Wildcats win big in district opener
Photo by Jason Duchow Photography Toby Colburn slices through the lane for two of his co-game high 27 points during Kellogg's 88-62 win over Bonners Ferry on Tuesday night at North Idaho College
The Kellogg Wildcats reeled off their 28th straight Intermountain League win as they beat the Bonners Ferry Badgers 88-62 in the first round of the 3A District I tournament on Tuesday night.
However, the score is not an accurate depiction of how odd this game was for the Wildcats.
They gave up a season-high 62 points.
They tied their season-high of 88 points.
They blew an early 20-point lead to allow the Badgers to get within eight points in the second half.
And two Wildcat players combined for 54 points.
It was a physical affair from the opening tip as the Wildcats used their speed, full court defense, and transition offense to run out to a quick 21-8 first quarter lead.
The lead got up to 20 points, but the Badgers wouldn’t go away as they fought back into the game and were able to go into halftime trailing 42-28 after a 3/4-court shot from the Badgers sucked the momentum out of Kellogg’s sails.
The second half began with the Badgers cutting the Wildcat lead to eight as they used three-point shooting to cap off a quick 12 point run, but then Chase Jerome and Toby Colburn came alive for the Wildcats and stopped Bonners Ferry’s run from threatening them.
Jerome and Colburn both scored a game-high of 27 points as they pounded the Badgers late in the game to secure their berth into a fourth consecutive IML District Championship game.
Following the game coach Jeff Nearing wasn’t terribly thrilled with his team’s defense, but definitely liked what he saw from the Wildcats offensively.
“We aren’t going to give up 62 points again and win, I can tell you that,” Nearing said. “We had some looks that we gave up out of our zone that were unusual for us, but I thought we recovered well on the offensive end with a terrific effort from Chase and Toby. We are in for a fight on Thursday night though.”
That fight that Nearing alluded to is the District Championship game Kellogg will play against Priest River on Thursday night at 6 p.m. at North Idaho College with a trip to the state tournament on the line.