Badgers’ hopes buried

MERIDIAN, Idaho – Not even a real badger, let alone the two-legged variety wearing the Bonners Ferry High boys basketball uniforms, could have dug out of as many holes as the ones the Badgers found themselves in on Friday.

The final den eventually caved in on Bonners Ferry – largely because of Buhl’s defense and in part because of the Badgers’ horrific shooting.

Buhl’s balanced inside/outside combinations allowed the Indians to slowly bury the Badgers, 56-45, in a State 3A tournament semifinal at Meridian High School.

The Indians (20-4) face off against Shelley (20-7), a 48-44 winner over two-time state champ Snake River (15-7), in the title game this afternoon.

Bonners Ferry (19-5) can capture its first state trophy since 2002 when the Badgers meet Snake River (15-6) to decide third place this morning at 10.

Buhl 56, Bonners Ferry 45: The Badgers were playing from behind most of the game.

BF led once, at 9-8 midway in the first quarter. But a 9-2 spurt allowed Buhl to open a 17-11 lead by period’s end.

Twice the Indians built 11-point leads in the second period. The Badgers managed to stay within eyesight of Buhl, trailing 29-22 at halftime.

The Badgers chipped away at the lead in the opening minutes of the third quarter, eventually knotting the score at 31 when James Krecji hit a 3-pointer on a kick-out pass from Jesus Mendez at the 5:14 mark. But the Indians waved off BF thereafter.

A strong basket inside by Will Chivers, who did a nice job sealing the bottom man in the Badgers’ 2-3 zone on his back, pushed Buhl’s lead back to double digits at 45-35 with 5:52 to go in the fourth quarter.

A driving basket by A.J. Bennett pulled BF within 49-41 with 1:37 to go. But the Badgers wouldn’t get any closer. A 3-pointer by BF’s Drew Galloway in the waning seconds at least made the final score more respectable.

Ryan Winebark made BF’s first 3-point attempt early in the first quarter. The Badgers combined to miss their next eight 3-point attempts in the first half. BF made three more 3-point shots in the second half, but finished 4 of 22 from behind the arc overall. Just as bad, the Badgers shot 24 percent overall (14 of 58).

“There at the end we just couldn’t make shots,” said Bennett, who led the Badgers with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists. “Two real tough games in two days … our legs were a little bit dead.”

Bennett said the Badgers felt hopeful when they tied the score in the third quarter.

“I think we started thinking then that it could be done, that we could go to the state championship game,” Bennett said. “We just came up a little bit short. All year we haven’t shot really well from the 3-point line. That was sort of our Achilles’ heel tonight.”