Moscow Ties Down State Spot Defeats Kellogg For District Crown

Moscow High School boys basketball coach Don Dudley’s tie, a stylish print crowded with basketballs, didn’t win Friday’s A-2 District I-II championship game at Lake City High’s gym.

Defense did.

Just the same, Dudley wasn’t taking any chances.

“My wife bought this for me about a year and half ago,” Dudley explained following his team’s 55-46 victory over Kellogg before a crowd of 1,100.

“I told her I wasn’t going to wear it until we played Kellogg at home (a Moscow victory two weeks ago). Then I wear it and one of the Kellogg coaches had one on just like it. I told our guys, ‘I’m wearing it up here.”’

Moscow (18-3) advanced to next week’s State A-2 Tournament at Reed Gym in Pocatello. The Bears will open against the winner of today’s Marsh Valley-Salmon game.

Kellogg (18-4), which shared the regular-season Intermountain League title with Moscow, plays St. Maries for the district’s second state berth today at 1 at Lake City.

St. Maries (10-11) edged Priest River 59-58 in an earlier elimination game.

Moscow 55, Kellogg 46

Dudley said the tie won’t make an encore performance unless the Bears advance to the state title game.

If they continue playing defense like they did Friday, that’s a possibility.

Kellogg shot just 7 of 28 in the second half, 16 of 51 for the game. After a 90-point explosion against St. Maries on Wednesday, Wildcats shooters couldn’t shake free of Moscow’s aggressive man-to-man pressure.

“We didn’t have good movement, we didn’t have good screens, we didn’t make good passes, we didn’t make good cuts,” Kellogg coach Tony Kerfoot said.

He paused for a second and added, “And we didn’t make any shots.”

Casey Fisher, the IML’s leading scorer at 19.5 per game, was 0 of 6 in the second half. He did make 6 of 11 foul shots.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s 6-foot-10 center, Jason Keep, had 10 key points in the first half as the Bears built a 25-21 lead.

Bears senior Scott Petersen, who hit a 3-pointer just before the buzzer ended the first half, connected on three more 3s in the second half.

“He’s hurt us every time he’s played us,” Kerfoot said. “If it’s not his defense, he’s hitting the 3. He does a heck of a job for them coming off the bench.”

Jeremy Behm, who finished with 14 points, trimmed Moscow’s lead to 48-43 with 2 minutes remaining, but Ryan Dudley, the coach’s son, responded with five pressure free throws in the final minute.

Fisher finished with 13 points.

“Fisher got really frustrated,” Petersen said. “I noticed when he was running down the court, he kept shaking his head.”

Kellogg 10 11 10 15 - 46

Moscow 9 16 15 15 - 55

KELLOGG Kohal 6, Behm 14, Carlson 0, Fisher 13, Hansen 8, Mercado 4, Corkill 1, Rice 0, Little 0.

MOSCOW Dudley 9, Miller 7, Z. Johnson 2, Owen 1, Lathen 8, Keep 14, Petersen 12, Stinebaugh 2, Strobel 0.

St. Maries 59, Priest River 58

Chris Weinmann scored St. Maries’ first nine fourth-quarter points as the Lumberjacks overhauled Priest River.

Weinmann, who finished with 22 points, hit a put-back, one of five crucial offensive rebounds for the Lumberjacks in the last period, for a 50-47 lead with 3:23 left to play.

He later added a layup, off a feed from D.J. Eberlin, at the 1-minute mark to give the ‘Jacks a four-point lead. Four free throws sealed the victory.

Priest River’s Darin Bradbury had 17 points as the Spartans took a 30-25 lead at half. The margin swelled to 37-29 in the third period before Weinmann rallied St. Maries.

Bradbury finished with 27 points for Priest River, which ended the year 5-17.

St. Maries 9 16 16 18 - 59

Priest River 13 17 13 15 - 58

ST. MARIES Eberlin 1, Weinmann 22, S. Raebel 16, Dawson 0, Craner 0, M. Raebel 4, Eccles 3, Holdahl 4, Spooner 9.

PRIEST RIVER Score 15, Bradbury 27, Thornton 5, Walters 4, Storro 0, Cook 4, Johnson 3, Ackley 0.

All-IML

Minutes after absorbing Friday’s costly defeat, Kellogg’s Casey Fisher was named Most Valuable Player of the Intermountain League.

Fisher was joined on the All-IML squad by teammates Tim Kohal and Jeremy Behm, Bonners Ferry’s Brian Meeker and Adam Hiatt, Lakeland’s Paul Kowalczyk, Steve Raebel of St. Maries, Moscow’s Ryan Dudley and Adam Miller and Priest River’s Darin Bradbury.

, DataTimes