Can you say 3peat?

Grant Nearing spys a three pointer during the third quarter of Kellogg's 53-24 win over Timberlake on Thursday night.

Photo by Josh McDonald Senior Toby Colburn stands with his family during the Kellogg basketball team’s senior night festivities prior to the game.

by JOSH McDONALD
Local Editor | February 17, 2017 2:00 AM

Photo by Josh McDonald Senior Toby Colburn stands with his family during the Kellogg basketball teams senior night festivities prior to the game.

The Kellogg Wildcats won their third straight Intermountain League Championship and their 25th straight IML basketball game (dating back to the 2014 3A District I tournament) on Thursday night when they knocked off the Timberlake Tigers 53-24 on senior night.

Prior to tipoff, the Wildcats honored their lone senior, reigning IML most valuable player Toby Colburn.

The game was basically an unofficial league championship game as the Tigers came into the game with only one league loss and needed to beat the Wildcats to create a tie for first place.

The Wildcats didn't let that happen.

After one physically contested opening quarter, the Wildcats led 16-7, but the game, surprisingly, felt a lot closer.

That changed in the second quarter as the Kellogg defense tightened up and the offense came a little easier.

Chase Jerome was a one man Tiger-killer as he notched 17 of his game high 21 points in the opening half as he propelled the Wildcats to a 31-13 halftime lead.

With high implications like district seeding and the aforementioned undefeated streak on the line, Kellogg continued its dominance on both ends of the floor, outscoring Timberlake 14-2 in the third stanza to push their lead to 30 points.

From there it was a mere formality as coach Jeff Nearing emptied his bench to finish the game during the running clock fourth quarter.

“That was pretty good defense I thought,” Nearing said. “We got a pretty solid effort from everybody tonight and it showed. It felt good to win the league on our home floor.”

The Wildcats (15-2, 7-0 IML) can extend that league winning streak to 26 when they host Coeur d'Alene Charter tonight at 7:30.