For the week of December 12 - 18, 2001

Boards boost 
Cutthroat boys

Sun Valley boys trim Mushers 71-59

---

Rebounding and depth normally aren’t bragging points for The Community School boys’ basketball team.

But they were responsible for Friday night’s 71-59 home success over Camas County—the first Cutthroat win of the season and also their first Northside Conference victory.

The Cutthroats (1-2, 1-0 league) out-rebounded the Mushers 24-10 in the second half and turned a 34-28 half-time deficit into a 12-point win.

Senior Josh Stanek (22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 steals) enjoyed a big night for the Cutthroats and 6-2 soph Adrian Charbonnet came off the bench to score a team-high 23 points with 9 rebounds and 2 steals.

Zac Koffler, 6-3 Cutthroat captain, added 8 of his 9 boards after intermission as The Community School ended up with a 37-26 rebounding edge.

Brandon Blodgett, Camas County’s senior guard, tallied a game-high 24 including 5-for-11 from behind the 3-point circle.

It was a sweet win for coach Mike Wade, whose Cutthroats were beaten three times by Camas County last season including a 10-point Northside Conference tournament decision that ousted Sun Valley from the tourney.

Wade said, "It was a good win, especially since Camas was ranked third and we were sixth in the pre-season polls.

"We did a much better job running our offense in the second half—good screens, cuts and some easy baskets.

"But the big thing was rebounding. They beat us in the paint in the second quarter. We came out and rebounded well in the second half."

Wade also made a defensive switch at half-time that helped swing the tide to The Community School.

In the first half, he assigned his best defensive player, 5-9 junior Drew Detwiler, to guard leading Musher scorer Blodgett. Blodgett can turn a game around with his 3-point shooting from long, long range.

Blodgett drilled two 3-pointers in the first quarter and junior guard Nate Dalin scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half sparking Camas County to a lead that reached 10 points before two late Charbonnet buckets made it 34-28 Camas County at half-time.

Wade decided to add height on defense and switched 6-1 Stanek over to guard 6-0 Blodgett. The move disrupted the Musher offense and led to missed shots that gave the Cutthroats the boards. Detwiler’s tough defense limited Dalin to 3 points and no field goals after half.

Still, Camas entered the fourth with a 47-43 lead after Blodgett sank a 3-pointer in the final seconds.

That’s when the Cutthroats embarked on a 19-5 run in the first six minutes of the fourth—Charbonnet on fire making 14 of his 23 points, Stanek adding 7 points and Koffler pulling down 5 fourth-quarter boards.

Camas County’s foul troubles (four Mushers fouled out) provided the Cutthroats with easier access close to the basket. The Cutthroats made 11-of-20 free throws in the fourth, and 21-42 for the game.

Ethan Weston quietly contributed 8 points (4-for-4 charities) and 4 assists.

Detwiler showed courage and leadership and ended with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 5 assists. Koffler added 6 points, John Hayes (2 steals, 2 assists) had 3 points, Bret Watson 2, Jimmy Fairchild 2 and Ryan Drew 1.

For Camas (0-3), Eric McGuire scored 12 points and Dalin and Lucas Goncalves had 8 rebounds apiece.

In junior varsity action the Cutthroats collected a pair of wins last week to even their record at 2-2.

Tuesday, Fairchild tallied 16 points as The Community School outscored the visiting ISDB Raptors 40-34. Luc McCann added 8 points.

Friday the JV Cutthroats held off a late charge by the Camas County Mushers (0-3) and prevailed 62-53 in The Fish Tank. Fairchild led the way again with 21 points.

Andrew Durtschi added 13 points including 5-for-6 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter. A.J. Beesley had 12 points, Ben Larroquette 9, Ben Dreyfuss 3, Hunter Smith 2 and McCann 2. For the Mushers, Steve Vouch scored 16 points, Zack Lee 15 and Michael Blodgett 14.

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.