Centennial stunner spices up 5A boys state basketball tournament; Rocky cruises
With two overtime games and another decided in the final seconds, it’s safe to say boys basketball fans at the 5A state tournament got their money’s worth Thursday.
Centennial and Lewiston each won in overtime, Post Falls prevailed on the final play of the night, and District Three champion Rocky Mountain recovered from a slow first half to move into Friday’s semifinals.
Lewiston and Rocky Mountain tip off at 6:15 p.m. at the Ford Idaho Center, followed by Centennial and Post Falls at 8 p.m.
[RELATED: Boys basketball state tournament scoreboard]
CENTENNIAL 75, MADISON 71 (OT)
Centennial coach Josh Aipperspach didn’t get much sleep last week, staying up late to study film of top-ranked Madison.
Those sleepless nights were worth it.
The Patriots executed their defensive plan to near perfection — particularly in the first half — to upset Madison in overtime. It was the second loss of the season for the Bobcats, who entered the tournament averaging a classification-best 69.6 points per game with an unbeaten record against Idaho teams.
“We knew we were going to play Madison for a week and a half,” Aipperspach said. “Nobody gave us a chance. ... These guys, they prepared, and they were ready.”
Centennial rushed out to a 17-3 lead and pushed that advantage to as much as 17 points, holding the Bobcats to 20.8 percent shooting in the first half.
“We knew where they were going and the spots they were probably going to get shots from,” Aipperspach said. “The guys, I’m proud of them. They just did a great job.”
The Bobcats fought back to force overtime, thanks to a Jaxon Edelmayer 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation. But Centennial was 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in OT and got a key 3 from Jaydon Clark after the Bobcats had pulled within two.
Senior Delveion Jackson, a UC Davis commit, went 6-for-6 at the line in overtime, assuring the Patriots a return trip to the semifinals. Jackson was one of four Patriots to reach double figures with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Jackson Cleverley also had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Brooks King and Kam Modrow each had 12 points.
“We believed in ourselves all season, and we always said it’s not how we’re playing at the beginning of the season, it’s a progression all the way to the end of the season,” said Jackson. “That’s when you want to be playing your best basketball, and that’s what we are doing right now.”
Jaxon Edelmayer led Madison with 34 points and 13 rebounds.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 61, BONNEVILLE 56
Bonneville took its chances with a double-team on 6-foot-10 BYU signee Kolby Lee, leaving Rocky Mountain’s shooters extra room. While the Bees (14-11) limited Lee to nine points and nine boards, they had less luck containing the Grizzlies’ outside game.
Senior guard Kobe Terashima notched a game-high 19 points, and junior guard Hunter Ranstrom added 11 points — including three 3-pointers — to move Rocky Mountain (24-1) into the semifinals for the first time since 2014.
“I just have a lot of confidence in my teammates, that if they are going to sag in on me, then my teammates will hit shots,” Lee said. “We’re a great shooting team, although we didn’t show it tonight. But that’s what I love about these guys. We find a way to win.”
The Grizzlies shot 26.9 percent from the floor and led 18-13 at the half. Despite scoring a combined 43 points in the third and fourth quarters, Rocky’s five-point margin at the break proved crucial, as the Grizzlies gave up as many points as they scored in the second half.
“It’s good to win, for sure, especially when you don’t play your best basketball,” Rocky Mountain coach Dane Roy said. “My team really gritted it out, and a lot of times if you don’t play your best basketball at state, you’re going to lose.
“Our team was strong enough that we were still able to find a way to win.”
The Grizzlies made eight 3s and outrebounded the Bees 31-26, including 12 offensive boards that led to 11 points.
POST FALLS 54, BOISE 52
Normally the play ends with a dunk, but Jake Pfennigs was just fine with a two-handed toss over the rim. The Post Falls junior guard came off a back screen by freshman teammate Colby Gennett and caught an alley-oop pass from sophomore Drake Thompson for the decisive two points against Boise.
It wasn’t a last-minute play drawn up by coach Mike McLean during a timeout with 7.4 seconds left, but rather a routine play the Trojans have run all season — albeit with a little more pressure.
“I was really proud of the way our guys executed it,” McLean said. “It’s pretty easy to run those sets and set the screen and have the right angle in practice or in December against something that doesn’t matter.’’
“When you’re down here on the opening night of state? There’s a little more pressure, but I thought the kids executed obviously exactly the way we asked them to.”
Pfennigs, an Arizona State baseball commit, notched a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, going 7-for-11 from the floor as the Trojans (19-3) shot a combined 51.4 percent.
“We run that in practice every day,” Pfennigs said. “It’s usually a dunk, but I just wanted to put it in and get it over with.”
Boise, which was playing at state for the first time since 1997, fell behind by as many as 14 points in the first half. After holding Post Falls to three points in the third quarter, the Braves crawled back into the game, twice taking the lead in the fourth quarter.
Lucas Centeno led all scorers with 17 points for the Braves, who face Madison in a loser-out game at 3 p.m. Friday.
LEWISTON 71, MOUNTAIN VIEW 69 (OT)
With 6-foot-8 senior Trystan Bradley holding down the interior, the Bengals withstood Mountain View’s late charge to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2009.
Bradley, who has signed with Lewis-Clark State, finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, shooting 10-for-15 from the field with six offensive boards.
“We always talk about playing from the inside out,” Lewiston coach Jayson Ulrich said. “Our guys did a great job of finding him.”
Lewiston (14-8) led by as many as 13 points in the first half and nine at the start of the fourth quarter before the Mavericks (16-8) made a run. Senior forward Cam Howard accounted for 10 of the Mavericks’ 20 points in the fourth quarter, including two free throws with 29.2 seconds left that tied the game at 60-60 and forced overtime.
Mountain View then had a chance to tie or take the lead on its final possession in overtime. The Mavericks got the ball inside to junior forward Jalen Galloway, but his turnaround jumper as time expired bounced off the front of the rim.
Galloway finished with a game-leading 26 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
“I’m proud of our composure down the stretch,” Ulrich said. “We weathered some big storms from them.”
Senior guard Riley Way added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Bengals, who went 7-for-10 from the free-throw line in overtime.
Rachel Roberts: 208-377-6422, @IDS_VarsityX
This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 12:02 AM with the headline "Centennial stunner spices up 5A boys state basketball tournament; Rocky cruises."