For the week of January 22 - 28, 2003

‘Throats put Tigers
in their tank

JV improves to 12-1

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They’ve still got four Northside Conference games to play, but The Community School boys’ varsity basketball team might look back at Saturday's 63-56 league win at Richfield as one of their biggest all season.

Junior Jim Fairchild (13.1 ppg) burned the strings for a season-high 25 points and junior John Hayes (14.4 ppg) added 19 for coach Mike Wade’s Cutthroats (6-6, 4-3 league). Richfield’s Tigers dropped to 3-11, 3-4 league on the season.

John Hayes pulls up and pumps over Shoshone guard Josh Zeck during last Thursday’s Northside Conference game won by host Shoshone 66-50. Express photo by David N. Seelig

The victory gave the Cutthroats the upper hand for the all-important third seed in the seven-team Northside 1A Sub-District tournament starting Feb. 13 in Shoshone. Avoiding the fourth and fifth seeds is important in the tournament make-up.

Only the top two teams in the Northside tournament automatically earn berths in the 16-team State 1A tournament March 5-8 in Caldwell.

Shoshone (6-6, 5-1 league), one of Sun Valley’s chief challengers for state, swept the season series with a 66-50 win over the Cutthroats Thursday. Normally deliberate, Shoshone came out with a hot-shooting, up-tempo game and never let up.

Although the Cutthroats won the rebounding war 31-20, the Indians handled the Cutthroat press well and got big games out of Tony Pereira (22 points, 3 steals) and penetrating guard Mike Fitzgerald (16 points, 4 assists).

Fairchild led the way with 14 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks. Hayes chipped in with 10 points, 5 boards, 5 assists and 2 blocks. Ethan Weston added 10 points, 3 boards and 3 assists. Dylan McIlhenny had 9 points, Josh Sonneland 4 points and 4 boards, Luc McCann 3 points and 6 rebounds, Drew Detwiler 3 assists.

The Cutthroats, with five wins in their last six games, hosted Camas County (3-7, 3-4) Tuesday. The ‘Throats go to Dietrich (1-6 league) Friday and entertain league-leading Carey (11-2, 7-0) Tuesday, Jan. 28.

 

JV rallies past Shoshone

Trailing by nine points with less than four minutes to play, The Community School JV rallied for an improbable 43-42 victory over host Shoshone Thursday night.

Connor Wade (8 points, 4 blocks, 3 steals, 2 assists) buried a huge 3-pointer with a minute left. Audi McCann took a fast-break pass from A.J. Beesley (6 of his team-high 11 points in the fourth quarter) and converted the game-winning three-point play with only 14 seconds remaining.

McCann (6 points fourth) then made an excellent defensive play to stop Shoshone from taking a final shot. The Cutthroats out-pointed the Indians 21-11 in the fourth. Andrew Durtschi ended with 9 points and 6 rebounds, Tyler Jackson 4, Hunter Smith 3 and Ben Larroquette 2.

JV coach Jim Carkonen said, "These kids somehow find a way to win the tight games, which in my experience is the mark of a championship team."

Saturday night, the ‘Throat JV improved to 12-1 with a 53-37 victory over host Richfield. Connor Wade led all scorers with 14 points on 6-for-9 shooting including two 3-pointers.

 

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