Playing your best basketball of the season at tournament time is the main objective of high school basketball programs—and that's just where the Wood River High School boys are situated, right now.
"We're playing as good as we can play," said Wood River head coach Fred Trenkle, pointing to last week's 61-58 and 54-50 (2 OT) home losses to Hillcrest of Idaho Falls and Blackfoot in the season finales.
He added, "I told the kids at the beginning, if you're worried about wins and losses, you're going to be disappointed this season. We decided we wanted to play our best ball by the tournament—and that's where we're at. I knew it was going to take all year."
Fourth-seeded Wood River (2-18, 0-6 league) traveled to top-seeded Jerome (12-8, 6-0) Tuesday for the opening game of the Great Basin Conference West 4A Region four tournament.
Win or lose, Wood River will play again on the road Thursday, at Minico or Burley.
Jerome beat Wood River by 15 and 6 points this year and the Tigers have won seven of nine entering the four-team double elimination tourney.
But Trenkle was confident about Wood River's continued strong defense and its progress implementing new offensive schemes. The Wolverines (41.4 ppg) have scored 50 points or more in three of the last five.
He said Monday, "We're doing what we have to do and they've got to stop us. If we play our best game, good things will happen."
Trenkle said last week's Hillcrest and Blackfoot nailbiters were "back-to-back great games." He was particularly impressed with Thursday's "Senior Night," game against Blackfoot—especially with Wood River's rally from a five-point fourth-quarter deficit.
"Usually you don't play your best basketball on Senior Night. To come back and play as well as we did after that tough loss to Hillcrest the night before, well, it tells me we're right where we should be," said Trenkle.
Blackfoot (9-11), winners by 24 points at home over Wood River Dec. 18, settled for an 18-14 half-time lead Thursday on the Hailey hardwoods. The Wolverines managed only three field goals in the first half but lived at the free throw line (15-for-18 for the game).
In the third quarter the Wolverines clawed back into a 29-29 tie with senior Reno Christino (7.2 ppg) scoring 6 of his 15 points and senior Brady Femling (12.3 ppg) heating up with 5 points of his game-high 19 points for the evening.
Femling tossed in 6 more points in the fourth including a huge four-point play that erased Blackfoot's five-point lead with 2:57 to play. Then, Morgan Uhrig (5 points) hit nothing but net with a game-tying 3-pointer for a 38-38 tie.
In the first four-minute OT period, Femling took a back door pass from Uhrig and scooped up a left-hander for a 40-38 Hailey lead, then Christino stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for a 42-38 cushion. Two Christino free throws made it 44-42, but Blackfoot converted a putback with five seconds left for a 44-44 tie.
Christino and senior Dylan Fullmer fouled out in the second OT, limiting Trenkle's options, and Blackfoot outscored Wood River 10-6 for the victory.
Sophomore Corbin Miniard tallied 4 of his 5 points in the second OT while Fullmer, Craig Werley and Ted Dankanyin added 2 points each.
Brady Femling (a game-high 19 points) lines up a jumper during Wood River's 54-50 double overtime home loss to Blackfoot on "Senior Night," Thursday in Hailey. Photo by David N. Seelig
