Carey earns shot at Richfield
All Carey School wanted was another shot at top-ranked and undefeated Richfield (21-0) and coach Dick Simpson's Panthers earned that championship game shot with a 54-35 win over The Community School Friday.
Senior D.J. Simpson (21 points, 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 4 assists) scored 7 points in the third as #2-seeded Carey (19-3) broke open a close game with a 21-8 third-quarter explosion and breezed to the 19-point win.
The victory put Carey up against Richfield in Tuesday night's championship game of the seven-team Northside 1A Sub-District tournament at Shoshone. Unbeaten Richfield was a 47-31 winner over #4-seeded Shoshone (12-11) in Friday's other semi-final contest.
Carey coach Dick Simpson, whose varsity lost to Richfield 56-41 and 48-40 this season, said about the third meeting, "We have nothing to lose and the pressure is all on them. We just have to come out and play the best we can possibly play."
The winner of Tuesday's Richfield-Carey game qualified as the Northside champion for the 16-team State 1A tourney Feb. 27-March 1 in Caldwell. The loser needs to win the second-place game Monday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. at Shoshone in order to earn a state ticket.
Richfield won last year's Northside tournament after placing second to Carey in the regular season. The two teams have been in the league title game for five straight years, Carey winning in 2006 and 2004, and Richfield in 2007 and 2005.
Both teams competed at the 2007 State 1A tournament, Richfield (20-7) going two-and-out and Carey (22-6) winning two of four state games.
In Friday's Blaine County clash, The Community School came out shooting well and playing aggressive defense and grabbed a 13-12 first-quarter lead over a deeper Panther team that had beaten the Fish by 29 and 18 points this winter.
Simpson said, "We were sluggish at the start and they (Sun Valley) shot the ball well. We had a nice long chat at halftime and decided we had to run the floor and force the issue."
Senior Tyler Parke (10 points, 10 rebounds, 4 steals) did an excellent job defending Cutthroat senior star Mac Whittington (10 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals). The Panthers out-rebounded the Fish 35-24.
Other Carey contributors were Blake Whitby (8 points, two 3-pointers, 5 rebounds), Dillon Simpson (6 points, 3 boards, 2 steals), Kade Peterson (4 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals), Trevor Peck (3 points, 2 assists) and Heith Adamson (2 points).
Chipping in for the Fish were Ian Ingram (10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 assists), Spencer Harris (7 points, 5 assists), Max Harris (6 points, 3 boards) and Travis Stone (2 points, 2 boards, 5 steals).
Carey opened the tournament with a 50-10 win over #7-seeded Camas County (3-20) Friday night. Ten Panthers scored led by D.J. Simpson (11), Peck (8), Parke (8) and Peterson (6). Ben McLam topped Camas.
Blue Devils send Cutthroats home
A state tournament dream came crashing down for The Community School boys' varsity basketball team Monday night at Shoshone, but dreams of an excellent 13-7 campaign linger on for the Cutthroats.
Fifth-seeded Dietrich (9-13) got hot in the second half of Monday's Northside 1A Sub-District elimination game and ousted the #3-seeded Cutthroats 63-53 to win the rubber game of the three-game season series between the two squads.
Junior Luke Hubert (22 points) and senior Anthony Pitman (19 points) led the Blue Devils while Cutthroat senior Max Harris (7.8 ppg, 156 points) matched his season high with 17 for coach Mike Wade's Cutthroats, who improved from last winter's 8-12 campaign.
Senior post Mac Whittington (18.0 ppg) scored 14 points in his final game to finish his 56-game Cutthroat career with 802 points (14.3 ppg), second only to John Hayes (901) on the all-time Sun Valley scoring list.
Another senior, Spencer Harris (11.7 ppg, a team-high 25 3-pointers, 234 points), had 6 points in his finale and ended his career with 640 points, good for fifth all time behind Hayes, Whittington, Jimmy Fairchild (698) and Graham Snyder (675).
Senior Ian Ingram (8.1 ppg, 21 3-pointers, 161 points season) reached double digits each tournament game and popped in 10 points against Dietrich. Lucas Vorsteveld (44 points season) added 4 points and Travis Stone (93) had 2.
The Cutthroats opened their state quest Friday with a 51-32 victory over the Bliss Bears (1-17). Eight Cutthroats scored led by Spencer Harris (16 points, two 3-pointers, 3 assists) and Ingram (11 points, 3 steals).
Ingram also did an excellent defensive job on Bliss' top scorer Cole Erkins (13 points), holding the sophomore to a single point in the first half as the Cutthroats built a 27-5 lead. Wade said, "Cole is one of the premier 3-point shooters in the conference, averaging 14 points with over 40 3-pointers. Our plan was to shut him down since he's their main guy."
Others were Whittington (8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals), Max Harris (7 points, 8 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals), Chet Stephens (3 points), Eddy Albarran (2 points), Stone (2 points, 6 rebounds) and Paul Davis (2 points, 2 assists).
Panther JV grabs another Northside title
Winning their final 11 games, the Carey Panthers of fifth-year junior varsity coach Danny Simpson brought home another Northside Conference JV tournament championship Monday from Shoshone.
Sophomore Brett Adamson scored 21 points including two 3-pointers as Carey's top-seeded JV (19-3) fought off a determined rally by the #3-seeded Shoshone Indians and won Monday's championship game 50-43.
"We led 26-17 at half and went up by 19 at one point, but they made a run and we panicked a little before we got it under control and won by making our free throws," said Simpson. "We were 6-for-9 free throws in the fourth, 7-for-11 the whole game."
Adamson and sophomore Todd Peck (5 points) each made 3-of-4 at the charity line in the fourth. Sophomore Wacey Barg chipped in with 13 points, sophomore Gonzalo Zarate (one 3-pointer) added 5, freshmen Jacy Baird 4 and Antonio Gamino 2.
Carey won its other game of the four-team Northside single elimination boys' JV basketball tournament Friday 47-41 over #4-seeded Dietrich as Adamson (12 points) and Baird (12) led the Big Blue winners.
Simpson's Panther JV captured its fourth Northside title in five years with a deep bench (14 players) and a knack of running off long winning streaks—seven in a row early in the season and 11 straight at the end. The Panthers lost to 3A Gooding, 2A Valley and 1A Oakley but ended up splitting with each team.
"Our zone defense was pretty good the whole year and our freshmen came in and gave us a lot of energy. It was a loose group," said Simpson about the 14-player team that also featured sophomores Brad Peck, Tyler Willis and injured Tyler Chavez plus freshmen Caleb Cenarrusa, Blair Peck, Shane Bingham, Joe Laidlaw and Brandon Dilworth.
Carey's Cook named top 1A athletic chief
Third-year Carey High School athletic director Lee Cook has been named Idaho's 2007-08 1A Athletic Director of the Year in voting by small-school athletic coaches from around the Gem State.
Cook, 59, will be officially honored during the Idaho Athletic Administrators State Convention April 6-9 at Boise's Holiday Inn. The Blaine County School Board announced Cook's honor at its Tuesday meeting.
A 1966 graduate of Carey High School, Cook has been a Carey health and physical education teacher for 24 years. He coached Carey boys' basketball for 18 years with a 224-185 record and has been a Panther football coach for 23 years in addition to a 24-year stint coaching junior high athletics.
Cook, also a farmer, played basketball at Carey for coach Ferris Lynn from 1964-66. He and wife Sandy have six children and five grandchildren.
