State roundup: Middleton, Melba advance by getting better of district rivals — again
Sometimes, the biggest play in a high school basketball game is not a play at all.
After Bishop Kelly used a 9-2 run to whittle a big Middleton lead down to one point in their first-round 4A state tournament battle Thursday afternoon, Vikings coach Nate Hartman called a timeout.
“They just needed reminding on some of the things to do, some of the actions we can get into,” Hartman said. “I got them into a different action that I thought would get us an easy bucket.”
It worked.
Middleton scored right after the timeout to go ahead 28-25 midway through the third quarter, and then held the Knights to just nine points the rest of the way, securing a 44-34 victory that sent the Vikings into Friday’s semifinals at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
Middleton (20-1), the defending 4A state champion, will play No. 1 seed Hillcrest, a blowout winner over Vallivue, at noon.
“We’ve already been here. I feel like at this point it’s just time to come to work and give it your all,” said senior forward Tyler Medaris, who had 10 points, eight rebounds and two assists for Middleton. “Because this is my last ride.”
Medaris, Idaho’s 4A All-Idaho Player of the Year in 2021, was also tasked with guarding Bishop Kelly senior point guard Tommy Hunter, and he held him to just two points on 1-of-8 shooting.
“He literally does everything, one through five, for us,” Hartman said. “He’s our leader, he’s been here, he calls people up, not out. He leads by example.”
Thursday’s game was a matchup between two Southern Idaho Conference rivals that are very familiar with each other.
Middleton had defeated Bishop Kelly (16-6) twice this season by comfortable margins, and this game at Rocky Mountain High School seemed to be going in the same direction, with the Vikings building a 12-point lead in the second quarter.
But instead of putting the Knights away, Middleton began playing what Hartman called “hero ball.”
“We were getting what we wanted to do, but we got out of that for a period of time,” Hartman said. “A little bit of hero ball, that’s kind of what we call it, or one pass, shot.”
Bishop Kelly senior Blake Hawthorne led his team’s comeback, scoring the bulk of his 13 points in the stretch that cut Middleton’s lead to 26-25 and prompted Hartman’s timeout.
Talmage Stucki led the Vikings with 12 points.
Middleton, the No. 4 seed, will have its hands full with top-seeded Hillcrest. But Hartman likes his experienced team, which has three seniors and eight juniors.
The Vikings defeated Hillcrest 53-47 in last year’s semifinals.
“They have got a great team over there, they shoot the ball well,” Hartman said. “They’ve got a bunch of guards about the same size that attack the hoop very well.
“I think it’ll kind of be whoever can establish their pace and tempo early.”
Hillcrest 68, Vallivue 40: Top-seeded Hillcrest shot nearly 50% from the field while holding No. 8 seed Vallivue to 36% and cruised in the first 4A game of the day at Rocky.
The Knights (23-2) led 33-17 at the half and exploded for 23 points in the third quarter to turn the game into a rout. Vallivue, which upset Middleton in the district tournament to qualify for state, fell behind by as many as 29 points.
Cooper Kesler led Hillcrest with 19 points and Isaac Davis added 14. The Knights were 26-of-53 from the field, making 20-of-28 shots inside the 3-point line.
Jacob Martinez scored 12 points to lead the Falcons.
Jerome 63, Moscow 46: A 23-point fourth quarter helped the Tigers (23-2) fend off the District One-Two champion and advance to the semifinals to face Pocatello at 2 p.m. Friday at the Idaho Center. Reigning Great Basin Player of the Year Mikey Lloyd, who has an offer from Treasure Valley Community College, led Jerome with a game-high 19 points.
Moscow will take on Burley in the consolation bracket.
Pocatello 45, Burley 44: Ryan Payne hit two free throws with 2.7 seconds left, and Julian Bowie scored 27 points as Pocatello (22-3) avoided the upset by the narrowest of margins. In the Thunder’s first trip to state since 2009, the District Five champion got its seventh straight win and improved to 15-1 in its past 16 games. Holding Burley to five points in the third quarter was the key for Pocatello.
3A STATE TOURNAMENT
McCall-Donnelly 49, Sugar-Salem 43: Trying to return to the 3A title game, the Vandals rebounded from a rough third quarter with a 21-point fourth quarter to advance to Friday’s semifinals.
DJ Green, Carter Johnson and Tate Ova combined for 36 points for McCall-Donnelly (19-2). Green, the reigning 3A All-Idaho Player of the Year, had 15 points and five rebounds.
The Vandals are in the state tournament for just the third time in 34 years, a year after they were state runner-up. Their tourney run was in jeopardy Thursday after Sugar-Salem outscored them 15-2 in the third quarter, but the Vandals erased a four-point deficit in the final frame.
Snake River 51, Homedale 50 (2OT): There were 15 lead changes and four ties in this battle, and one overtime wasn’t enough, with Snake River holding off the sixth-seeded Trojans’ upset bid.
Homedale (14-10) had the chance to win at the end of the second overtime, but Jaxon Dines’ jumper just missed. Dines led all scorers with 23 points and also had four steals.
The Panthers (22-6) will face McCall-Donnelly at 7 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Marcus Coombs was their top scorer, with 13.
Kimberly 57, Fruitland 40: The Bulldogs didn’t skip a beat after winning the District Four title, with the hot-shooting duo of Ethan Okelberry and Gatlin Bair guiding Kimberly (17-6) to a statement win at Meridian High.
The Bulldogs, seeded No. 5, shot 47% from the field and never trailed in the game. Okelberry scored a game-high 18 points and Bair — who has garnered interest from Division I schools as a football player — added 14. Jacob Hamann led No. 4 seed Fruitland with 10 points.
Kimberly will face No. 1 seed Marsh Valley, a 66-46 winner over Bonners Ferry, in the semifinals Friday, while Fruitland will take on Bonners in an elimination game at noon.
2A STATE TOURNAMENT
Melba 48, Ambrose 45: A week after Melba defeated Ambrose 72-56 in the District Three title game, things were much tighter in the rivals’ fourth meeting of the season. But for the third time in those games, the Mustangs prevailed.
The top two offenses in 2A struggled to find their rhythm, with both teams shooting worse than 35% from the field at Capital High. Joe Reiber, the Mustangs’ top scorer, had just five points on 2-of-12 shooting. But Melba’s defense held the Archers to 9% shooting from 3-point range and limited Ambrose’s top scorers — Hudson Hughes and Johnny Sugarman — to 19 points on a combined 6-of-28 effort.
Braden Volkers scored half of the Mustangs’ points and was 8-for-9 from the free-throw line, and Reiber contributed 13 rebounds.
Melba, the No. 4 seed, will face No. 1 seed North Fremont at 5 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.
▪ St. Maries will take on West Side in the other semifinal.
1A D1 STATE TOURNAMENT
Grace 61, Rimrock 35: The District Five-Six champion made its mark quickly in the opening round, storming to a 28-5 halftime lead. Grace (19-5) got its 12th win in 13 games and had 12 players score, led by Ty Gilbert (16) and Grey Gibbs (12).
Grace will face Kamiah in the semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday.
Kamiah 41, Liberty Charter 23: The second-best scoring defense (37.6 ppg) in this classification was up to the task, holding Liberty Charter (20-6) to its worst game of the season. Lukas Krogh led the Kubs with 14 points, and Dallin Criddle had 14 for the Patriots.
▪ Lapwai (25-0), the overwhelming favorite for a state title, will take on Logos in the other semifinal, at 5 p.m.
1A D2 STATE TOURNAMENT
Council 58, North Gem 33: Porter McLinn, Thatcher McLinn and Wyatt Vining combined for 50 of the Lumberjacks’ 58 points as the District Three champion ran over the Cowboys. Council (19-4), the No. 5 seed, has won 15 straight games and has a 16-0 mark against 1A Division II opponents this season.
Camas County 68, Cascade 52: Cascade’s Cole Olsen scored 29 points and sunk seven 3-pointers, but the tournament’s top team was too much for the Ramblers. Breken Clarke led the Mushers with 22 points, while Tristin Smith added 16.
The Mushers will take on Council in the semifinals Friday.
▪ Rockland will face Carey in the other semifinal.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 6:39 PM.