Friday — March 5, 2004

Carey, Community
School win State
1A openers

Big basketball tourney in Caldwell

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By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Wednesday was a good day for the Carey School and Community School boys' varsity basketball teams at the State 1A tournament at Caldwell High School.

Senior Ty Simmons came alive with 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half as Carey (21-1) stretched its winning streak to a school-record 19 games with a 62-44 win over Idaho City (10-14).

Getting balanced scoring, The Community School (20-5) reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in school history with a 64-53 win over Kootenai (10-14).

They were the only wins recorded by the five Fourth District entries on the first day of the four-day, 16-team tournament.

Troy (19-5) upset top-ranked Raft River (22-2) by a 69-48 score, Cole Valley Christian of Boise (20-3) put Richfield (12-15) in the consolation bracket 49-45, and Horseshoe Bend (18-6) was a 65-54 winner over Southside Conference champion Hansen (14-8).

Carey's sweet-shooting Simmons (19.0) couldn't find his shooting touch in the first half against Idaho City, clanging 3-for-13 including 0-5 from 3-point range.

But the Panthers kept going to their shooting star in the third quarter and Simmons heated up with 12 points as the Panthers extended their game-long lead to 16 points.

Carey coach Dick Simpson said, "If Ty can get a couple of shots under his belt, he starts feeling it. That's what happened in the third quarter."

The Panthers ended up shooting 45% for the game, and the Carey zone defense held Idaho City to 35% field goal shooting.

Simmons added 11 rebounds for Carey. Blake Surerus, another Carey senior, had a big game with 10 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 5 assists and 6 blocked shots.

Sophomore Tadd Green chipped in with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists while point guard K.C. Rivera had 8 points, 6 steals and 4 assists. Tyler Cook scored 8 points with 3 steals and 4 assists.

The depth of The Community School was apparent in Wednesday's match-up against a shorter, quicker Kootenai Warriors club.

Coach Mike Wade's Cutthroats had too many weapons. Seven different players scored in the 19-6 second quarter explosion as the Sun Valley squad surged ahead 38-17 at intermission.

Wade said, "You can't be one-dimensional at this stage. We had a good inside-outside game today, getting points from the post, from the perimeter and from driving to the basket."

Dylan McIlhenny provided the early spark, with 11 of his 13 points in the first half. John Hayes finished with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.

Jimmy Fairfield added 10 points and 9 rebounds, Luc McCann 6 points and 2 assists, Connor Wade 6 points and 2 boards, Logan Koffler 5 points and 4 rebounds, A.J. Beesley 4 points, Andrew Durtschi 4 points and 4 boards.

The Cutthroats shot 46% from the field and held Kootenai to 36% shooting.

Wade said, "That win put us in the winner bracket, so we've accomplished our first goal. Our second goal at state was to find a way to play for a trophy--and we need another win to play for the hardware."

Carey advanced into Thursday evening's quarterfinal match-up against Council (21-5), a 49-46 winner over Sho-Ban (17-4) Wednesday. And The Community School moved on to play Genesee (16-8), which knocked off Cascade (19-6).

If they won their quarterfinal games Thursday night, Carey and the Community School would clash for the third time this season in the state semi-finals Friday at 8 p.m. at Vallivue High School gym in Caldwell.

Carey's highest state basketball tournament finish is second place in 2001. The Community School finished sixth in its only other state trip, in 1998.

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