Wednesday, March 10, 2004

WR, Declo exit
early at State 3A

SCIC teams take their lumps

---

Declo and Wood River, the Sawtooth Central Idaho Conference teams in last weekend’s State 3A boys’ basketball tournament, took their lumps on the Meridian High hardwoods.

Both teams went two-and-out in the eight-team tournament won by undefeated Preston (24-0) by a 68-39 score over Middleton (24-3) Saturday.

Not much was expected of Wood River, making its first state tournament appearance in 13 years. And the Wolverines struggled on offense, falling to Fruitland 57-47 Thursday and to Shelley 47-40 Friday.

After shooting 50% from the field in taking a 22-19 half-time lead over Fruitland, Wood River went ice cold for its final six quarters at state—shooting 25-for-85 or 29% from the field. And the Wolverines didn’t do much damage inside. They were outscored 29-9 at the free throw line over two games.

Wolverine coach Fred Trenkle said, "We didn’t play very well and didn’t respond to the pressure. We just weren’t on any kind of a motor at state. But, for the season, we came a long way as far as understanding the game of basketball."

Junior guard Brady Femling was Wood River’s lone bright spot at state, scoring 15 points in the 10-point loss to Fruitland and 14 points against Shelley. He drilled six 3-pointers, providing the only outside threat.

"As soon as we got Brady playing forward instead of back on his heels he became a real good basketball player," said Trenkle. Femling (7.6 ppg) averaged 13.2 ppg in six post-season games for Wood River (11-14, 8-8 away from home).

The Fruitland game slipped away from Wood River in the second half, because of the inside-outside Grizzlies attack of 6-4, 270-pound Jeff Bolton lookalike Derrick Mahan and 5-8 senior guard Eric Snavely.

Snavely scored 16 of his 22 points after the half and immovable object Mahan (13 rebounds) came up with 13 of his 20 after intermission. They combined for 42 of 57 Grizzly points. An 11-1 Fruitland run late in the third quarter gave the Grizzlies a six-point lead.

Trenkle said, "Their big kid averages six points a game and had a career game against us. We just didn’t adjust to the officiating very well. Had I known it was going to be a football game, we would have gone harder at their big kid."

He kicked himself a little for going too easy on the Wolverine players and the officials at the state tournament, but Trenkle was convinced that the state tournament was a time for the kids to step up and play the game for themselves.

Against Shelley, Wood River didn’t have senior guard Joe Paisley (flu). And the Wolverines didn’t have much offense at all, shooting 23% in a 14-point first half. Shelley (11-12) went on to win the consolation title 76-64 over Lakeland (14-9).

Despite their struggles, the Wolverines hung in there and stayed within 10 points. That wasn’t the case with defending state champion Declo (17-5), routed by Lakeland 78-50 after an opening-round 44-37 loss to state champion Preston.

Trenkle said he plans to return as Wood River coach next season, when the Wolverines jump up a class into 4A.

He said, "I’m not going to do a one-time shot on this. I’ve liked the way our junior kids have progressed and we won’t have to start from scratch next year. All in all, I had days that I just loved it and days that it just about drove me crazy."

The team banquet is Wednesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. in the high school commons.

State results:

Fruitland 57-47 over WR: Brady Femling 15 points, Jason Hofman 7, Kory Ott 5, Scott Bohrer 4, Brian Ward 4, Jeremy Selcho 4, Matt Pruett 3, Joe Paisley 3, Riley Neff 2. Rebounds (28)—Bohrer 6, Ott 5, Hofman 4. Assists—Femling 3. Steals—Femling 3. 3-pointers—Femling 3. FG—39%. FT—4-11. Opp FT—16-25.

Shelley 47-40 over WR: Femling 14 points, Hofman 11, Pruett 6, Selcho 4, Dylan Fullmer 3, Neff 2. Rebounds —Femling 5, Bohrer 4, Hofman 4. Assists—Bohrer 2. Steals—Pruett 2. 3-pointers—Femling 3, Pruett 2, Fullmer 1. FG—28%. FT—5-8. Opp FT—13-22.

Final WR season statistics (25 games—11-14 overall, 3-6 home, 8-8 away): Offense—48.8 ppg (43.5 state). Defense—51.8 ppg (52.0 state). Free throws—WR 253-457 (55%) including 9-19 (47%) state tourney. Opposition—225-369 (61%) including 29-47 (62%) state tourney.

Individual scorers—Jason Hofman 263 points for 11.0 ppg, Brady Femling 189 points for 7.6 (13.2 in 6 post-season games), Jeremy Selcho 188 for 7.5 ppg, Kory Ott 153 points for 6.1, Scott Bohrer 123 for 4.9, Matt Pruett 70, Riley Neff 65, Brian Ward 64, Joe Paisley 61, Dylan Fullmer 24, Jonathan Dittmer 15, Morgan Uhrig 4. 3-pointers (61)—Femling 28 (24 in last 12 games), Bohrer 13, Ward 12, Fullmer 5, Paisley 1, Dittmer 1, Pruett 1.

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.