Centennial, Owyhee roll into 6A basketball state semis. Here’s how they did it
The Treasure Valley’s two favorites cruised in the first round of 6A boys basketball state tournament. But the rest of the region struggled at the Ford Idaho Center.
No. 1 Owyhee and No. 2 Centennial rolled to 15- and 18-point victories to secure their spots in the semifinals. But Kuna, Timberline and Capital all fell into the consolation bracket.
6A SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS
Here are Friday’s semifinal matchups at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa:
- No. 1 Owyhee (19-6) vs. No. 5 Highland (20-4), 5 p.m.
- No. 2 Centennial (21-3) vs. No. 3 Lake City (17-8), 7:30 p.m.
[Related: State tournament scoreboard | Title predictions | Scouting reports on all 48 teams]
IDAHO 6A BOYS BASKETBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
OWYHEE 69, RIGBY 54: The Trojans hung with the two-time defending state champs for a quarter, trading the lead five times in the opening frame alone. But top-seeded Owyhee’s depth and pressure defense eventually prevailed.
An 8-0 Owyhee run early in the second quarter put the Storm (19-6) firmly in control, and Owyhee’s bench racked up 25 points to overwhelm eighth-seeded Rigby (10-15) and avoid a potential upset.
“We’re 13 guys deep,” said Owyhee point Logan Haustveit, a Utah Valley signee. “... All 13 of them could play and have an impact on the team. So I think our depth is just so important, and it’s going to help us in this tournament.”
Owyhee’s top two scorers finished in double figures, as Haustveit scored 15 points and Canaan Magness added 12. But Jakobe Judd led the reserves with 12 points, and Kaden Rogers added nine points off the bench.
“We pick up 94 feet, pressuring, and that’s taxing on your body,” Owyhee coach Andy Harrington said. “But when you play eight or nine guys, it’s not. So I’m not surprised that those guys did that.”
That depth also fueled a dominant afternoon on the glass. Owyhee kept rolling fresh bodies onto the floor to outrebound Rigby 32-22, including 13-3 on the offensive end. Harrington said those extra possessions aided a Storm offense that didn’t click at 100%.
“It was way too many offensive boards,” Rigby coach Justin Jones said. “Coming in, we knew we had to contain and rebound. I thought we did a great job of containing, forced some tough shots, but just did not finish rebounding.
“With Owyhee, they have a lot of strengths. And as you take away some of them, you’re left open for some of the others.”
Senior forward Weston Walker led Rigby with 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting, and Seth Bradley added 14 points for the Trojans.
Rigby finished the afternoon 22-for-43 (51%) from the floor. But Owyhee opened a double-digit lead midway through the second quarter, and the Trojans could never get closer than eight points the rest of the game.
HIGHLAND 51, KUNA 47: The Kavemen led by 11 points entering the fourth quarter, but Highland caught fire behind the 3-point line and held Kuna scoreless for the final 3:18 to complete the comeback.
Highland coach Matt Stucki cracked a mile-wide grin as he watched his players try to explain the comeback in a postgame interview, listing a host of comebacks the fifth-seeded Rams (20-4) mounted earlier this season.
“I chuckle because I don’t even know if these guys even look at the score,” Stucki said. “They just play and fight through it until the last second. You never know what you can do with these guys, and I’ve been super impressed with them.”
Highland missed 10 straight 3-pointers entering the fourth quarter. But Boston McCulloch, Tracen Tripple and Colton Stucki combined to drain four in a row and whittle the deficit to one point with 4:44 left.
The Rams made 5-of-6 from long range in the fourth quarter. But they couldn’t get over the hump until Cedric Mitchell drove and muscled a layup between two defenders with 32 seconds left.
That stood as the game’s last field goal. Highland turned away a pair of potential game-winners for its first state tournament win in 10 years.
“In order for us to be successful, our defense has to be tough,” Kuna coach Kelly Bokn said. “Unfortunately, in the fourth quarter, we gave up 22 points. That tells you right there, under the stress, we just really fell apart.”
Colton Stucki led Highland with 13 points, and Tripple added 12 points. Kuna senior Jackson Edwards scored a game-high 16 points on 7-for-9 shooting and added three steals, while Bauer Barrus chipped in for 10 points for the Kavemen.
The loss sent fourth-seeded Kuna (18-7) to the consolation bracket, where it will face Rigby at noon Friday at Rocky Mountain for another shot at its first state tournament victory in Idaho’s top classification.
“We’ve just got to play a better four quarters,” Edwards said. “We had a decent two quarters. But we just didn’t finish the last two and play as hard as we could have.”
LAKE CITY 48, TIMBERLINE 37: The Wolves rallied to tie the game at 29 with 1:22 left in the third quarter. But it was all Lake City from there, responding with a 9-0 run and scoring 19 of the game’s final 27 points to punch its ticket to the semifinals.
“We just punched back,” Lake City senior Jackson Bowman said. “Every team is gonna go on a run, so we’ve just got to respond to it quickly.”
Lake City (17-8) and its swarming defense controlled the game throughout the night. Timberline relied on its bevy of 3-pointers to make it to the state tournament, but the Timberwolves made shooters uncomfortable all night, holding the Boise school to a 6-for-28 (21%) night behind the arc, 14 percentage points below its season average.
“They were more physical than we were. That’s the bottom line,” Timberline coach Travis Noble said. “They were switching hard, jumping out on our 3-point shooters, just over-pressuring us. And we had a really hard time with that.”
Lake City took control of the defensive battle in the second quarter, holding Timberline scoreless for nearly seven minutes. That suffocating defense returned again in the fourth quarter, keeping Timberline off the scoreboard for stretches of 3:03 and 2:26 with the game on the line.
Junior forward Jordan Carlson did the bulk of the damage for Lake City on offense, scoring 23 points to go along with Bowman’s 11-point effort.
Timberline senior Kole Hudson returned from an injury that kept him out the past six weeks to put up 14 points while making 4-of-10 3-pointers. Collin Morris added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Wolves, and Sam Richins chipped in nine points.
Sixth-seeded Timberline (16-10) drops into the consolation bracket with the loss, where it will face Capital at 2 p.m. Friday at Rocky Mountain in an elimination game.
CENTENNIAL 71, CAPITAL 53: Gabe Eddins gives a quick look to his family in the stands every time he scores a big bucket. And his family got plenty of face time Thursday.
The two-time defending state scoring champ erupted for 26 points to outduel this year’s scoring champ, Capital’s Quincey Clay, who had 24 points. Eddins sank 11-of-18 shots from the field and added three assists to carry No. 2 Centennial (21-3) to its first state tournament victory in four years.
“We tried to make it hard on him, but I’m super impressed,” Capital coach Blas Telleria said. “... I don’t feel like there were too many clean shots, honestly. I feel like he hit a lot of contested shots.”
Eddins scored the game’s opening bucket and never cooled down. He entered halftime with 15 points to give the Patriots a five-point lead. Then he took over the third quarter with 10 points, including six straight at one point, to stretch Centennial’s lead to 14.
“Gabe is a special kid, man,” Centennial coach Josh Aipperspach said. “I don’t know if I’ve had a kid spend this much time in the gym.
“As a staff, we trust this kid. He takes good shots. He listens. He plays the game the right way. And when he’s going, Gabe knows.”
Thursday marked the third matchup between the neighborhood rivals this season. Centennial rolled to 40- and 31-point wins earlier this season. And the Patriots led the entirety of Thursday’s 18-point victory.
Senior glue guy Henry Johnson returned after missing last week’s district championship with an injured ankle. But he didn’t show any signs of rust, setting the tone by swatting Clay on the game’s opening possession and finishing with 15 points and a team-high five rebounds.
“It was a huge game changer (for him) to come on and off of Quincey, because he’s a great scorer,” Eddins said. “But just to have him out there so that I can get a breather, so I can keep facilitating and keep scoring -- it was big for us for him to be able to step in like that.”
Centennial’s state-leading offense (66.2 ppg) draws most of the headlines. But the Patriots’ defense shined Thursday too, forcing 16 turnovers, including six in the first quarter, to hold Capital (15-12) to its third-lowest point total of the season.
Capital’s only worst offensive nights came in its previous two losses to the Patriots.
“If we don’t score points, then it’s tough for us,” Telleria said. “We’re a little bit young on the defensive side of everything. Pace was our friend all year long, and we got off of it.
“Seventy shots is what we were hoping for, and we only got to 45.”
Clay put together another reel full of highlights for his 24 points, making 9-of-19 shots while adding four rebounds and two assists. But Daiken Lowe stood as the Eagles’ second-leading scorer with only seven.
Capital can still bring home a state tournament trophy with two more victories this weekend. That journey will begin with an elimination game against Timberline at 2 p.m. Friday at Rocky Mountain.
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 4:51 PM.
