For the week of January 14 - 20, 2004

WRHS boys shake
off the rust, 47-40
over Gooding

Hard-fought SCIC league win

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Wood River, idle for three weeks, was a little rusty. Gooding, losers by four points at 1A Shoshone two nights before, was a little testy.

But there was no question about the wire-to-wire intensity Wood River and Gooding brought to Saturday’s Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference 3A clash on the Senator floor.

Brady Femling, another Wolverine junior guard, made four free throws down the stretch to seal Saturday’s win at Gooding. Express photo by David N. Seelig

Coach Fred Trenkle’s Wolverines rallied from a six-point halftime deficit to beat Gooding 47-40 as 6-7 senior Jason Hofman scored 6 points and pulled down 8 rebounds in Hailey’s 19-9 fourth-quarter surge.

"It was a struggle and it showed," said Trenkle. "But we hit our free throws down the stretch and made defensive plays and went to the boards to win the game. I thought everybody played hard. Had to feel good about the game."

Hofman’s dunk with three-and-a-half minutes left gave Wood River only its second lead of the game, 38-36. It sparked an 11-4 game-clinching run. Hofman (11.0 ppg) had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Brady Femling, Wolverine junior point guard, went 4-for-4 at the free throw line in the final 26 seconds. Up until that point, Wood River was shooting poorly (2-for-9 second half) at the stripe, but Hailey went 6-for-6 down the homestretch.

Another star for Wood River was 6-2 senior Scott Bohrer, who finished with a season-best 13 points plus 8 rebounds and 5 steals. Bohrer (5 points in the fourth) was in the right place at the right time all night.

"Scott came on and gave us a good effort," said Trenkle.

Wood River (3-4, 2-1 SCIC) thus equalled last season’s totals of wins and league victories (3-19, 2-8), in just seven games. Gooding (2-7, 0-3 SCIC) suffered its fourth straight loss.

It was the first time in four seasons that Wood River beat an SCIC team other than the Buhl Tribe. Early in the game, however, it looked like a flurry of Wolverine turnovers and mistakes would give Gooding a head of steam.

Trenkle said, "I don’t know what it was—we hadn’t beaten Gooding in about five years and we didn’t beat them in the jamboree. We weren’t ready to play the game. We’ve just got to bring our ‘A’ game every night to have a chance to win.

"But I thought Gooding played well, too. We were seeing our first zone defense of the year, then Gooding started switching defenses which made it tougher for us. We showed some poise down the stretch."

Gooding senior Eric Gushee (14 pounds, 6 boards) burned the strings for 12 points in a hot-shooting Senator first half. Gooding, leading by as many as nine points, maintained a 25-19 cushion at intermission.

Wood River’s man-to-man defensive intensity picked up a few notches in the second half. Kory Ott (2 points, 2 boards, 3 steals) gave Trenkle some solid minutes in the third. Hofman scored two buckets. Then Bohrer gave Hailey its first lead, 26-25, with a steal and putback.

All 11 players contributed for Trenkle. It was junior Dylan Fullmer’s turn to quicken things and push the ball up the floor early in the fourth. It helped Wood River get into its offense. Hofman made two putbacks for a 34-34 tie.

Senior Matt Pruett (6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) also played a big role. His steal at the midline, and flipped pass to Bohrer produced a fast break basket and 36-36 tie with four minutes left. Then Hofman made his dunk, converting a Pruett miss.

And Wood River was off to the races, running its weave well and getting the benefit of a couple of traveling calls that could easily have been called against Bohrer’s drives to the hole. Gooding coach Joe Messick was livid.

With a minute remaining, Bohrer stole an inbounds pass and fed Pruett, who scored for a 41-37 lead.

Gooding’s Angel Aguilar (10 points, 3 assists) drilled a 3-pointer for a 41-40 cliffhanger with 40 seconds left, at which point Femling made four charities and Pruett two for the 47-40 final.

Scoring: Hofman 14 points, Bohrer 13, Pruett 6, Femling 6, Jeremy Selcho 4, Riley Neff 2, Ott 2.

Rebounds (32-18 edge over Gooding): Hofman 11, Bohrer 8, Pruett 5. Steals (14): Bohrer 5, Ott 3, Pruett 2. Blocked shots: Hofman 2.

For the season, Wood River is 80-160 (50%) at the free throw line, while opponents are 56-91 (62%). Last year Wood River was outshot 528-322 and outscored 329-166 at the stripe. The Wolverines have only eight 3-pointers. Last year it was 63.

Here are current SCIC records and standings:

Kimberly 5-3 (2-0); Declo 7-2 (3-0); Buhl 2-7 (1-2); Wood River 3-4 (2-1); Gooding 2-7 (0-3); and Filer 1-6 (0-2). Third-ranked Declo, winners of five straight, travels to Kimberly next Tuesday for a big league clash.

Wood River, ranked ninth in the Idahosports.com poll of 3A schools, entertained #2-ranked 4A school Bonneville Tuesday. The Wolverines travel to Filer Thursday and host #5-ranked 4A Hillcrest Saturday, Jan. 17.

"The big one is Filer this week," said Trenkle. "We’re working for that first-round bye in the tournament."

 

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