Kimberly denies McCall a state title. It took a record-setting defensive performance
A throwback defensive effort prevented McCall-Donnelly from its first boys basketball state championship Saturday.
Kimberly set a 3A state tournament record by holding the Vandals to 22 points, suffocating McCall-Donnelly for a 40-22 victory in the 3A state championship at the Ford Idaho Center and its first state title since 1952.
“We’ve been doing that since the last state tournament,” said Kimberly sophomore Gatlin Bair, who had a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. “... It just showed up here. We’ve been together for two years now. We kind of got our offense clicking, and then that defense is what just took them out.”
McCall-Donnelly (20-3) jumped out to an early lead and held a 15-11 advantage with 4:50 left in the second quarter. But Kimberly (19-6) held the Vandals scoreless for the next 9 minutes, 2 seconds and to just seven points the rest of the way.
“We just weren’t hitting shots,” McCall-Donnelly senior guard DJ Green said. “I think everyone saw that. .. And they just caught fire. They crash the boards hard. They are probably the most athletic team we’ve ever played, and so you can’t get away with watching them and not boxing them out.”
Coach Ethan Tinney said he felt all the physical battles the Vandals waged to get back to the Idaho Center weighed on his team. Even in an overtime win against Snake River on Friday, he said his team was running on fumes.
Then the bottom fell out Saturday. McCall-Donnelly finished the afternoon 7-for-39 from the field (18%) and 3-for-22 behind the 3-point line (14%).
Kimberly wasn’t much better offensively, scoring the fewest points for a state champion since 1952. The 62 combined points Saturday was also the fewest for a state championship game since 1945.
The loss marked McCall-Donnelly’s second straight in the 3A state championship game. Both are the best finish in the history of the Vandals’ boys basketball program, which has made it to the state tournament only three times in the past 34 years.
“We made it (to the finals) twice, and people don’t realize how difficult that actually is,” Green said. “This year was even harder. Including this one, we played four tough, tough games in a row, back to back to back.”
Tinney said he wished the Vandals could have left with a different trophy, but he said was proud of them for putting the program back on the map.
“That group of DJ, Ethan (Tinney) and Alex and Carter Johnson, they’ve been foundational pieces for a long time,” Tinney said. “They’ve played a lot of varsity basketball in the last three years. It’s a special group of best friends, and a special group of individuals with high character, and people that you want others to emulate. That’s gone a long way.”
Alex Johnson led McCall-Donnelly with 10 points, and Green, the reigning 3A All-Idaho Player of the Year, had seven points and seven rebounds on 2-for-15 shooting.
Marsh Valley 45, Snake River 36: The defending state champs brought home the third-place trophy by topping their district rival for the fifth time this season. Karter Howell and Hunter Roche each had 11 points for Marsh Valley (23-3).
Homedale 57, Bonners Ferry 56: Mason Strong grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw, spun and sank a 5-foot, fadeaway hook with 12 seconds left to lead the Trojans to their first state tournament trophy since 2014. Strong had 13 points, and Jaxon Dines led Homedale (16-10) with 16 points.
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 7:05 PM.
