Wednesday — February 11, 2004

Northside gears up
for rousing week

Carey (17-1) aims to keep running the table

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By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

All signs point to the Carey School boys’ varsity basketball team (17-1), ranked first in Idaho 1A polls, running the table for the second straight year in the Northside Conference league and tournament.

But post-season tournaments are unpredictable, and this week’s Northside 1A Sub-District tourney in Shoshone is likely to be a rousing week of close games and hairy finishes.

Coach Dick Simpson’s Carey Panthers aren’t used to close finishes. They’re 12-0 in Northside games (26-0 over two seasons) and have won their 12 league games this season by an average margin of 20.6 points.

The Panthers are riding a 15-game winning streak including last week’s 13-point road victories at Richfield and Shoshone. They’ve got four players averaging in double figures, and a strong inside-outside attack.

It’s likely that Carey will prevail in its opening game Friday, Feb. 13 against the winner of Thursday’s contest between the #4 and #5 seeded teams, and thus advance directly into Monday’s 7:30 p.m. championship contest.

Waiting for Carey in the title game, if the seedings hold up, will be The Community School of Sun Valley—one of only four teams in 43 games over two seasons that have built half-time leads over the Panthers.

And Carey (39-4 two seasons) has won three of those four rare games in which they have trailed, including the 72-69 OT cliffhanger over The Community School in Carey Jan. 27.

Carey beat the Cutthroats 45-41 in last year’s Northside championship game and then added the Fourth District title 54-42 over Hagerman.

Last week, two young Panther players stepped up and led the attack as Carey won 70-57 at Richfield Thursday and 58-45 at Shoshone Friday. They got help at Shoshone, where the cold-shooting Indians shot 29% and 7-for-36 on 3-pointers.

Tyler Cook (10.7 ppg) led the way with 20 points including six 3-pointers at Richfield, and another sophomore, Tadd Green (11.9 ppg), added 19 points. Green has averaged 18.5 ppg in Carey’s last four games.

Green tossed in 18 points as the Panthers went ahead 30-17 at half-time against Shoshone and held off the Indians after intermission. Leading scorer Ty Simmons (19.1 ppg) had 16.

A good sign for coach Simpson and Carey’s inside attack was the Panthers went to the free throw line often against Richfield and Shoshone—outscoring the Northside rivals 23-3 and out-shooting them 38-11 at the line. Carey (55% FT season) is 151-103 better than foes.

But scoring points will be harder to come by in the tournament, even for Carey (65.7 ppg). Last year the Panthers averaged 60.0 ppg during the season and then won their Northside tournament games with 55- and 45-point totals.

Meanwhile, coach Danny Simpson’s Carey junior varsity enters the four-team Northside tournament as the top seed and will play its opening game Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The JV championship game is set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Here are last week’s stats:

Carey 58-45 over Shoshone—Tadd Green 18, Ty Simmons 16, Blake Surerus 10, Tyler Cook 7, K.C. Rivera 5, Devin Simpson 2. Rebounds (34)—Simmons 13, Surerus 8, Green 7. Blocked shots—Surerus 3. Steals—Rivera 6. Assists—Simpson 5, Simmons 4, Surerus 4, Cook 4. 3-pointers (3-for-13)—Simmons 2, Cook 1.

Carey 70-57 over Richfield—Cook 20, Green 19, Surerus 11, Simmons 10, Rivera 9. Rebounds (28)—Simmons 8, Rivera 6. Blocked shots—Surerus 4. Steals—Simmons 4, Rivera 3. Assists—Rivera 9, Simmons 6. 3-pointers (6-for-17)—Cook 6.

 

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Community School
(15-3) aiming for state

Friday’s regular-season finale turned into a good wake-up call for The Community School boys’ varsity basketball team entering this week’s Northside 1A Sub-District tournament in Shoshone.

Building a 10-point halftime lead and extending it after intermission, the visiting Cutthroats (15-3, 10-2 league) defeated a pesky Richfield squad (7-10, 4-7) by a score of 58-43.

"Richfield gave us a solid test in our last regular season game," said Community School coach Mike Wade. "They played scrappy, in-your-face defense for 32 minutes and pressed us most of the time.

"They came to rebound. In fact, Richfield clearly out-rebounded us in the first quarter and got many second and third shots. We stepped up our defense after the first quarter and started bringing more determination to the defensive boards. We were able to handle them the rest of the way."

Senior Dylan McIlhenny had an all-around solid game with 15 points, 5 assists and a new single-game school record of 9 steals. Jimmy Fairchild, another strong Cutthroat senior, led the scoring with 16 points (9 in the third) and 7 rebounds.

Coach Wade said, "They did a good job of defending our leading scorer John Hayes (6 points), but others stepped up in that department and we managed to put up 58 points and shoot 42% for the game, both totals near our averages.

"But we will have to take better care of the ball. Our 24 turnovers against Richfield were a season high for us."

Nonetheless the 15-point victory—Sun Valley’s third straight and 11th in 12 games—enabled the 2003-04 Cutthroat edition to match the single-season school record of 15 victories achieved by Sun Valley’s only state tournament qualifier, the 15-11 squad of 1997-98.

They can set a new standard with a win in the first round of the Northside tournament Thursday, Feb. 12 at Shoshone.

The #2-seeded Cutthroats, ranked ninth in the Idaho 1A boys’ poll, tackle #7-seeded Bliss (1-14, 0-11) Thursday at 8 p.m. With a win Wade’s team, 18-point and 49-point winners over Bliss this season, will play again Friday at 6:30 p.m.

"I was really encouraged by our defense in the last three quarters at Richfield," said Wade. "Given that we are just an okay shooting team, we’ll have to defend well come tournament time, but our players are looking committed and determined on the defensive end.

"That gives me some confidence that we’ll be ready to play in Shoshone this week."

The Cutthroats are aiming to return to the Northside championship game, where they lost to Carey by four points last February. The top two Northside teams automatically qualify for the State 1A tourney March 3 in Caldwell.

Northside championship game is Monday at 7:30 p.m.

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CSchool 58-43 over Richfield: Jimmy Fairchild 16 points, Dylan McIlhenny 15, John Hayes 6, Andrew Durtschi 6, Logan Koffler 6, A.J. Beesley 4, Connor Wade 3, Luc McCann 2. Rebounds (32)—Fairchild 7, McCann 7, Koffler 6. Blocked shots—Hayes 2. Assists—McCann 5, McIlhenny 5, Hayes 4. Steals—McIlhenny 9, Beesley 3. 3-pointers—Wade 1. FT—15-21. Opp FT—5-12.

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