Wv Serves Notice Eagles Beat Ev, Tie For Border League Lead

For those who were hoping West Valley wasn’t the best basketball team in the Border League, the Eagles served up a little reminder Friday night.

The Eagles dominated the boards and rolled to a 73-56 win at East Valley, ending a three-game losing streak and drawing into a tie with the Knights for the league lead.

“It was attitude,” West Valley’s Ryan Spivey said. “For 10 games we played like we were the best and we acted like we were the best. The last three games we just acted like we’re the best. We got rid of the attitude and played like we’re the best team.”

The Knights did win the Golden Throne in the spirit competition.

Spivey had 17 points and 10 rebounds and Chris Greg added 10 points and 12 rebounds.

“The last couple of games we were getting pushed out,” Greg said. “After the first quarter, (assistant) coach (John) Graham said they couldn’t compete with us on the boards, just box out.”

West Valley coach Jamie Nilles said, “We wanted to get their big men off the blocks and make them shoot over us.”

That led to a plus-15 edge in rebounding as the Knights were hitting just a third of their shots.

“We knew we needed to get on the boards,” Spivey said. “We tried to make it one-shot-and-out. They’re good shooters, you can’t give them a second chance. They’re an emotional team and if they get offensive rebounds, they can get on a roll.”

Instead it was the Eagles who got on a roll.

The last six points of the first quarter and the first three of the second gave them a little breathing room. When the Knights pulled within one in the second quarter, West Valley’s quick 7-0 surge, with Spivey scoring four points, opened it back up.

West Valley then closed out the third quarter with a 14-0 run, highlighted by Eric Deno’s 3 from the right wing that made it 50-37. The lead reached 20 entering the fourth quarter.

“We didn’t rebound with them,” East Valley coach Drew Vanderpool said. “We would get a shot and we were out. Several times they had four or five shots. We just didn’t play well.”

Deno led the Eagles with 19 points and Brad Groh had 11.

Eric Burgess scored 20 points for the Knights, but attempted 23 shots to do so.

West Valley 18 17 22 16 - 73

East Valley 14 15 8 19 - 56

West Valley (10-3, 8-3) - Kopp 2 3-3 8, Sly 3 1-2 7, Hamilton 0 0-0 0, Pecht 0 0-0 0, Deno 5 7-7 19, Groh 5 0-1 11, Focht 0 0-0 0, Gregg 5 0-0 10, Spivey 7 3-4 17, Sorensen 0 1-2 1. Totals 27 15-19 73.

East Valley (10-3, 9-2) - Brown 0 1-2 1, Henderson 3 0-0 7, Sitton 1 0-0 2, Kann 0 0-0 0, Je. Quirk 3 0-0 6, Pooley 2 0-1 4, Burgess 8 1-1 20, Storey 2 0-0 4, Ja. Quirk 0 1-2 1, Horgan 4 3-5 11. Totals 23 6-11 56.

3-point goals - Kopp, Deno 2, Groh, Henderson, Burgess 3. Total fouls - West Valley 15, East Valley 19. Fouled out - Groh. Technicals - None.

Sandpoint 53, Cheney 40

Devon Rinaldi and Ben Palmer combined for 18 rebounds as the Bulldogs defeated the visiting Blackhawks.

Cheney 6 11 11 12 - 40

Sandpoint 14 16 5 18 - 53

Cheney (6-7, 6-6) - Larsen 0 0-0 0, Volk 0 0-0 0, Oyolokor 2 1-2 5, Mount 2 1-1 5, Berryhill 1 0-0 3, Woodard 4 3-4 11, Bond 5 4-7 14, Marsh 1 0-0 2, Randall 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 9-14 40.

Sandpoint (9-6, 8-5) - Evans 0 1-2 1, Nieman 3 9-10 16, Singleton 0 1-3 1, Watson 6 1-1 16, Aumick 0 0-0 0, Palmer 1 0-0 2, Malone 0 0-0 0, Menard 3 0-2 7, Rinaldi 5 0-2 10, Mills 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-20 53.

3-point goals - Berryhill, Nieman, Watson 3, Menard. Total fouls - Cheney 21, Sandpoint 12. Fouled out - Randall. Technicals - None.

Post Falls 61, Clarkston 38

Josh Miller hit four of his five 3-pointers in the first half, and Eli Thornley and Scott Klaudt combined for 21 first-half points as the Trojans handed the visiting Bantams their 20th consecutive loss.

Darren McKinnon led PF with six rebounds. Clarkston shot 14-34.

Clarkston 9 7 12 10 - 38

Post Falls 21 16 12 12 - 61

Clarkston (0-14, 0-12) - Hayes 0 2-4 2, Smith 1 0-0 2, Cridlebaugh 1 0-0 3, Bolland 1 0-2 2, King 0 0-0 0, McCall 1 0-1 2, Howell 0 0-0 0, Cummings 1 1-2 3, Harrington 7 6-8 20, Storm 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-17 38.

Post Falls (6-9, 4-9) - Smith 0 0-0 0, Klaudt 8 0-0 19, McKinnon 0 0-0 0, Garrett 0 0-0 0, Miller 7 0-0 19, Richards 1 0-0 2, Dreckman 3 0-0 8, Thornley 5 1-3 11, Adams 1 0-0 2, Hutchinson 0 0-2 0, Johnson 0 2-2 2. Totals 25 3-7 61.

3-point goals - Cridlebaugh, Klaudt 3, Miller 5. Total fouls - Post Falls 18, Clarkston 9. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None.