Streaking Carey Panthers are top Northside seed
Everybody is shooting to knock off the defending State 1A Division 2 champion Carey High School Panthers during the eight-team Northside Conference boys' tournament that started Tuesday in Castleford.
And coach Dick Simpson's streaking Panthers (14-6), winner of 12 consecutive games, are shooting to get back to the state hoops tournament for the 16th time in the last 20 years.
The Northside tournament won't hit its high point until this weekend's state girls' basketball tournament is over, at which time Carey will resume its quest for a seventh consecutive season of 20 wins.
But the small school boys got four first-round games under their belts Tuesday with No. 1 Carey (14-6, 8-0 league) playing No. 8 Richfield (5-15, 1-7)) on the Castleford floor.
Other first-round games featured, on Tuesday, No. 4 Murtaugh (11-8, 5-3) vs. No. 5 Lighthouse (7-12, 4-4); and, today, Wednesday, No. 2 Castleford (10-8, 7-1) against No. 7 Community School (6-10, 2-6) at 7:30 p.m. and No. 3 Dietrich (15-2, 6-2) against No. 6 Camas County of Fairfield (7-11, 3-5) at 6 p.m.
Carey and Castleford faced off in last year's thrilling championship game at Murtaugh—the Panthers rallying from a 13-point deficit to put up a 32-point fourth quarter in a come-from-behind 57-56 win. It was Carey's second straight Northside tourney title and sixth in the past nine years.
The championship game is set for Tuesday, Feb. 21. The top two Northside teams qualify for the State 1A Division 2 tourney March 1 in Caldwell.
"Senior Night" battles
Both Carey and the Community School tuned up for the tournament with a pair of hard-fought "Senior Night" league games last Friday night. Carey held off Dietrich 58-50 and Camas County earned the No. 6 seed by winning 51-46 over the Cutthroats at the Fish Tank.
At Carey, the Panthers shot 40% from the field including 5-for-17 from behind the arc and made their 25-15 halftime lead stand up over Dietrich (29% field goal shooting). The Blue Devils out-shot the foul-plagued Panthers 16-7 at the free throw line, but Carey's deep roster had eight more field goals.
Carey's top scorer Baley Barg (14.9 ppg) came to play with 17 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Point guard Jordan Dilworth made a major contribution with 6 points, 7 boards and 4 assists. Dillon Cenarrusa (10.5 ppg) added 8 points, 5 boards and 2 blocks.
Others were Jack Cenarrusa 9 points; Charlie Rivera 5 points, 2 assists and 2 steals; Sheldon Hansen 6 points; and Chance Chavez 5 points. Andru Howard (16 points) and Jakob Howard (12) topped Dietrich.
At the Fish Tank, Cutthroat 6-5 senior post Henry Rickbeil rarely gets out-rebounded, but he had his hands full with 6-2 Musher junior post Jordan Robles in the Musher victory that gave Camas the rubber game in the three-game season series.
Robles (16 points, 21 rebounds) tallied 8 points with 9 boards in the fourth quarter alone and Camas rode his inside play to victory in a close game that featured five ties and seven lead changes. Rickbeil (13 points, 11 boards, 2 assists, 5 blocked shots) was also a force.
<
The Cutthroats led 32-26 in the third quarter, but the Mushers led by senior Andrew Simon (game-high 17 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals, 6 assists) went on an 11-4 run and assumed a 37-36 lead after three.
Other contributors for the Cutthroats, who dropped their fourth straight, were Will Brokaw (11 points, 4 rebounds, 5 steals), Jake Flaherty (season-high 7 points, 2 boards, 2 assists), Taylor Adler (11 points, 3 steals), Colton Sholtis (4 rebounds) and Doug DuFur (4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists).
Junior Davey Knowlton (8 points) and senior George Simon (5 points, 4 assists) chipped in to the Musher cause.
Wrestlers head to Canyon Ridge for GBC meet
Wood River High School wrestling coach Shawn Huntington has 11 of his 15 wrestlers seeded for today's Great Basin Conference 4A wrestling tournament starting at 11 a.m. at Canyon Ridge High School in Twin Falls.
Today's six-school tournament qualifies four GBC wrestlers in each of the 15 weight classes for the State 4A tournament Feb. 24-25 at Holt Arena on the Idaho State University campus in Pocatello. Last year's GBC tournament champion was Minico of Rupert.
Seeded Wolverine wrestlers:
1—Sophomore Cooper Bailey at 120 pounds and junior Thomas Heiden at 182. Bailey is Wood River's only returning GBC district champion, having won at 112 pounds in 2011.
2—Junior Tim Boyle 113 and junior Storm Anderson at 170.
3—Junior Tommy Bailey 145 and senior Jeremiah Linderman at 220.
4—Junior Chris Carnes at 285.
5—Sophomore Kyle Clark 138 and freshman Jackson Toothman 160.
6—Sophomore Kaleb Guisasola at 106 and senior Andrew Beck 120.
Other Wolverine entrants for today's meet are sophomore Riley Beck at 126, sophomores Dillon Bunce and Jake Halopoff at 132, and senior Zach Brown at 152.
Hailey boys open GBC tourney at Burley
Coach Rick Bradshaw's Wood River High School boys' varsity basketball team carried the underdog role into this week's six-team Great Basin Conference tournament.
No. 6 seed Wood River (2-17, 0-10 league) clashed with No. 3 seed Burley (11-9, 6-4) in Tuesday's first-round game at Burley. The other first-round game was No. 4 Canyon Ridge of Twin Falls (6-14, 4-6) hosting No. 5 Minico (4-16, 2-8).
In the case of a loss at Burley Tuesday, Wood River would have advanced into a loser-out game Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. at the loser of Canyon Ridge and Minico. The Wolverines have had some of their closest games all season against Canyon Ridge and defending GBC tournament champion Minico.
Top seeds are No. 1 Twin Falls (18-2, 10-0) and No. 2 Jerome (17-3, 8-2). Twin Falls was second in the league tourney last year and captured third in the State 4A meet.
Leading Wolverine scorers are senior guard Austin Hafer (9.2 ppg) and junior post Ben Williams (5.8 ppg). Each scored 6 points apiece in Wood River's 73-29 "Senior Night" home loss to Rigby (18-2) last Friday.
