"You'll never see better basketball teams in our gym," said Wood River High School boys' basketball coach Fred Trenkle.
Trenkle referred to Skyview of Nampa and the Twin Falls Bruins, two good teams coming to the Hailey gym Saturday, Nov. 26 as part of a three-school Thanksgiving weekend jamboree with Wood River.
Wood River, a 4A team, will play defending State 4A champion Skyview at 6 p.m. Saturday in an abbreviated pre-season game consisting of two, eight-minute quarters.
Twin Falls, a 5A squad, goes against Skyview about 7 p.m. in the same format, and Wood River plays Twin Falls afterward. Trenkle said Twin Falls and Skyview wanted to play each other in the pre-season but the teams couldn't agree upon a site, so Wood River stepped up to host the meeting.
"It's going to be a great night of basketball," said Trenkle. "Skyview is the defending state champion and pre-season #1 with 6-11, 6-5, and 6-3 players. And Twin Falls was #1 in the state for most of last season."
Skyview (23-3) beat Bishop Kelly of Boise (19-7) by a 79-65 score last March in the State 4A championship game at Nampa. It was the first big-school boys' basketball championship for a Nampa school in 55 years.
Among those returning from that Skyview state title team are starters Matt Ballenger (21 points, 14 rebounds in the final), Louie Beech (17 points, 10 boards) and Tom Taylor (10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 blocks in Skyview's 70-53 win over Sandpoint in the state opener).
Twin Falls (25-1), after entering the 5A tournament undefeated with a 23-0 record, lost 57-41 to Borah in the semi-final and captured third place 75-65 over Eagle. Borah (22-4) won its second straight state championship 64-53 over Highland.
Wood River season passes won't be accepted Saturday because the jamboree is an Idaho High School Activities Association fund-raising event. Tickets are $5 adults.
Trenkle's Wood River team debuts its 20-game regular-season slate Wednesday, Nov. 30 at home against the Blackfoot Broncos.
Carey jamboree
Coach Dick Simpson's Carey School boys' basketball team will also host a season-opening jamboree Saturday, Nov. 26 to get football fans away from the television for a few minutes.
Idaho City will play Hagerman at 4 p.m. Saturday, followed by Carey against Idaho City in a rematch of the first-round State 1A tournament game between the two schools won by Carey 62-44 in 2004.
Last year at state, Idaho City fell 56-55 in the State 1A first round to eventual state tournament runner-up Mackay.
The final two-quarter game Saturday will match Carey and Hagerman, about 6 p.m.
Carey's Panthers are led by returning All-Northside Conference first-teamers Tadd Green and Tyler Cook, both seniors. Carey opens its 2005-06 campaign Wednesday, Nov. 30 at Oakley.
