The 2006-07 high school basketball regular season is down to two games for the Wood River High School boys' varsity. One of those games is tonight's "Senior Night" non-league contest against Pocatello on the Hailey hardwoods.
Pocatello (6-12) is a decent match-up for Wood River (7-11) and its six seniors Cory Rutkowski, Travis Beckman, Danny Sibrian, David Sibrian, David Pinkard and Clay Johnson. The Indians have struggled since beating Wood River 43-35 on Dec. 6 in the Gate City.
But Pocatello has enjoyed one shining moment. That came Dec. 22, in Burley, when the Indians outscored and out-hustled the favored Bobcats 25-16 in the fourth quarter and stunned Burley 56-54. It's still the only loss for top-ranked 4A school Burley (18-1, 6-0 league).
Coach John Radford's up-and-down Wood River squad has played Burley reasonably tough in two match-ups, losing 64-55 at Burley Jan. 19 and then dropping a low-scoring 45-32 Great Basin Conference West affair Friday in Hailey.
Otherwise, Burley has been tough with 15-point, 20-point, 10-point and 27-point winning margins against its other Great Basin rivals Jerome and Minico. The Bobcats are on an 11-game winning streak and will be the top seed and defending champion in next week's Great Basin West tourney. And Burley is a young team with one senior and eight juniors.
Ice-cold shooting by both teams was on display during Friday's Burley-Wood River league contest in Hailey.
The Wolverines got balanced scoring in the first period and led 15-12 at the break. Defensively the home team held Burley's outstanding junior guard Colton Moon to just one field goal in the first half.
But the Bobcats kept plugging away and built their rally on the boards, out-rebounding Wood River 28-15 in the final three periods led by 6-5 sophomore post Kyle Hepworth.
Wood River, creating them but missing many easy shots, scored only 10 points in the second half, the same number scored after halftime by Moon, who finished with a game-high 12 points. Hepworth added 11.
Top scorers for Wood River were Matt Staskiewicz (9 points), Beckman (6), David Sibrian (6), Erik Jacobson (5) and Rutkowski (5).
After tonight's "Senior Night," Wood River travels to Glenns Ferry Thursday, Feb. 8 for the regular-season finale. The #2-ranked Idaho 2A team behind undefeated Aberdeen, Glenns Ferry (14-3) has a seven-game winning streak. The Pilots lost 63-49 in Hailey Dec. 14.
But tonight's game against Pocatello is important more than being "Senior Night." Wood River must win over Pocatello to have a chance for the third seed in next week's Great Basin West tournament.
Wood River (7-11, 5-4 home, 1-5 league) stacks up favorably with Minico (6-12, 1-5).
The two teams have identical league records and head-to-head marks. But the Spartans have split their two meetings against common conference opponent Pocatello so Wood River needs to do the same in the league's tiebreaking set-up.
A victory over Pocatello would give Wood River a chance to earn the third seed and travel to #3-seeded Jerome (11-7, 4-2) for the opening round of the tournament Tuesday. If the Wolverines lose, they'll be the fourth seed and will travel to #1 Burley Tuesday, Feb. 13 in the opening round.
Wood River?s Matt Staskiewicz drives past Burley?s Jordan Hosteen during Friday?s game won by Burley 45-32.
