Both teams played hard, but there was a friendly pre-holiday feeling about Thursday's Northside Conference boys' basketball match-up between Blaine County rivals Carey School and The Community School.
Northside contender Carey, getting points from eight players and going to its bench for much of the game, raced to an early 10-0 lead and breezed to a 45-26 league triumph on a snowy night at Carey School.
It was quite an evening for two seniors, Community School 6-2 forward Caspar Brun (a career-high 22 points) and Carey's hard-driving 5-11 forward and inspirational leader Heith Adamson (18 points).
Community School assistant coach Jim Carkonen said, "Caspar had been poised for an impressive breakout game. He pulled out all the stops and rambled down the lane numerous times to score 22 of the 26 Cutthroat points." Brun tallied all 15 of Sun Valley's points after the half.
Added Carkonen, "Despite the obvious effects from a week filled with late-night studies, final exams and missed practices, the Cutthroat boys all made a great effort. They were simply unable to match the aggressiveness of this core group of conditioned Carey players who last month won a state football championship in convincing fashion."
Senior Lucas Vorsteveld (2 points) did a good job on the Cutthroat boards, Alex Conn made a putback and Will Weston came up with a number of steals.
For Carey, top scorer Brett Adamson (14.8 ppg) scored all 7 of his points before the half, Trevor Peck added 6 points, Wacey Barg 4, Tyler Chavez 3 points plus solid boardwork, Gonzalo Zarate made a 3-pointer, Jacy Baird 2 and Brad Peck 2 points and some crafty passes.
The Panthers won the boys' junior varsity game 45-13. Leading the Cutthroat JV were Dane Inman (9 points), Henry Rickbeil (3 points, 10 rebounds) and Reed Stokes (1 point).
In another Northside game, league-leading Richfield (6-0, 4-0) finished a week of knocking off its main league rivals with a 77-57 victory at Dietrich (4-2, 3-1) Friday.
Carey (4-2, 2-2 league) had its non-conference game Friday night against the Valley Vikings at Hazelton postponed by weather. It was rescheduled for Friday, Jan. 2, then the Panthers go to Murtaugh Jan. 6.
The Community School (2-3, 2-1) entertains the Camas County Musher varsity on Saturday, Jan. 3 in a 3:30 p.m. tip-off at The Fish Tank in Sun Valley, preceded by the 2 p.m. girls' junior varsity game between the two Northside schools. It will be the first of four straight home games.
Carey senior Heith Adamson (18 points) powers his way to the Panther basket during Thursday’s 45-26 Carey homecourt victory over The Community School Cutthroats. Defending is 6-0 Sun Valley senior Chet Stephens. Photo by David N. Seelig
