Nampa Christian slayed not one, but two giants for its first district title in 27 years
Forget underdog. Call Nampa Christian the giant slayers.
Nampa Christian boys basketball knocked off No. 1 Cole Valley Christian last week, then followed it with a 49-41 victory over No. 2 Ambrose in the 2A District Three Tournament championship game Wednesday to clinch the Trojans’ first district title since 1997.
Nampa Christian (15-7) spent much of the year overlooked in a loaded 2A Western Idaho Conference. The Trojans were picked to finish fifth out of eight teams in the preseason coaches’ poll. They then finished fifth in the regular season, meaning they didn’t get to host a single district tournament game.
But none of that mattered Wednesday night, when the Trojans held up their first district trophy in 27 years at Vallivue High.
“We showed that we won’t back down,” said Nampa Christian senior Donovan Wiles, who scored a game-high 16 points. “We won’t give up, no matter what seed we are.
“We can come in as the 20th seed, and we’ll still give it all we have and beat you.”
[Related: 5A to 1A district tournament scores, updated brackets]
Nampa Christian’s stifling defense controlled the game from the opening whistle to the final buzzer. The Trojans trailed once, at 2-0 to open the game, and then clamped down, funneling Ambrose’s guards into the paint and into contested jump shots.
The result was a season-low 41 points for Ambrose (18-6) — 23.7 points below its season average.
Nampa Christian and Ambrose already clinched their state tournament berths entering Wednesday. But the Trojans’ victory sends them into state on a season-high four-game winning streak and with all the confidence in the world after knocking off two of Idaho’s best teams.
State tournament seeds and matchups won’t be announced until Sunday.
“We felt like we could play with any team in this league,” Nampa Christian coach Matthew Gregory said. “We knew that if we put it all together, we would be in a good place. … Once we kind of got that magic pill of unselfish, hard-working defense, then it sort of bled into everything.
“Our goal has been to get to state from the beginning of the season. Now that we’re here, let’s go see if we can win this thing.”
Ambrose struggled to find a rhythm all night, going scoreless for stretches of 3:50 in the first quarter, 3:24 in the second and 3:31 in the fourth.
Sophomore Mark Yenor led the Archers with 12 points, and Eli Sugarman finished with 10.
“Our defense was pretty tough,” Ambrose coach Ken Sugarman said. “They scored 49 points. But we flat-out couldn’t put the ball in the basket. You’re not going to win if you can’t do that.”
COLE VALLEY STAYS ALIVE
The Chargers outscored Melba 14-4 in the fourth quarter, turning a two-point lead into a 60-48 victory in the 2A District Three Tournament third-place game.
The win sends Cole Valley Christian, 2A’s top-ranked team all season long, to a state play-in game against the to-be-determined North Idaho runner-up at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cascade.
Senior Eli Kingery scored a game-high 21 points for the Chargers (22-2), and Ben Beglinger added 19 points. Braden Volkers had 15 points and Cutter Beus finished with 14 points for No. 5-ranked Melba, which ended its season at 15-10.
This story was originally published February 21, 2024 at 11:07 PM.
