Four-peat: Owyhee boys win another district title. ‘We all play our butts off’
Technically speaking, 6-foot-3 senior Cameron Downie plays the five position — or post — for the Owyhee boys basketball team.
But every player on the Storm’s roster is listed as a point guard.
“We’re super resilient. We lost two of our best players (from last year), so we’re a little undersized,” Downie said. “A lot of people doubted us this year, so we’ve kind of had a chip on our shoulder to prove to everyone that we’re still the No. 1 team in the state.”
Owyhee’s guard-heavy lineup did indeed prove they’re still the team to beat, dispatching Boise 56-51 for a fourth straight 6A District Three Tournament championship Friday night at Idaho Central Arena.
The top-seeded Storm (20-4) are the defending state champions and have not lost to an Idaho team since 2023. They’ve gone an impressive 73-3 against conference opponents in the four seasons since the school opened.
“We’ve just got a lot of dudes that want to be in the gym every day,” Owyhee senior Boden Howell said. “They love the game. They love putting in work, and it shows on the court. ... Talent aside, though, we all play our butts off. Our coaches really preach that.
“We preach defense first. As talented as some of our guys are on the offensive end, we still always preach, ‘We’ve gotta get stops. We’ve gotta play defense first.’”
After last year’s state title — their second in three seasons — Owyhee lost 5A All-Idaho Player of the Year Liam Campbell to graduation and big man Jackson Rasmussen transferred to Utah Prep, leaving the Storm with a smaller, faster lineup.
All of their losses have come against out-of-state squads, including USA Today’s No. 2- and No. 19-ranked teams in the country in Harvard-Westlake, California, and Gonzaga from the District of Columbia, respectively.
“We lost some really good players, as everyone knows,” Owyhee coach Andy Harrington said. “But a lot of those guys were in that locker room last year and on the court, too. I think roles just changed, but it was our next-man-up mentality. Obviously Liam and Ras are gone, but we still have really good players on this team, and across the board, those guys have stepped up.”
Howell, a Rice commit, was the man to step up Friday against the Brave (11-14).
Owyhee led 29-17 at halftime, but Boise opened the third quarter with a 12-0 run and later grabbed its first lead of the game, 40-37, on a 3-pointer from junior wing Jackson Smith with about 30 seconds left in the third.
Howell retook the lead for the Storm on the first play of the fourth quarter, sinking a 3-pointer. He went on to score 14 of Owyhee’s 17 points over the final eight minutes and finished with a game-leading 29 points with eight rebounds and one steal.
“He’s, in my opinion, arguably the best player in the state of Idaho,” Harrington said. “So I think if we give Boden more reins to do whatever the heck he wanted, his stats would be crazy. We’re playing championship basketball, so we asked him to be unselfish and playing winning basketball all the time.
“So it’s no surprise that Boden had 14 points in that fourth quarter. He can make plays across the board, and we trust him.”
Junior Logan Haustveit chipped in 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal in the win, Downie added five points, and seniors Jackson Rogers, Jayce Allen and Heath Sasser-Gunson totaled four points each.
BATTLING BOISE
The Brave entered the district tournament as the No. 9 seed and had to win a play-in game over No. 8 Rocky Mountain just to qualify.
But they didn’t stop there.
Boise’s run to the championship game — its first appearance since 2017 — included a double-overtime upset of No. 3 Timberline in the quarterfinals and a victory against rival Borah in the semifinals.
“Credit to Boise High. They played great,” Harrington said. “They were every bit the reason why that was a close game.”
Junior guard Luke Soltau paced Boise against the Storm, notching a team-best 18 points, while sophomore guard Isaac Thacker added 11 points, four steals, two rebounds and two assists.
WHAT’S NEXT
Owyhee, Boise, Meridian (15-9) and Borah (11-13) all qualified for the state tournament, which runs March 6-8 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Timberline (15-10) can join them if it wins a play-in game against Post Falls on Saturday.
State pairings will be determined when the final MaxPreps rankings are updated Sunday.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 11:58 PM.
