes.”
Kenton Ferguson scored 12 points for Lakeland (9-10, 1-6), which plays at Lake City on Tuesday.
Coeur d’Alene wraps up the regular season Monday at home vs. Moscow.
Lakeland 10 11 14 17 — 52
Coeur d’Alene 24 15 23 18 — 80
LAKELAND — Norce 2, Hensley 0, Ferguson 12, Ryan 7, Varner 5, Weil 4, Roth 8, Cook 2, Hillman 4, Carrel 4, Harris 4, Yager 0.
COEUR d’ALENE — Larson 2, Orchard 10, Rupp 7, Nipp 0, Entzi 19, Sutich 4, Riley 6, Zabel 2, Sylte 10, Booth 4, Symons 16.
Lake City 75
Sandpoint 52
COEUR d’ALENE — Junior Reese Strawn shot 5 of 12 from the 3-point line, finishing with 21 points and six assists for the Timberwolves in an Inland Empire League win over the Bulldogs at Lake City High.
Sophomore Josh Watson had 10 points and 10 rebounds and junior Cason Miller 11 points for Lake City (12-8, 4-4 IEL), which hosts Lakeland on Tuesday to conclude the regular season.
Senior Parker Childs scored 18 points for Sandpoint (9-12, 1-7), which is off until the 4A Region 1 tournament, when the Bulldogs visit Lakeland in a loser-out game on Monday, Feb. 19.
Sandpoint 8 15 18 11 — 52
Lake City 20 14 25 16 — 75
SANDPOINT — Leavitt 0, Williams 5, Chamberlain 12, Leisy 0, Roos 3, Gion 0, Childs 18, Jones 14.
LAKE CITY — Winey 5, Strawn 21, Miller 11, Bowman 3, Watson 10, Kloos 4, Arrieta 9, Hill 0, Williams 2, Meredith 2, Pearson 4, Carlson 4.
Kellogg 74
Wallace 50
WALLACE — Sophomore Draeden Taylor scored 23 of his game-high 31 points in the first half for the Wildcats in a nonleague win over the Miners at Kirby Krulitz Court.
Junior Brodie Robinson scored nine points for Kellogg (7-12), which hosts St. Maries on Tuesday.
Junior Julian Davis scored 27 points for Wallace (4-11), which hosts Lakeside on Tuesday.
Kellogg 22 19 18 15 — 74
Wallace 12 18 8 12 — 50
KELLOGG — Robinson 9, Whatcott 3, Taylor 31, Blalack 5, Fields 0, Lewis 8, McDonald 5, Garry 2, Cheney 3, Vindasius 8, Honnerlaw 0.
WALLACE — Stutzke 3, Sabala 0, Larson 4, Therrian 0, Myles 4, Anderson 0, Guardipee 4, Davis 27, Paul 1, Williams 0, Cleveland 7.
Highland-Craigmont 58
Kootenai 33
HARRISON FLATS — The host Warriors committed just nine turnovers in the nonleague loss to the Huskies of Craigmont.
“They controlled the ball and started working angles and getting good shots,” Kootenai coach Tom Tucker said.
Chris Moore scored 21 points, Logan Strobel 12 for Kootenai (1-12), and were the only two Warriors to score.
Noah Watson led Highland (14-6) with 12 points.
Kootenai plays at Clark Fork today at 1 in a North Star League game.
Highland 16 15 15 12 — 58
Kootenai 2 8 10 13 — 33
HIGHLAND — Smith 6, Knowlton 8, R. Crow 2, T. Goeckner 6, Gill 5, Hix 8, G. Crow 8, O. Goeckner 3, Watson 12.
KOOTENAI — Addington 0, Braz 0, Derry 0, Myers 0, J. Moore 0, Strobel 12, C. Moore 21, Hodges 0, Unger 0.
Christian Center 63
The Oaks 58
SPOKANE VALLEY — Senior Colton Smith had 20 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals for the fourth-seeded Lions in a win over the top-seeded The Oaks in a semifinal game in the Mountain Christian League tournament at The Oaks.
Junior Michael Marshall had 17 points, three steals and two assists and sophomore Cambric Cotton had five points, three rebounds and three steals for Christian Center (12-9), which faces North Idaho Christian in the championship game tonight at 7 at The Oaks.
Junior Cole Harken scored 22 points for The Oaks (16-6), which faces Spokane Classical Christian for third today at 3 p.m.
Christian Center 20 10 13 20 — 63
The Oaks 20 11 12 15 — 58
CHRISTIAN CENTER — Jones 6, Tesky 0, Smith 20, Coppinger 5, McWhorter 4, Cotton 5, Marshall 17, Mametieff 3, Siers 3.
THE OAKS — Schurter 7, Van Horn 2, Bailey 2, Matteson 21, C. Harkin 22, M. Harkin 0, Doster 4.
N.I. Christian 61
Classical Christian 54 (OT)
SPOKANE VALLEY — Senior Caden Smith had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the second-seeded Royals in a win over the third-seeded Knights of Spokane in a semifinal game in the Mountain Christian League tournament at The Oaks.
Junior Carson Malinauskas scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half for North Idaho Christian (16-7), which faces fourth-seeded Christian Center of Hayden in the championship game tonight at 7.
Senior Justus Piazza scored 22 points for Spokane Classical Christian (14-7), which faces The Oaks for third today.
Classical Christian 13 10 15 14 2 — 54
N.I. Christian 16 11 10 15 9 — 61
SPOKANE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN — Fowlkes 12, Ott 3, Avdeyev 0, Maguire 13, Kapelac 0, Timme 4, Justus Piazza 22.
NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Smith 23, Scott 5, Winde 0, Car. Malinauskas 20, Antone 13, Co. Malinauskas 0.
• WRESTLING
Coeur d’Alene 49
Lewiston 36
LEWISTON — Freshman Carter Newby (113 pounds), senior Boston Spear (126), junior Colton Tucker (152), junior Gabe Larsen (160), senior Gabe Grassel (182) and sophomore Ty Paulin (195) notched pins for the Vikings in a dual win over the Bengals at Lewiston High.
“We got the win, but might have been a little guilty of looking past Lewiston a little bit,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jeff Moffat said. “We didn’t wrestle particularly well, but were able to get out of there with a win. Lewiston wrestled hard, and for whatever reason, we didn’t. But we’ll regroup and get after it again on Monday.”
Coeur d’Alene is off until the 5A Region 1 tournament next Saturday at The Arena in Post Falls.
98 — Rocco White, Cd’A, by forfeit. 106 — Joely Slyter, Lew, p. Justus Peregrina, 3:00. 113 — Carter Newby, Cd’A, p. Brody Lynch, 6:59. 120 — Tanner George, Cd’A, d. Coen Roberts, 7-1. 126 — Boston Spear, Cd’A, p. Christopher Porter, 1:00. 132 — Hoyt Hvass, Lew, p. Dominic Prangley, :30. 138 — Gunnar Whitlock, Lew, p. Jordan Schield, 1:30. 145 — Logan Bradley, Cd’A, md. Wyatt Laney, 14-6. 152 — Colton Tucker, Cd’A, p. Koby Sanderson, 4:00. 160 — Gabe Larsen, Cd’A, p. Wiley Wagner, 1:00. 170 — Cole Lockart, Lew, p. Brett Myers, 4:40. 182 — Gabe Grassel, Cd’A, p. Landynn Lynch, 1:00. 195 — Ty Paulin, Cd’A, p. Phoenix Jansen, :20. 220 — Parker Bagley, Lew, p. Logan Trujillo, 3:58. 285 — James Gibbs, Lew, by forfeit.
• GIRLS BASKETBALL
N.I. Christian 50
Classical Christian 35
SPOKANE VALLEY — Junior Jennifer Peterson had 17 points, four steals and four assists for the top-seeded Royals in a semifinal victory over the Knights in the Mountain Christian League tournament at The Oaks.
Senior Symone Pilgrim had eight points, 14 rebounds, four steals and four assists and senior Danica Kelly had seven points, six assists and four steals for North Idaho Christian (21-3), which plays for its sixth straight conference tournament title tonight at 5:30 against either Christian Center or The Oaks.
Callie Chaffee had 11 points for Spokane Classical Christian (7-9), which plays for third today at 3 p.m.
Classical Christian. 4 8 10 13 — 35
N.I. Christian 23 7 11 9 — 50
SPOKANE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN — Rickard 0, Chaffee 11, Pearson 2, Turner 0, Adams 0, Fowlkes 2, Avdeyev 10, Swartz 10.
NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Hodson 2, Ellis 1, Peterson 17, Cate 6, Kelly 7, S. Pilgrim 8, Brotherton 2, Benoit 4, Y. Pilgrim 3.