Duffey Does In Kellogg Again; St. Maries Earns State A-2 Spot

A-2 District I-II

St. Maries’ Trent Duffey wishes his parents could have been on hand to see his game-winning basket Saturday night.

Kellogg, meanwhile, has seen enough of Duffey.

For the second time in eight days, Duffey beat the Wildcats, sinking an off-balance, 10-footer with 1.5 seconds left in St. Maries’ thrilling 46-45 win at Lake City.

“They probably don’t like me, I bet,” said Duffey, who hit a 3-pointer to beat Kellogg last Friday. “Lots of guys say it only happens once. It’s just crazy; unbelievable.

“I wish my parents could have been here. They’re down at state wrestling (in Pocatello) watching my brother Travis.”

A verbal replay will have to suffice. Duffey’s bucket gave the Lumberjacks a state berth as the second seed out of the A-2 District I-II Tournament. St. Maries (16-7) will face Sugar-Salem (15-10) at 12:45 p.m. in the A-2 opener at Meridian High School. It’s the Lumberjacks’ first trip to state since 1992.

Kellogg, battling boldly despite playing its sixth game in nine days, finished 14-10.

“There’s not much you can say,” Kellogg coach Tony Kerfoot said. “The kid was determined to win and they found a way to do it.”

Kellogg escaped a seven-point halftime hole to take a 43-39 lead midway through the fourth quarter. But the Wildcats were stung by missed free throws for the second straight game - misfiring on seven consecutive freebies.

That dry spell allowed St. Maries to claw back on top 44-43 after D.J. Eberlin’s 12-foot bank shot. Cory Lewis hit two foul shots with 56.7 seconds left as the lead volleyed back to Kellogg 45-44.

The sequence leading up to Duffey’s basket wasn’t how Lumberjacks’ coach Todd Bitterman envisioned, but he wasn’t complaining.

“We tried to isolate (Mark) Raebel, but that didn’t quite happen,” Bitterman smiled. “I saw Trent take a peek at the clock and he had good awareness of what was going on.”

Duffey, a sophomore, drove down the left side of the lane and scored despite being tightly guarded.

“That’s all instinct,” he said. “You never plan what you’re going to do in basketball.”

Raebel, Eberlin and Derick Driggs each scored 10 points. Duffey had eight.

Senior Brian Carlson spurred Kellogg’s second-half rally with 10 of his 11 points only to endure missing five fourth-quarter foul shots. The Wildcats made 12 of 28 at the stripe.

“It was purely guts and hustle and determination in the second half and our kids, our seniors, showed a lot of that,” Kerfoot said. “It can’t get much more painful.”

St. Maries 46, Kellogg 45

St. Maries 10 14 8 14 - 46

Kellogg 7 10 16 12 - 45

ST. MARIES - Krebs 3, D.J. Eberlin 10, Driggs 10, Duffey 8, M. Raebel 10, Willard 5.

KELLOGG - Lewis 2, C. Marek 7, Carlson 11, H. Marek 8, Vetten 3, Blalack 5, Mangum 2, Oertli 5, Neff 2.

, DataTimes