New Plymouth is lone District Three team in small school boys basketball semifinals
3A
Defending state champion Parma and Weiser lost first-round games at Meridian High.
Senior forward Payton Pinz and sophomore forward Braydon Jensen scored 23 and 22 points, respectively, but it wasn’t enough for Parma (13-11), which lost to Gooding 66-54.
Gooding (15-11), playing in its first state tournament in 31 years, will play Sugar-Salem (18-5) in the semifinals.
District Three regular season champion Weiser (21-2) lost to Snake River 60-35, snapping its 13-game winning streak. Senior wing Alberto Sanchez led Weiser with 22 points and six rebounds.
In the second semifinal, Kellogg (19-2) will meet Snake River (20-3).
[RELATED: Boys basketball state tournament scoreboard]
2A
District Three champion New Plymouth survived the first round with a 46-39 victory over Firth at Capital High. The Pilgrims (13-10), who have won eight straight games, will play Bear Lake in a semifinal at 8 p.m. Friday.
Senior guard Riley Harris had a game-high 22 points for New Plymouth.
Bear Lake (21-4) advanced with a 58-33 victory over Declo. The Bears have won 14 in a row.
In two other games involving District Three teams, Melba (9-15) lost to St. Maries 72-43 and Nampa Christian (15-11) lost to Ririe 70-35.
Justin Trappet had 11 points and five assists for Melba.
Griffin Carson scored 11 points to lead Nampa Christian. Michael Ure led Ririe with 20 points, while Dylan Anglesey notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
1A Division I
District Three teams went 0-for-4 on the first day at Vallivue High in Caldwell.
Defending champion Ambrose lost 55-49 to Grace (20-4), which remains undefeated against 1A Division I teams from Idaho.
Wilder lost to Prairie 69-25, Valley beat Riverstone 48-32 and Lapwai knocked off Horseshoe Bend 97-57 in the final game of the night.
Zane Mussmann recorded 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead Valley, while Alex Macha had 12 points for Riverstone (17-5).
Hunter Chaffee and Patrick Chmelik scored 18 points apiece to lead Prairie’s offense. Ismael Cortez had a team-high nine points for Wilder (11-12).
Lapwai was the state runner-up the past two seasons.
Valley (17-6) and Prairie (19-4) will face off in the first semifinal, while Grace meets Lapwai (22-1) in the other.
1A Division II
District Three’s only representative in the tournament, Council, was knocked out of title contention with a 50-46 loss to Carey at Caldwell High.
Dietrich’s Jake Smith broke the classification state tournament record, making seven 3-pointers in the defending champions’ 66-51 win over Kendrick. Smith finished with 23 points.
Dietrich (23-1) will meet Rockland (17-6) in the semifinals at 1:15 p.m. Friday, while Carey (16-9) will face Genesis Prep of Post Falls (19-4) at 3 p.m. The winners meet in the first of six state title games at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 12:14 AM with the headline "New Plymouth is lone District Three team in small school boys basketball semifinals."