‘Changing the culture.’ How Ridgevue made program history with 4A district title

Ridgevue boys basketball suffered just two conference losses in the regular season — both times the team faced juggernaut Bishop Kelly.

That didn’t deter the Warhawks in round three, with Ridgevue (15-7) capturing its first district title in a 65-62 win in the 4A District Three Tournament championship game at Idaho Central Arena on Friday night.

The win also secured Ridgeuve’s first state tournament berth in program history.

“We’re changing the culture at Ridgevue,” junior Tucker Tiddens said. “It took a few years to start it, but we finally got our name on the map.”

For the first time since the school’s opening in 2016, the Warhawks clinched a winning record and a program-first district championship game appearance. The return of four starters, according to Ridgevue coach Daniel Vint, provided plenty of confidence heading into his third year at the helm.

“I started coaching (at Ridgevue) a couple of years ago, and a lot of these guys have been with me since the beginning,” Vint said. “They’ve put in so much work to get to this point.

“We knew a couple of years ago that this was the season we could make something happen. And (the players) were patient. They worked and they believed.”

But the Knights (17-5) were their biggest obstacle, holding on to the 4A’s top defense (46 points per game) and winning 15 straight heading into Friday’s game.

That momentum gave the Knights an early edge, and they raced to a 28-17 lead midway through the second quarter.

Then Ridgevue turned to Tiddens. He scored eight of Ridgevue’s final 14 points in the first half to cut the deficit to 35-31, and an early steal and slam in the third quarter proved that Bishop Kelly would have its hands full.

“I can’t say enough about Tucker,” Vint said. “He’s been our leader and our best player this season. He plays with so much heart and gets every rebound. He’s the hardest worker on our team.”

A Tiddens reverse layup and-one gave the Warhawks a 41-39 lead and they didn’t look back. Six consecutive Ridgevue points from Tiddens extended the advantage to 57-47 with under three minutes to play.

Tiddens finished with 29 points on 12-for-17 shooting while adding eight rebounds and three steals. Kaimana Nielson chipped in 13 points for the Warhawks.

“We made changes to our defense,” Vint said. “On the offensive side, we changed up our floor spacing and had a different mentality and attack on (Bishop Kelly). They beat us twice, and for seven years now, and the guys got tired of it.

“Those two games prepped us. We, over the last month, have not only been preparing for the team that we’re playing, but we’ve been preparing for BK because we knew it was coming down to this.”

Mason Suboh-Meuret led the Knights with 21 points. They’ll head to Columbia to take on the Wildcats at 2 p.m. Saturday, with the winner clinching the conference’s remaining spot in the 4A state tournament.

This story was originally published February 24, 2024 at 12:23 AM.