No upset this time. Owyhee crushes Middleton to open 5A basketball state tournament
A year ago, Owyhee’s state title dreams went up in flames on the first day of the Idaho boys basketball state tournament.
The top-ranked Storm refused to let that happen again Thursday, steamrolling Middleton 62-38 in the opening round of the 5A tournament at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
Owyhee (22-3) led from the opening tip to the final buzzer, outrebounding the Vikings 40-23 — including 18 offensive boards — and holding them to 10 or fewer points in each quarter to eliminate any chance of another first-round upset.
[Related: State tournament scores, brackets | Championship predictions | Scouting reports on all 48 teams]
“All year for us, we’ve been trying not to overlook anyone,” Owyhee senior Liam Campbell said. “I think that was our problem last year during state. We’d beat Meridian two or three times, so we thought we’d just mow over them.
“But, especially during state, anything can happen. So we just tried to play our own way, play the right way. And, obviously, we were able to overcome that this year.”
Campbell, a USC signee, and Jackson Rasmussen carried the Storm to their 16th straight victory Thursday. Campbell scored a game-high 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting. He played just 21 minutes, 42 seconds before taking a seat in the fourth quarter as the Storm turned to their bench.
Rasmussen also took the bench early in the blowout. He scored the game’s first six points and finished with 20 points on 10-for-13 shooting in 21:12. The 6-7 junior owned the paint on both ends of the floor with his strength and nose for the ball.
“He’s become a dominant force,” Owyhee coach Andy Harrington said. “The last few years, you could see it coming. This year, he’s really taken another step with just dominating inside and outside.
“He could switch on to a lot of guys and guard them, but he’s playing as a big for us. He can do a little bit of everything. But there’s not a single guy in this tournament, in my opinion, that can guard him down there.”
No. 8 Middleton (15-10) was the only 5A SIC team to stay within 20 points of Owyhee during conference play. The Vikings made a 10-0 run in the second quarter to pull within six points but never got any closer the rest of the way.
Middleton finished the afternoon 13-for-40 (32%) from the floor.
“A lot of times we hang our hat on being longer and tougher and more athletic than other teams,” Middleton coach Josh Downey said. “You can kind of judge by the rebounds, that’s one team where we don’t have an advantage.”
Junior Parker Lambert paced Middleton with 15 points, and sophomore Tye Cornwall added nine. The Vikings, who were picked to finish 10th out of 13 teams in the 5A SIC preseason poll, will try to bounce back against Capital in the consolation semifinals at 12 p.m. Friday at Rocky Mountain.
“We got to come out throwing the first punch like we’ve done throughout the season,” Lambert said. “But we need to rebound twice as many boards than we did today.
“We can’t give up any offensive rebounds. We give up offensive rebounds again like we did today, the results today could happen tomorrow.”
MADISON 46, CAPITAL 38
The 5A classification’s top defense flexed its muscle early and often Thursday. Madison forced 20 turnovers, grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and held Capital to 10-for-41 (24%) shooting, leaving the Eagles 30 points below their season scoring average in a first-round victory.
“Defense has kind of been our thing all year long,” Madison coach Shane Humpherys said. “Offense comes and goes. You saw that a little bit tonight, right?
“We feel like we can be in every game if we can play defense. The guys responded and showed up.”
Madison forward Berrett Wilson carried the Bobcats on both ends of the floor. The 6-6 senior racked up a game-high 27 points while adding 11 rebounds and two steals. No other Madison player finished with more than six points.
Capital (17-9) had no answer for Wilson once he put the ball on the floor, knifing his way through the Eagles to find lanes to the bucket.
“Ber(rett) showed up, and he should show up,” Humpherys said. “He’s that good. I’m just super, super proud of him. He’s a tough matchup. He can go inside, outside, drive.”
Madison jumped out to a 20-8 lead early in the second quarter and didn’t look back, never letting Capital closer than six points the rest of the night.
Humpherys credited Chase Crane as the leader of Madison’s defense. He held Capital’s leading scorer, David McNamara, to a single point.
Ibrahim Talaso led Capital with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Mekhi Dorrell added 10 points, and Isaiah Telleria chipped in nine as the Eagles dropped into the consolation bracket, where they’ll face Middleton at noon Friday.
“The only thing worse than losing today is losing today and tomorrow,” Capital coach Blas Telleria said. “The boys have been resilient all year long and bounced back from hard losses. So I expect them to be resilient tomorrow, too.”
This story was originally published February 29, 2024 at 4:27 PM.
