‘Owyhee vs. everyone.’ Storm took all of Idaho’s best shot, rolled to another state title
Ever since Owyhee opened four years ago, a Texas-sized target has hung on the Storm’s back.
Owyhee drew everyone’s best shot. It absorbed every verbal barb from opponents. It brushed off every rumor.
And it kept winning. Again and again.
The Storm rolled to their third state title in four years Saturday, crushing Lake City 77-46 in the finals of the 6A boys basketball state tournament. The 31-point win was the biggest blowout in the championship game of Idaho’s largest classification since 1919.
And doing it as the overwhelming favorite, as the team that everyone other Idaho school gunned for, only made the moment sweeter.
“We like the pressure,” Owyhee senior Cam Downie said. “We like to be in that moment. We like the big crowd. It feels good knowing that it’s me and my brothers versus everyone in the arena.”
No. 1 Owyhee (23-4) wasted little time putting away the No. 2 Timberwolves (21-5) at the Ford Idaho Center, closing the first half on a 36-2 run to build a 33-point lead at the break. The Storm found their long-range shot early and fired away, sinking 10 of their first 13 3-point attempts, with five different players joining the party.
Rice signee Boden Howell did the bulk of the damage early, hitting the first three 3-pointers he took in the first quarter and scoring 17 of his game-high 19 points in the first half.
Howell struggled in an opening-round win over Borah before rebounding with 16 points in the semifinals against Timberline. But he erupted Saturday, flying over the Lake City defense, roaring after each made shot and infecting the Storm with his energy before taking a seat on the bench in the fourth quarter.
“Bodey has been doing that all year,” Owyhee senior Jackson Rogers said. “He does stuff like that in practice, and it’ll piss me off. But Bodey is what makes us who we are with the energy he has, and today it really showed.”
Junior point guard Logan Haustveit added 11 points and four assists, while seniors Downie, Rogers and Jayce Allen all chipped in 10 points.
Owyhee’s student section started an “It’s all over” chant with a 12-point lead and 50 seconds left in the first quarter. That normally would seem premature. But Owyhee was only getting started, outscoring Lake City 23-2 in the second quarter and putting on a shooting clinic.
It was all over.
“Momentum is a tricky thing, man,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “We just ran into the eye of the storm, almost literally, here.”
Joshua Watson scored 10 points as the only Lake City player in double figures, and Shane Parker added eight points off the bench. The Timberwolves finished 19-for-45 (42%) from the floor. They simply couldn’t keep up with the Storm juggernaut, and scored 20 points in the fourth quarter with both teams’ reserves on the floor — otherwise, the final tally could have been worse.
Owyhee’s 42nd straight win over an Idaho opponent puts the Storm dynasty in rarefied air. Borah was the last Idaho boys basketball team to bring home three titles in four years in the state’s largest classification, making its run between 1982 and ‘85.
It also made Owyhee the first school to sweep the boys and girls basketball championships in the state’s largest classification since 1983.
The Storm are 79-4 vs. Idaho teams since opening their doors four years ago. The constant attention, scrutiny and pressure that come with putting on that red and white jersey would make many teenagers crumble. But Owyhee circles the wagons, feeds off the target and lives by a mantra emblazoned on its T-shirts: “Owyhee vs. everyone.”
“Everyone is rooting against us if they’re not wearing Owyhee colors,” Haustveit said. “It was kind of satisfying for us to see that, during the middle of the third quarter, everyone is starting to leave.
“That boosted my morale. That made me happy.”
Not content with dominating Idaho, Owyhee can make the claim as one of the best teams in the West. The Storm’s schedule regularly includes national powerhouses as Owyhee crisscrosses the country looking for a challenge. But it faced arguably its toughest challenge this year.
It opened the season with a 10-point win over Kimball, Texas, which also won a state championship Saturday. Two of its losses came to the No. 4-ranked team in the country (Harvard-Westlake, California) and the No. 15 team (Gonzaga, D.C.), according to USA Today’s latest rankings.
The hard-earned lessons in those losses all pointed toward the state tournament. Owyhee needed to fight through a pair of ugly games against conference opponents to reach Saturday’s championship. Then it erupted on the state’s largest stage and brought home another state title.
“We’ve been playing championship basketball for three of the last four years,” Owyhee coach Andy Harrington said. “ … That takes a ton of sacrifice from these guys, a ton.
“We don’t get all the accolades. But these guys all sacrifice points, rebounds, assists for a championship level team.”
IDAHO 5A BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
PRESTON 64, HILLCREST 47: The Indians (25-1) backed up their wire-to-wire No. 1 ranking by dominating the finals Saturday, leading the entire way for the program’s 11th title.
Preston caught fire early and never cooled off, finishing the night 27-for-43 (63%) from the field. It shot 60% or better in each half and turned fast breaks into a highlight-reel dunk contest.
Senior Cruz Harris topped the stat sheet with 19 points on 9-for-12 shooting. Senior Reggie Larsen added 15 points, and junior Kasen Bryce finished with 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The trophy added to the Jones family legacy. It marked Preston coach Tyler Jones’ fifth state championship, moving him into a tie for fourth among Idaho boys basketball coaches and one behind his father, Malad’s Terry Jones.
Titan Larsen led Hillcrest with 18 points, and Gage Blakeslee added 11 for the Knights (20-6), who reached the finals for the fourth straight year and left as the back-to-back runner-up.
IDAHO 4A BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
BONNERS FERRY 65, SNAKE RIVER 51: The top-seeded Badgers locked up their second consecutive state championship with a victory over the Panthers.
Montana Tech commit and two-time All-Idaho Player of the Year Asher Williams led the way with 24 points on 8-for-9 shooting, to go along with four rebounds, one steal and one assist. Senior guard Thomas Bateman added 17 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists, and senior Brody Rice had 13 points for Bonners Ferry (24-1).
Senior Marcus Coombs collected 19 points and five boards for No. 2 Snake River (25-3).
IDAHO 3A BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
WENDELL 53, DECLO 50 (OT): Wendell junior guard Jonathan Swainston made a 3-pointer with 1:27 left in regulation to force overtime, and the third-seeded Trojans outscored No. 1 Declo 6-3 in OT to add a fourth state championship trophy to their arsenal.
Wendell (20-6) previously won state in 1958, 1970 and 2004.
Swainston finished with a team-leading 20 points and five steals, and juniors Jordon Swainston and Jarett Borges added 12 points each.
Declo (25-2) got a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds from senior post Emmett Gibby. Senior guard Gavin Rasmussen had 16 points, and junior guard Carter Robertson totaled 15 points and seven rebounds.
IDAHO 2A BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
KENDRICK 66, KAMIAH 49: Junior guard Ralli Roetcisoender sank 6-of-7 3-point attempts and tallied 25 points to carry the Tigers to a state championship.
Kendrick (20-7) made 11-of-17 (65%) from beyond the arc and shot 55% overall to claim the program’s eighth state title.
Sophomore Maddox Kirkland (14 points), freshman Hudson Kirkland (13 points) and junior Cade Silflow (10 points) contributed to Kendrick’s balanced attack.
Top-ranked Kamiah (23-3) lost in the title game for the sixth time in program history. Senior David Kludt racked up 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Kubs.
IDAHO 1A BASKETBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
DIETRICH 58, CHALLIS 36: A balanced scoring effort helped the top-seeded Blue Devils rout the Vikings for their third state championship in program history.
Dietrich (22-3) previously won state titles in 1966 and 2016.
Ten different players scored for Dietrich, led by senior forward Brody Torgerson with a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds. Junior guard Chase Norman chipped in 10 points, and senior guards Connor Perkins and Corrd Wells had nine points each.
No. 6 Challis (16-12), which was held to 24% shooting, was led by senior Brayden Ollar with 12 points and eight rebounds.
This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 10:57 PM.
