Sant Sends Wampus Cats Into Battle For Third In Idaho A-4

A-3/A-4

Justin Sant has been heralded as one of the top players in the state at any high school level. Friday night, he nearly single-handedly led North Gem to a 54-32 victory over Clark Fork in the semifinals of the A-4 state tournament.

Sant scored 21 points, dished out eight assists, had five steals and pulled down 12 rebounds as the Cowboys advanced to play Notus in the championship game at 2:30 p.m. PST in Idaho State’s Holt Arena.

Notus whipped Dietrich 77-51.

Clark Fork will play Dietrich for third place at 10:15 a.m. at Hillcrest High School.

“We just weren’t fired up tonight,” Clark Fork coach Bill Nietmann said. “We were lethargic and out of synch.”

Actually, Clark Fork came out strong. The Wampus Cats worked the ball inside to 6-foot-5 senior Mike Gow, and held a 17-15 lead midway through the second quarter. But then North Gem went on a 10-0 run to take a 25-17 lead at intermission.

“The key to the game was that last 3 minutes of the first half,” Nietmann said. “They got that run and we never got back into the game.”

Gow, who led Clark Fork with 16 points, had 12 in the first half.

“We made some adjustments on defense at halftime and tried to close off the passing lanes better with our zone defense,” North Gem coach Ken Christiansen said. “(Kevin) Hebdon did a great job defensively on their big guy in the second half. I am really excited about the way we played defense tonight.”

Midway through the third period, North Gem built at 18-point lead after Sant hit two treys and Adam Peterson added another 3.

Clark Fork, which got no closer than 11, Sant didn’t score much after that, but he found his teammates open for easy buckets.Clark Fork, on the other hand, became very impatient and began gunning from long range with no results.

“It will be hard to get excited about playing for third place tomorrow, but I think we lost to the eventual state champion tonight.”

Gow had a game-high 14 rebounds, 10 in the first half.

North Gem 13 12 12 17 54 Clark Fork 13 4 11 4 32

NORTH GEM

Mickelsen 0, Wilson 0, B. Peterson 2, A. Peterson 8, Hatch 0, Matt Weaver 6, Mike Weaver 6, Sant 21, Hanson 2, Bybee 0, Hebdon 7, Smith 2.

CLARK FORK

Lambert 3, B. Stevens 0, Gow 16, Cheslik 2, Lazzotte 7, Reuter 0, J. Stevens 4, Higgins 0.

Notus 77, Dietrich 52:

Senior guard Chris Horn scored 20 points and forced several turnovers as Notus (24-3) overpowered Dietrich (21-7) to reach the title game.

Troy 52, Nampa Christian 44

Guard Jason Shull scored 22 points and forward Steve Kirkland 19 as Troy (22-4) beat Nampa Christian (22-3).

Oakley 70, Cascade 57

Senior forward Spencer Mullen scored 31 points as Oakley (19-7) ousted Cascade (19-7).

A-3:

Potlatch 61, Lapwai 52

Junior post Jacob Vowels chipped in 19 points for top-ranked Potlatch as the Loggers (25-1) cruised by Lapwai (21-7) into the title game.

Teton 73, Wendell 59

Senior forward Spencer Nead made a game-high 24 points as Teton (22-7) crushed Wendell (18-8) in the other semifinal.

Fruitland 92, West Jefferson 68

Senior Brian Gardner scored 36 points as Fruitland (18-8) eliminated West Jefferson (19-6).

Malad 66, Parma 62 (OT)

Senior Jason Peterson scored 18 points as Malad (19-6) got by Parma (13-12) in overtime.