Silver Valley Sports Recap: Jan. 28- Feb. 3

Kellogg boys basketball

KELLOGG — Was it home court advantage, or was there something else about Monday night that made the Kellogg Wildcats play their best game of basketball this year?

Hosting the Wallace Miners, a team that had beaten them twice already this season, the Wildcats were in need of a signature win and they got it as they knocked off the Miners 70-58.

From the opening tip it was clear that the game would be an extremely physical affair, as both teams felt each other out, but the Miners landed the first punch as they wrapped up the first quarter on top 12-10.

From then on the game was played at a near frenetic pace as both teams raced up and down the floor, trading baskets as well as the lead, it became clear that this game wasn’t going the same way as the two previous matchups.

A late basket from Kellogg gave them a 31-30 lead headed into halftime, but the game was far from over.

Both teams traded the lead early in the third quarter, but a timely Graden Nearing 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a 36-34 lead and Kellogg would not relinquish it the rest of the way.

As the final frame began, Kellogg held a 44-41 lead, but they quickly put the game out of reach with an 8-0 run to begin the quarter.

Kellogg held off the Miners the rest of the way despite a valiant late effort from Wallace, who suffered just their second loss of the season.

“We didn’t give up, we fought until the end,” Wallace coach Corey Miller said. “We kept attacking, kept trying to whittle away at their lead. It was an incredibly physical game both ways, that definitely benefits Kellogg. We just don’t have that kind of depth.”

Kellogg junior Gavin Luna played his most dominant game of the season notching 12 points and 15 rebounds, which played to the Wildcats’ physical presence.

“I’m not sure how many points he finished with, but he’s the one who really beat us,” Miller said. “He had a few putbacks, but how many rebounds, how many offensive rebounds. When we played them before they would get one shot and we’d get the rebound, tonight they were getting two, three, fours shots at a time and when you get that many eventually one’s going to go in.”

Kellogg coach Jeff Nearing saw a lot that he was happy with and then some stuff that he didn’t like.

“We made some silly mistakes,” Nearing said. “Up by 14 with two minutes to go and we’re still rifling 50-foot passes? We need to figure out how to play with a lead. We haven’t had a bunch of experience doing that this year so this was new to these guys.”

Nearing thought the balanced attack his team brought really made the difference, but also was very pleased with how his posts (combined 23 points and 20+ rebounds between three players) effectively were the difference makers throughout the game.

Led by Graden Nearing’s 16 points, along with Luna’s 12, the Wildcats had three players with eight points, and two with seven.

Wallace was led in scoring by Erik Brackebusch who finished with 18 points, while Triston Neubauer chipped in 13.

Wallace 12 18 11 17 — 58

Kellogg 10 21 13 26 — 70

WALLACE: Welch 10, Brackebusch 18, Stutzke 8, Neubauer 13, Brantz 4, Hull 5, Denson 0.

KELLOGG: Rickets 8, Atkins 8, Oertli 4, Nearing 16, Miller 7, Davis 8, Jerome 7, Luna 12.

Kellogg 63, Bonners Ferry 45: Tyler Oertli scored 13 points, Gavin Luna had 12 rebounds and the Wildcats beat the Badgers in a Jan. 31 Intermountain League game at Andrews Gymnasium.

“Our pressure on defense was a key for us tonight,” Kellogg coach Jeff Nearing said. “We just brought lots of pressure, similar to Monday’s game (a 70-58 win over Wallace). We started adjusting a little bit and got some things out of our press and attacked the basket pretty well.”

Graden Nearing had 10 points and three steals for Kellogg.

Dylan Hittel and Chris Durette scored 10 points each for Bonners Ferry (8-9, 2-2).

BFHS 8 7 12 18 — 45

Kellogg 10 14 16 23 — 63

BONNERS FERRY: Hines 0, Hubbard 1, S. Bateman 6, Hittel 10, Durette 10, Petersen 8, Stockton 0, Foster 7, Morgan 3.

KELLOGG: Waller 2, Rickets 6, Atkins 6, Oertli 13, Alexander 0, Allen 0, Nearing 10, Miller 6, Davis 8, Jerome 6, Luna 6.

Kellogg 51, St. Maries 45: The Wildcats jumped on the visiting Lumberjacks early, weathering multiple big runs as they grinded St. Maries down in the climax of the Brawl for the Ball finale on Saturday, Feb. 2.

Kellogg was able to build a 29-23 halftime lead, but the game was far from over.

St. Maries did everything to slow the Wildcats down, but each time they would begin to rally Kellogg had an answer.

Senior Brennan Atkins was the resilient scoring option the Wildcats needed as he routinely hit dagger threes and clutch free throws to put the Wildcats ahead for good in the rivalry game.

No stats were received for this game.

Wallace boys basketball

Wallace 85, Clark Fork 39: Wallace senior guard Zack Welch scored 52 points and shot 14-for-19 from beyond the 3-point line, leading the Miners past the host Wampus Cats in a Jan. 30 North Star League game.

“I had mixed thoughts; I could’ve pulled him a little earlier but it’s hard to take that away from a kid when he’s shooting so well,” Wallace coach Corey Miller said. “He wasn’t taking bad shots — he was just making a lot of shots. The cool thing was that the whole team was excited for him. [Welch] is a pretty quiet, humble kid, so it was nice to see.”

Hunter Stutzke had 12 points and three rebounds for Wallace (14-2, 7-1 NSL), which hosts Priest River on Feb. 8.

“[Hunter] Stutzke is coming off a wrist injury, but we’re trying to work him back,” Miller said. “Tonight was a great game for him.”

Welch’s final stat-line was 52 points on 19-for-26 shooting, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Clark Fork (1-9, 0-6) was led by sophomore guard Cameron Garcia’s 17 points and five boards, plus Josh Constantine’s 12 point, 10 rebounds double double.

Wallace 23 20 29 12 — 85

Cl. Fork 7 8 13 11 — 39

WALLACE: Welch 52, Brackebusch 11, Stutzke 12, Hogamier 0, Neubauer 0, Brantz 0, Hull 5, Denson 2, Hammeburg 0, Gunderson 0.

CLARK FORK: SanRoman 0, Garcia 17, Sutton 2, Constantin 12, Abbott 8, Heisel 0, Reuter 0.

Mullan boys basketball

Lakeside 97, Mullan 50: Kenyon SpottedHorse led five Lakeside players in double figures with 23 points, leading the Knights in a North Star League romp over the Mullan Tigers at Ron Miller Court on Thursday.

“We came out in a press and it worked pretty well in the first half,” said Lakeside coach James Twoteeth, whose team led 59-18 at halftime. “We kind of wore them down. It was good for all of our guys to get in and contribute. We moved the ball pretty well.”

Talon Twoteeth scored 17 points, Emmitt White 16 points, JJ Hall 12 points and Jasper Abuan 10 points for Lakeside.

Chandler Holling scored 17 points for Mullan (5-10, 1-7), which hosts Clark Fork on Thursday at the Mullan Pavilion.

Mullan 10 8 9 21 — 50

Lakeside 32 27 20 18 — 97

MULLAN: L. Trogden 14, Holling 17, Hess 6, King 4, R. Trogden 9.

LAKESIDE: White 16, Ambro 6, J. Abuan 10, Higgins 8, Howard 2, Hall 12, Twoteeth 17, SpottedHorse 23, S. Abuan 3.

Wallace girls basketball

Clark Fork 50, Wallace 44: Brooke Stevens had 14 points, 11 rebounds and six steals to push the Wampus Cats past the visiting Miners in a North Star League game.

“We knew Wallace was going to come out aggressive,” Clark Fork coach Jordan Adams said. “They’re very competitive, very scrappy and they go for every rebound. But when I came here, our team wasn’t in a rebounding habit. So I really pushed rebounding tonight.”

Maggie Howard and Jaden House scored 12 points each for Wallace (6-11, 4-4 NSL), which faces the District 2 third-place finisher in a playoff game next Thursday at Post Falls Middle School.

Wallace 15 13 9 7 — 44

Cl. Fork 10 19 10 11 — 50

WALLACE: House 12, Sheppard 5, Howard 12, Welch 2, Johnson 8, Bergem 5, Lowman 0.

CLARK FORK: Stevens 14, Lambert 4, Hathaway 6, Simko 10, T. Sutton 6, A. Sutton 4, Kiebert 6.

Kellogg girls basketball

Bonners Ferry 44, Kellogg 43: The game that would decide second place in the Intermountain League may have little implications on how the 3A District I Tournament would begin, but it did decide a potentially cruel fate for the Wildcats as they came up just short against the Badgers on senior night, Jan. 29.

Kellogg had a shot to win the game after Taeya Sheppard forced a turnover on an inbounds pass under the Wildcat basket, but Catlin Senteney’s jumper clanged off the rim to give the Badgers control of second place — and more importantly, home court advantage for the district runner up game (should it be the presumptive Kellogg/Bonners matchup).

The game was literally the tale of two different styles as the Badgers utilized a heavy dribble drive offense while Kellogg’s post presence was a throwback to basketball eras of old when big dominated the paint as Kellogg did on Tuesday.

“I was proud of the effort of our girls last night. Bonners Ferry is very aggressive defensively and when we were able to slow down our offense and get set up, we saw success,” coach Jana Nearing-Kothe said. “Our posts, Hailey Cheney and Cierra Brandt, muscled their way to combining for 30 of our 43 points. Hailey had 20 and Cierra 10, and both rebounded well.”

Kellogg took another blow to its already shallow guard depth as senior Sammy Seymour injured her knee late in the game.

“Sammy's injury so late in the game stifled our momentum and we scrambled to try to get that last offensive attack to seal the deal,” Nearing-Kothe said.

Kellogg 46, St. Maries 39: Hailey Cheney had 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Kellogg Wildcats defeated the St. Maries Lumberjacks in the Brawl for the Ball spirit game Saturday at Andrews Gymnasium.

“I thought we ran our offense really well,” Kellogg coach Jana Nearing-Kothe said. “I thought Taeya Sheppard played really good defense tonight as well. We used our posts and guards, really slowed things down, and played organized basketball.”

Erin VanHoose scored nine points for Kellogg (9-10), which faces Bonners Ferry in the opening round of the 3A District 1 tournament tonight at Timberlake High School.

Kaci Haeg scored 16 points and Madison Cordell 13 points for St. Maries.

Kellogg won “The Ball” spirit competition, with the schools bringing in a combined 40,000 pounds of food to go to their local food banks.

“It was the biggest point spread we’ve had, and usually the food (drive) decides it,” Nearing-Kothe said. “It was really impressive by both schools.”

St. Maries 8 11 5 15 — 39

Kellogg 13 12 14 7 — 46

ST. MARIES: Badgett 0, Suchowski 0, Wilks 0, Crawford 0, Haeg 16, Cordell 13, Baird 1, Davenport 0, Holder 9, Rimmel 0, Hammond 0, Miller 0, Koser 0.

KELLOGG: Bristow 0, Nearing 1, Hill 1, Rauenhorst 3, VanHoose 9, Senteney 4, Sheppard 6, Brandt 4, Cheney 16.

Kellogg wrestling

BONNERS FERRY — Kellogg’s Austin McKinnon pinned teammate Dakota Eixenberger in the 106-pound championship match and several other Wildcats placed at the Bonners Ferry tournament, Feb. 1-2.

Lakeland finished with 228 points, followed by host Bonners Ferry in second with 182.5.

"Considering we were without five starters due to injury or sickness, to be able to go 25-21 overall and come away with five placers was a pleasant surprise," coach Scott Miller said. "We seemed to struggle all day yet many times found a way to pull out a win or put ourselves in position to win, which is very encouraging. I'm really happy for Austin McKinnon getting his 100th career win. It's a big deal and something he's been aiming for, so it was satisfying seeing him reach that goal."

Kellogg had several standout performances including McKinnon winning his 100th career match.

"I thought Dakota Eixenberger wrestled a strong tournament. He and Austin go back and forth and it's fun seeing the competition between the two," Miller said. "I was pleased with the Stepro brothers. Both lost difficult semifinals and then looked really good coming back to place third. Both are wrestling well right now. Cody Sverdsten was a real bright spot this weekend. He wrestled in control, looked for points and took advantage of situations that he created. He definitely took a positive step this weekend."

CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES

98 — Dylan Sotin, St. Maries, p. Jake Summerfield, Bonners Ferry, 2:00. 106 — Austin McKinnon, Kellogg, p. Dakota Eixenberger, Kellogg, :53. 113 — Evan Barajas, Bonners Ferry, p. Tanner Korst, Lakeland, :18. 120 — Casey Olesen, Sandpoint, p. Devin Sorrelle, Lake City, 3:42. 126 — Chandler Axtell, Lakeland, p. Spencer Eby, Bonners Ferry, :24. 132 — Isaiah Evans, Timberlake, p. Brandon Downs, Priest River, 1:31. 138 — Hayden Villa, St. Maries, p. Mason Bangeman, Sandpoint, 1:47. 145 — Ryan Quimby, Lakeland, d. Eli Richards, Bonners Ferry, 10-4. 152 — Caleb Miller, Timberlake, p. Cage Hendry, Lakeland, 1:07. 160 — Colton Boettcher, Lakeland, p. Isaiah Fleck, Sandpoint, :40. 170 — Curtis Johnson, Lakeland, d. Elijah Mills, Lake City, 6-1. 182 — Conner Heim, Lakeland, d. Zane Monaghan, Lake City, 7-6. 195 — Caden Hall, St. Maries, p. Gabe See, Bonners Ferry, 2:09. 220 — Aaron Reyes, Priest River, p. Connor Dremann, Lake City, 2:36. 285 — Sam Feusier, Lakeland, p. Garrett Rickett, Timberlake, 1:16.

THIRD-FOURTH PLACE

98 — Carter Stepro, Kellogg, p. Peyton Wysong, Lakeland, :36. 106 — Austin Madden, Bonners Ferry, p. Zac McLeod, Post Falls, :23. 113 — Tanner Dickson, Sandpoint, p. Timmy Bastedo, Post Falls, 1:13. 120 — Lucas Williams, Lakeland, p. Cody Sverdsten, Kellogg, 3:52. 126 — Hunter Norris, St. Maries, p. Tristyn Frank, Timberlake, 2:41.

132 — Blaise Wright, Lakeland, d. Jake Ryan, Sandpoint, 6-3. 138 — Luke Hellem, Lakeland, d. Manuel Naccarato, Bonners Ferry, 2-0. 145 — Brady Nelson, Sandpoint, tf. Torrence Estes, Post Falls, 19-4. 152 — Kyle Smith, Bonners Ferry, d. Porter Howard, Lake City, 7-5.

160 — Austin Stepro, Kellogg, d. Shaun Anderson, St. Maries, 10-5. 170 — Josh Yanez, Timberlake, d. Colby Poe, Priest River, 6-2. 182 — Hunter Oles, Lakeland, d. Truxton Wilson, Priest River, :33.

195 — Taggert Benefield, Sandpoint, d.

Shean Hodge, Lake City, 6-5. 220 — Matt Thurlow, Sandpoint, p. Korder Tonge, Sandpoint, :52. 285 — Isaiah Shottanana, Bonners Ferry, p. Johnny Sullivan, Lakeland, :50.

TEAM SCORES

1, Lakeland 228, 2, Bonners Ferry 182.5, 3, Sandpoint 169, 4, St. Maries 106, 5, Lake City 105.5, 6, Timberlake 101, 7, Kellogg 91, 8, Priest River 83, 9, Post Falls 72.