Silver Valley Sport Recap: Dec. 9-15

Kellogg boys basketball

KELLOGG — The Kellogg Wildcats started the 2019 Silver Valley Tournament slowly and they finished it the same way, but along the way they did just enough to walk away with the championship and two important wins.

On Friday night, the Wildcats squared up with their Valley rivals, the Wallace Miners, with both teams coming off losses in their season openers. Wallace came out as the aggressors and pushed Kellogg to its limit in the first half.

The Wildcats came out like a team possessed in the third quarter, doubling their score from the first half and then coasting to a 68-45 win in the final frame.

In the early game, Timberlake survived a late rally from Post Falls JV to advance to the championship game with a 57-51 win.

Wallace was able to grind out a 37-34 win over the Post Falls JV in Saturday’s consolation game.

Saturday’s championship game was a rematch of the Intermountain League District Championship game where Gavin Luna banked in a three to send the ‘Cats to the state tournament.

Kellogg opened the game up on fire and took a 37-27 lead into the break, but then slowed way down in the second half and survived a close call against their Intermountain League rivals.

“We jumped out to a good lead and just kind of hung on from there,” Kellogg coach Jeff Nearing said. “We struggled to get shots to fall in the second half, and missed our fair share of gimmes, but found a way to win. Timberlake was aggressive and defended really well. It was just kind of a grinder.”

Kellogg was led by their senior trio of Graden Nearing, Gavin Luna, and Tyler Oertli who had 13, 13, and 12 points respectively for the Wildcats.

Timberlake 15 12 12 15 — 54

Kellogg 25 12 9 12 — 58

TIMBERLAKE — Mullins 6, Peightal 4, Menti 3, Higgins 0, Paslay 0, Yetter 13, McDonald 5, James 10, Dickenson 10, Simpson 3.

KELLOGG — R. Luna 4, K. Luna 2, Oertli 12, Nearing 13, Miller 7, Walker 3, Jerome 4, G. Luna 13.

Deer Park 63, Kellogg 45

DEER PARK, Wash. — The Wildcats competed well in the first half, but the Stags ran away in the second half to knock of Kellogg in their Dec. 3 season opener.

Graden Nearing had 15 points for Kellogg, and Gavin Luna pitched in 10 points.

Kellogg girls basketball

Deer Park 51, Kellogg 50

DEER PARK, Wash. — Grace Nearing’s shot at the buzzer rolled out and the Wildcats early season undefeated run came to an end.

Kellogg controlled most of the Dec. 3 nonconference contest, but was outscored 14-5 in the third quarter which proved to be the deciding factor in the game.

Despite the early season success, coach Jana Nearing had been wanting to see more out of her offense which made her team’s performance a positive even with the narrow loss.

There were some aspects of the game that Nearing wasn’t too keen on as well.

“Our ball movement offensively vastly improved and we ran the floor really well,” Nearing said. “We struggled in the third quarter and we only shot 50 percent from the line.”

Jaron Figueroa finished with a game high 20 points, while Hailey Cheney had an impressive 14 point, 18 rebound double-double.

“I was very proud of our effort,” Nearing said. “The girls had a great time. Our chemistry is coming together. I wish we would have got the win but I’m proud of what we did.”

Wallace boys basketball

Bonners Ferry 65, Wallace 56

BONNERS FERRY — Braeden Blackmore scored 19 points and the Badgers beat the visiting Miners in a nonleague opener on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

The Badgers used a big second quarter to pull away from the Miners.

Carter Bailey scored 20 points to lead Wallace.

Wallace girls basketball

Wallace 48, St. Maries 40

WALLACE — Jaden House scored 21 points for the Miners in a nonleague win over the Lumberjacks on Tuesday at Kirby Krulitz Court.

Jenna Holder scored 12 points for St. Maries (1-5).

St. Maries 6 8 10 16 — 40

Wallace 10 12 17 9 — 48

ST. MARIES — Badgett 9, Holder 12, Rimmel 6, Ventura 2, Mitchell 2, Miller 2, Hammond 4, Koser 3.

WALLACE — Morin 4, Lowman 0, Johnson 7, Specht 0, House 21, Welch 6, Cielke 0, Hunter 3, Bergem 7.

Mullan boys basketball

Mullan 60, Nezperce 44

NEZPERCE — Sophomore Luke Trogden scored 30 points to cap a 63-point weekend, Skye Gallaway added 12 points and the visiting Tigers wrapped up their season-opening road trip with a victory over the Indians on Saturday.

“This was about dribble penetration, and finishing at the basket,” Mullan coach Paul Elston said of Trogden, who scored 33 points in a 61-58 loss at Highland-Craigmont on Friday night in Craigmont.

Elston praised the defense of Floyd Nelson, a freshman, and Caden Crandall over the weekend.

“We’re trying to play some different opponents; trying to see some more teams from the Whitepine League,” Elston said.

After playing with mostly the minimum five players last year, Mullan is up to eight this year. But one of them, junior Riley Trodgen, is out for at least another two weeks. Elston said Trogden was running lines at practice recently when he crashed through the glass behind the basket, and needed some 70 stitches.

Mullan travels to Deary on Thursday.

Mullan 7 14 21 18 — 60

Nezperce 21 6 17 9 — 44

MULLAN — L. Trodgen 33, Nelson 3, Hess 4, Crandall 4, Gallaway 12, Layton 4, Zingler 0.

NEZPERCE — Seiler 7, Cronce 9, B. Nelson 20, Douglas 6.

Mullan 9 19 17 13 — 58

Highland 15 16 8 22 — 61

MULLAN — Nelson 2, L. Trogden 30, Hess 11, Crandall 5, Gallaway 8, Layton 2, Zingler 0.

HIGHLAND-CRAIGMONT — Morris 12, Hambly 12, Davis 6, Wassmuth 15, Sheppard 9, Besweil 2.

Mullan girls basketball

North Idaho Christian 62, Mullan 29

COEUR d’ALENE — Mullan fought hard but was outmatched in its Dec. 3 game with North Idaho Christian.

The odds were stacked even more against them when junior Talowa Fallingwater left the game with an ankle sprain.

“NIC is a good ball club,” Mullan coach Sherry Leitz said. “I’m proud of my girls for playing hard for the duration of the game.”

Emily Dykes finished with 15 points for the Tigers.

Nez Perce 46, Mullan 14

NEZ PERCE — The shorthanded Tigers fell to the Huskies on Dec. 6; no further stats were received.

Kellogg wrestling

POTLATCH — The Kellogg Wildcats won the Dick Griswold Memorial Invitational on Dec. 7 after four Wildcats took the top spots in their respective weight classes.

Dakota Eixenberger (113), Ethan Guy (126), Judson Hall (138), and Austin Stepro (170) each finished in first place, with Hall also being named the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler.

“Exciting way to start of the 2019-20 season,” coach Scott Miller said. “We brought positives out of this tournament from each of our kids that competed this weekend.

“Judson did a great job on the way to his title. He truly earned the Outstanding Wrestling Award and is off to a great start for his senior campaign. Dakota dominated his weight class this weekend, and Austin Stepro kept improving as the day went on and clinched the title for us with a dominating finals performance.”

Wildcats Ethan Guy and Travis Lohr ran through their division before locking up for championship where Guy prevailed.

“Both Ethan and Travis were the class of their weight class and wrestled an exciting final,” Miller said. “Both young men didn't give up an offensive point and pinned their way into the finals.”

It wasn’t just individual championships for Kellogg, though — they dominated throughout with multiple second, third, and fourth place finishes.

The Wildcats will now turn their attention to the George Wild Memorial Tournament, beginning this Friday at 4 p.m. at Kellogg High School.

Team scores: 1. Kellogg 168, 2. McCall-Donnelly 149.5, 3. Post Falls 135, 4. Potlatch 123, 5. St. Maries 112, 6. Clearwater Valley 102.5, 7. Orofino 81, 8. Lewiston 31, 9. Colfax 28, 10. Enterprise (Ore.) 26, 11. Pomeroy 12, 12. Grangeville 0, 13. Kootenai 0