PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: 'Jacks claim 10th straight district title

ST. MARIES — Trailing 36-31 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, St. Maries coach Bryan Chase just knew his team was close to breaking the game open.

“I was getting a little worried,” Chase said. “Orofino has some good shooters, but I knew we were wearing them down.”

Then, the Lumberjacks did.

Sophomore JJ Yearout had 19 points, six rebounds and three assists for the top-seeded Lumberjacks, who outscored the second-seeded Orofino Maniacs 32-14 in the final 11 minutes in a 63-50 win, their 10th straight 2A District 1-2 title.

“They’re six guys deep and I told our guys to just keep playing, and they did a great job of that,” said Chase, in his 10th year as boys coach. “It took us four quarters, but we finally wore them down.”

St. Maries (15-7) is currently ranked 13th in the MaxPreps.com rankings, which is used to determine seeding for state, which begins next Thursday at Capital High in Boise. The Lumberjacks won’t find out their first round opponent until this weekend, likely Sunday, when matchups are announced by the Idaho High School Activities Association.

Senior Wyatt Holmes had 16 points and 11 rebounds, seniors Seth Swallows 12 points and six rebounds for St. Maries, which finished 7 of 11 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

“We knew they had a lot of speed, but had to keep some full-court pressure on them,” Chase said. “We wanted to pressure them and wear them down, but not get into an up-and-down kind of game. Our kids did a great job of executing the game plan.”

Third-seeded Grangeville eliminated fifth-seeded Priest River 47-34 in a loser-out game in Grangeville. The Bulldogs (5-12) will travel to Orofino for the second–place game tonight, with the winner advancing to play Cole Valley Christian in a state play-in game on Saturday at Cascade High. The Spartans finished 6-15.

Sophomore Nick Bonner scored 14 points for Orofino (8-12).

Orofino    12    11    16    11    —    50

St. Maries    13    13    17    20    —    63

OROFINO — Bonner 14, Schneider 6, Naranjo 5, Runia 16, Cochran 6, Olive 4.

ST. MARIES — W. Holmes 16, J. Barta 5, Yearout 19, Gustaffe 2, L. Holmes 2, Defoort 2, Sloper 5, Swallows 12, B. Barta 0, Riberich 0, Ceja-Grimaldo 0, Smith 0.

Sandpoint 64

Moscow 58, 2OT

MOSCOW — The third-seeded Bulldogs opened the best-of-3 4A Region 1 championship series with a victory over the top-seeded Bears at Bear Den.

Logan Roos scored 18 points and hit two 3-pointers at the start of double overtime for Sandpoint.

Sandpoint (11-12) can clinch a berth to the state 4A tournament at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian starting next Thursday with a win at Moscow (8-13) on Friday. Game 3, if necessary is Saturday in Moscow.