4A: DEFENDING CHAMPS TOO MUCH FOR SKYVIEW

Skyview coach Aaron Sanders describes his high-octane squad as a "team full of guards."

On Friday at Borah High, the speedy Hawks ran into a roadblock too big to overcome - Rigby center JonRyheem Peoples. The 6-foot-6 senior dominated with 21 points, carrying the defending 4A champion Trojans to a 51-41 state semifinal victory.

Rigby (18-6) advances to face Moscow in Saturday's 6 p.m. title game at the Idaho Center, while Skyview (22-3) falls into the consolation bracket.

"Our goal was to make it a full-court game and try to wear them down," Sanders said. "But the pace wasn't as fast as we'd hoped, and (Peoples) is a big strong kid. He did a good job."

Rigby jumped out to an early 10-point lead and never gave it up, though Skyview made several runs in the second half. Consecutive 3-pointers by reserve guard Austin Sharp brought the Hawks within two with six minutes to play, but Peoples made two big baskets and went 5-of-7 from the free throw line down the stretch.

"Skyview is a great team, a very fast team," Peoples said. "Our game plan was to slow them down, and we did a good job, my teammates did a great job. We've played two really tough teams here in Boise. They've beaten us up, but we're still standing."

Senior guard Daniel Slemmer led Skyview with 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The normally sharp-shooting Hawks were just 29 percent shooting. Senior wing JC Kennedy added eight points for Skyview. Senior forward Clayton Iglinski finished with eight points and 12 rebounds for Rigby.

by Jordan Rodriguez

3A: FRUITLAND FALLS TO SNAKE RIVER

MERIDIAN - Fruitland's quest for a three-peat unraveled in one 8-minute quarter.

Snake River outscored Fruitland 17-2 in the second quarter and held off the Grizzlies' frantic comeback attempts in the second half to win 50-37.

Snake River (19-5) will face Shelley (21-4) for the 3A state championship at 3:50 p.m. Saturday at the Idaho Center.

"It just wasn't there offensively tonight," Fruitland coach Mike Fitch said. "We weren't able to hit some shots we typically hit. Snake did an extremely good job defensively."

It was a moment of redemption for the Panthers, who lost to the Grizzlies in the state final last year and in the semifinals in 2009 and 2011.

Snake River shot 44.4 percent from the field to win. Fruitland shot 23.9 percent - including just 3-of-21 in the first half.

"They have a really weird zone that they run," Fruitland senior Lane LaCrone said. "They kind of rotate a lot different than we've ever seen before. You can't really prepare for it. You've just got to play and find little things that you can beat - and we just couldn't figure it out tonight."

The Grizzlies led 11-9 after the first quarter but trailed 26-13 at halftime. They came out for the second half with a renewed intensity on defense - and it worked at times. Hagan Graves hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to nine late in the third quarter and Bryce Nattress' layup cut it to eight with 4 minutes, 9 seconds left in the game.

The Panthers, though, were able to withstand the defensive pressure in the closing minutes and put the game away at the free-throw line.

Chadd Cripe: 377-6398

1A DIVISION I: LIBERTY LOSES

CALDWELL - Kamiah jumped out to a 21-7 first-quarter lead en route to a 58-43 victory over Liberty Charter. Levi Peiffer led Liberty with 15 points. Kamiah (19-6) will face Butte County (24-1) in Saturday's final.