Kellogg, Moscow Cruise Into Title Game

A-2 District I-II

The co-Intermountain League-champion boys basketball teams played like they have the scent of a district title Wednesday night.

Kellogg crushed St. Maries 90-46 while Moscow bulldozed Priest River 76-44 in A-2 District I-II Tournament action at Lake City High School.

The top-seeded teams will meet Friday night at about 7:30 to decide the district crown. St. Maries (9-11 overall) and Priest River (5-16) will collide in a loser-out game preceding the championship showdown at 6.

Kellogg 90, St. Maries 46

How does defense propel a team to 90 points?

If ever there were such an example, the Wildcats’ win Wednesday is it.

Kellogg (18-3) used tenacious man-to-man defense to charge to a 31-17 lead at halftime, then used a combination of its halfcourt defense and fullcourt pressure to blister the Lumberjacks 36-11 in the third quarter.

The Wildcats forced eight St. Maries turnovers in the third period. And every defensive stop turned into gold on the offensive end.

“That’s the way we do things and that’s the way we’re going to do things while I’m here,” first-year Kellogg coach Tony Kerfoot said. “That’s our No. 1 objective. If you get after it and play defense, it’ll feed your offense.”

The defense certainly set the table, and Kellogg guard Jeremy Behm did much of the rest on offense - at least in the third quarter.

Behm, who missed the past two games with an eye injury, didn’t need clear vision to make layups in the telling third period. He had four layups and hit a 3-pointer and assorted free throws to score 16 of his game-high 27 points.

Kellogg has allowed opponents an average of 49.3 points per game. The Wildcats starters and key reserves allowed St. Maries just 28 points through three periods. Kellogg led 67-28 going into the final quarter.

The Wildcats held 6-foot-5 St. Maries junior post Chris Weinmann to one point, a night after he scored 29 in a first-round win over Lakeland.

“Defense has a way of turning momentum and it’s hard to turn that around,” Kerfoot said. “When you get one landsliding like that, everyone joins in the fun.”

The Lumberjacks’ chief objective was to contain 6-7 Kellogg senior post Casey Fisher, who came into the game 19 points shy of the 1,000 mark for a career. Fisher scored 11, eight below his season average, but there were plenty of players who picked up the slack.

“They had a lot of other people contribute,” St. Maries coach Todd Bitterman said.

The Wildcats are excited about the chance to defend their district title, Kerfoot said. Moscow and Kellogg split a pair of league games, winning on their homecourts.

“A lot of our kids have been looking forward to Friday night all year,” Kerfoot said. “That was one of their goals.”

Kerfoot doesn’t see a favorite Friday.

“I think it’s going to be a barn-burner; I don’t think we’re the favorite,” Kerfoot said. “I wouldn’t want to call it. We beat each other by similar scores. I think we have two pretty even teams ready to tee it off.”

For Bitterman, he hopes his team can refocus for what should be a tough loser-out game against the Spartans.

“We hope to make it to Saturday,” Bitterman said of the game to decide the second seed to state.

Steve Raebel led St. Maries with 14 points. Jim Spooner added 11.

St. Maries 7 10 11 18 - 46

Kellogg 17 14 36 23 - 90

ST. MARIES Spooner 11, Sindt 0, Craner 4, Eccles 0, Mettler 0, Eberlin 2, Weinmann 1, M. Raebel 2, Holdahl 2, Dawson 5, S. Raebel 14, Bifford 5.

KELLOGG Mercado 6, Corkill 8, Behm 27, Hansen 8, Kohal 6, Fisher 11, Towne 7, Rice 0, Derbyshire 0, Carlson 9, Little 3, Marek 3, Morrison 0.

Moscow 76, Priest River 44

It wasn’t quite over before it started, but it was close.

A 12-1 run by Moscow to close the first quarter gave the Bears a 23-8 lead going into the second quarter.

And it just got uglier from there for the grossly undermanned Spartans. Relentless Moscow (17-3) pushed its lead to 41-16 by halftime.

Moscow had superb efforts by many players. The Bears’ 6-10 junior post, Jason Keep, scored 15 of his team-high 17 points in the first half. Overall, he made 8 of 9 shots from the field without breaking much of a sweat.

Priest River’s play was in stark contrast to its best game of the season, a 75-68 upset of Bonners Ferry the night before.

Priest River 8 8 14 14 - 44

Moscow 23 18 17 18 - 76

PRIEST RIVER Score 4, Ackley 0, Bradbury 19, Rabe 4, Thornton 2, Cook 2, Walters 2, Storro 5, Johnson 5, Coleman 1, Oscarson 0.

MOSCOW Dudley 8, Strobel 3, Curtis 1, Miller 13, Petersen 8, Lathen 8, Z. Johnson 2, Stinebaugh 3, G. Johnson 5, Keep 17, Owen 6, Cosgrove 0, Richards 2, Westberg 0.

, DataTimes