‘The job is not finished.’ Owyhee overcomes rare test for third straight district title
Liam Campbell and Logan Haustveit exchanged a high five and chest bump, and that was about the extent of Owyhee’s championship celebration.
The Storm held off Timberline 59-51 for their third consecutive 5A District Three Tournament title in boys basketball Friday night at Idaho Central Arena.
But there’s a bigger prize on the horizon.
“The job is not finished. We’ve got a bigger goal in mind,” Owyhee junior Jackson Rasmussen said. “We’re coming for that state championship, and that’s kind of our priority right now.”
Owyhee (21-3) and Timberline (20-4) qualified for next week’s state tournament, which begins Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Seeding and first-round matchups will be determined once MaxPreps.com updates its rankings Sunday.
But the Storm, who have won 14 in a row, will almost certainly be the No. 1 overall seed. They have not lost to an Idaho team this season and are beating opponents by an average of more than 30 points per game.
Friday night was a rare exception.
Timberline, which had lost to Owyhee by 32 points on Jan. 27, held the Storm to just 15.4% from 3-point range in the first half. And senior guard Ryan Buehler nailed a 3-pointer to keep the Wolves within 31-25 at halftime.
“I think it’s good to have adversity, especially late in the season,” Campbell said. “We’re realizing that we’re not gonna beat everyone by 40. That’s just not realistic, and it’s good to have close games just to fight through it.”
When adversity hit, the Storm knew just where to turn. Campbell, who signed with USC, scored 17 of his game-leading 24 points in the the second half. He contributed 10 of Owyhee’s first 12 points to start the third quarter, pushing the Storm’s lead to as much as 43-27 after sinking a 3-pointer with 4:10 on the clock.
“I just needed to take control. It was a really close game,” Campbell said. “Someone needed to lead, so I had to step up to the plate.”
Facing a double-digit deficit, Timberline refused to go away. The Wolves went on a 13-3 run to start the fourth quarter, pulling within 50-47 after back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Reece Elder with 4:07 to play.
But Campbell once again came through for the Storm, drawing fouls on back-to-back possessions while going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to give Owyhee some breathing room down the stretch.
“It’s great. We needed that. We really did need that because we’re gonna have it again at state,” Owyhee coach Andy Harrington said. “We’ve been telling them for two weeks we’re gonna have a close game. How are we going to handle that adversity? So I’m really glad that they gave that to us. We needed it.”
Rasmussen joined Campbell in double figures with 16 points, 11 rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot. Junior Cameron Downie added seven points and junior Boden Howell chipped in five points. The Storm shot a combined 14-for-16 from the free-throw line to give them the edge in a game where both teams connected on 20 field goals.
Elder paced Timberline with 22 points, including a 4-for-6 effort from beyond the arc, while junior Alex Ko had 12 points and junior Bryce Heinz grabbed a team-best 10 boards.
This story was originally published February 23, 2024 at 9:00 PM.
