PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Priest River nabs CIL title, top-seed to districts

PRIEST RIVER — Senior Carter Cook had a team-high 12 points for Priest River, which captured the Central Idaho League title with a 62-50 win over the St. Maries Lumberjacks on Tuesday at Priest River High. 

Nate Stifel had 11 points, eight rebounds and three steals for Priest River (14-4, 7-1 CIL), which faces the winner of a loser-out game between Grangeville and Orofino on Saturday in the opening round of the double-elimination 3A District 1-2 tournament. 

Junior Jack Barta scored 18 points for St. Maries (10-10, 6-2), which hosts third-seeded Kellogg on Saturday in an opening round game.  

St. Maries    14    9    16    11    —    50 

Priest River    14    18    16    12    —    62 

ST. MARIES — J. Barta 18, Yearout 10, Harold 7, Gustaffe 5, B. Barta 4, Defoort 4, L. Riberich 2. 

PRIEST RIVER — Cook 12, Stifel 11, Coleman 11, Staudt 10, Kreager 8, Lamanna 6, Hatten 4.  

Timberlake 61 

Kellogg 60 

KELLOGG — Senior Tyler Engelson hit four 3-pointers, three coming in the first quarter, and scored 32 points for the Tigers, who held off the Wildcats in a nonleague game at Andrews Gymnasium. 

Kellogg cut the deficit to 61-60, then forced a jump ball with 25.6 seconds remaining, but missed a potential game-winning layup as time expired. 

“We had a couple of good looks, but couldn’t cash anything in,” Kellogg coach Mike Martin said. “Engelson really kind of got what he wanted in the first half and started to make some 3s and get downhill. And we didn’t offer much resistance. We did a better job of limiting him, but he was finding guys and beat us in different ways. We weren’t good enough on our end defensively in the first half. We played pretty good in the first quarter offensively, but just weren’t good enough on that end tonight.”

Senior Luke Vallieres scored 11 points for Timberlake (10-9), which hosts Priest River on Thursday. 

Junior Draeden Taylor scored 22 points for Kellogg (10-9), which hosts Coeur du Christ tonight. 

Timberlake    23    16    10    12    —    61 

Kellogg        16    9    16    19    —    60 

TIMBERLAKE — Engelson 32, Dykeman 8, VanGundy 0, Shively 0, Vallieres 11, DeVore 0, Rush 0, Simpson 10. 

KELLOGG — Robinson 6, McDonald 4, Taylor 22, Lewis 14, Honnerlaw 0, Cheney 8, Vindasius 6, Baker 0. 

Coeur du Christ 92 

Kootenai 61 

COEUR d’ALENE — Senior Ben Connelly poured in 47 points as the host Saints, in their first season as a full member of the Idaho High School Activities Association, won the North Star League title with the victory over the Warriors at Holy Family Catholic School. 

Connelly hit seven 3-pointers for Coeur du Christ (12-7, 4-0 NSL). Grant Clemens added 15 points for the Saints, and Jerome Cools and Aeden O’Neill each scored 10. 

Chris Moore scored 25 points, Logan Strobel 18 for Kootenai (13-3, 2-2), which is idle until the 1A District 1 tournament at North Idaho College, where the second-seeded Warriors will play third-seeded Mullan in a loser-out first-round game Feb. 25. 

"Came out very strong the first half," Kootenai assistant coach Jason Strobel said. "Got in early foul trouble, and the youth unfortunately came out. Thankfully the game that matters most is next week, so we have a week to get the kinks worked out. Very proud of these young men."

The winner plays top-seeded Coeur du Christ in the championship game Feb. 27, for a berth in a state play-in game two days later. 

Kootenai     13    14    17    17    —   61 

Coeur du Christ     24    13    24     31    —    92 

KOOTENAI — Derry 0, Braz 4, Strobel 18, Ausman 3, C. Moore 25, J. Moore 0, Gentry 11, Myers 0. 

COEUR du CHRIST — Anderson 0, Clemens 15, Connelly 47, Clute 2, Hayes 6, Je. Cools 10, O’Neill 10, Denke 2.