St. George’s Boys Send No. 1 Team Home

Northeast B

One day after suffering their first loss of the season, the Curlew boys were dealt a knockout blow courtesy of St. George’s.

The Dragons overcame illnesses and injuries to end the first-ranked Cougars’ postseason with a 52-45 win Friday night in the Northeast District B Tournament at Spokane Falls Community College.

St. George’s will meet Sprague-Harrington today at 3:15 p.m. with the winner advancing to the State B Tournament next week in Spokane. The Falcons were winners in their loserout game against Republic, 42-29.

In girls’ action, Almira/Coulee-Hartline ousted Reardan 60-45 and Selkirk eliminated Wilbur-Creston 66-36. The Warriors and Rangers will play at 1:30 p.m. today for the NEB’s third and final state tournament berth.

Boys

Jason Ala scored 16 points and came up big for St. George’s (17-10) with a blocked shot and pair of free throws in the game’s final seconds.

Ala denied Gary Hughes’ potential gametying shot with 30 seconds remaining to preserve a 47-45 Dragons lead.

“I was just sitting in the middle of the key and I saw that he was going to have a layin,” Ala said. “All my teammates got it set up perfectly - they cleared out, I saw it coming and my instincts took over.”

Mike Thomas proceeded to hit a free throw for St. George’s to send the Dragons ahead 48-45, and with 9 seconds left, Ala converted two foul shots to put the game out of reach.

St. George’s coach Jennifer Mountain said she was pleased with her team’s effort, particularly since starters Thomas and Dan Cook were battling severe cases of the flu.

“The game plan was to pressure the ball a lot and block out, because in the past we really got killed on the boards,” Mountain said. “Brent Davis ran the show and he did a great job. In the past, he’s turned the ball over a little bit, but tonight he got it under control.”

Curlew (24-2) battled foul trouble for the second straight night, sending St. George’s to the line 19 times. The Dragons connected on 16 from the charity stripe while the Cougars were 2 of 8.

In regards to today’s game with SpragueHarrington, Mountain said fatigue may play a factor.

“At this point of the tournament, both teams are going to be tired,” she said. “They (Falcons) had to play today, too. We’re a little sick right now, but hopefully we can get some rest tonight.”

St. George’s 15 9 9 19 - 52 Curlew 11 14 10 10 - 45

ST. GEORGE’S Davis 6, Kennedy 2, Laugen 9, Ala 16, Cook 2, Thomas 17.

CURLEW Paul 8, Brown 2, Edwards 6, Hughes 15, Wakefield 2, Nelson 12.

Sprague-Harrington 49, Republic 29 Ryan Floyd grabbed nine of SpragueHarrington’s 18 steals as the Falcons (25-1) hounded Tigers ballhandlers into committing 23 turnovers.

Nick Colbert scored 16 points for SpragueHarrington, and the Falcons outrebounded Republic (16-11) 28-20.

Jason Baldwin and Aaron Hunt each scored 10 points to pace the Tigers.

Republic 4 8 10 7 - 29 Sprague-Harr. 8 12 12 17 - 49

REPUBLIC B.Burt 0, Hanks 0, Krohn 0, Baldwin 10, Grimm 0, Michaels 0, G.Burt 0, Rickard 0, Symmes 0, J.Kuchenmeister 7, K.Kuchenmeister 2, Hunt 10.

SPRAGUE-HARRINGTON Newcomb 0, Floyd 14, Bly 11, Korby 1, Putney 0, Countryman 1, Schmitt 2, Hattrup 4, Carper 0, Colbert 16.

Girls

Taunya Durrant had eight rebounds, 14 points and two blocked shots to spark Almira/CouleeHartline (20-7) over Reardan (16-10).

Durrant keyed the Warriors’ domination of the Indians on the boards as Almira/Coulee-Hartline outrebounded Reardan 42-25.

“Taunya had a real good game,” Warriors coach Bill Higginbotham said. “She made some big baskets, blocked some shots and got a bunch of big defensive rebounds for us.”

Reardan shot just 16 of 61 from the field and 3 of 16 from 3-point range.

Higginbotham said his team is looking forward to its game with Wilbur-Creston this afternoon.

“We’ve just got to have a great effort from everybody tomorrow,” he said. “We’re both playing for a trip to state and I don’t think either team’s intimidated by the other, so we’ve just got to do the best we can.”

Reardan 11 3 10 21 - 45 ACH 13 18 15 14 - 60

REARDAN Bocook 12, Humphrey 10, Echelbarger 0, Holwegner 5, Lovelady 7, Titchenal 2, Guhlke 0, Rohner 6, Soliday 0, Jernstrom , Krupke 3, Supinger 0, Turner 0.

ALMIRA COULEE-HARTLINE Horter 1, Hennigh 4, Rock 11, Thiry 3, Peterson 11, Hunsaker 7, White 1, Durrant 14, Malone 8.

Wilbur-Creston 66, Selkirk 36 The Wildcats (22-4) limited the Rangers (15-12) to two points in the first quarter and cruised to an easy victory.

Jessica Martin scored 25 points to lead WilburCreston, and Selkirk shot 13 of 50 from the field.

Tasha Dickinson had 17 points to lead the Rangers.

Selkirk 2 11 14 9 - 36 Wilbur-Creston 20 14 18 14 - 66

SELKIRK P.Dickinson 2, T.Dickinson 17, Sharp 0, Smith 0, Jennings 2, Grass 0, Pichette 6, Weaver 0, Koontz 5, Dury 2, Porter 0, Carlson 2.

WILBUR-CRESTON L.Arden 0, Deahl 0, Allen 7, Llewellyn 2, Grant 7, Martin 25, Russell 2, Krause 0, Haden 5, H.Arden 8, Bandy 9, Kunz 1.