Lumberjacks Empty-Handed For A Second Straight Year, St. Maries Falls In Consolation Final In A-2 Tourney

The St. Maries High boys basketball team ended the State A-2 tournament the way it started - with multiple flat tires.

St. Maries’ season concluded with a blowout to a second District III team as Payette rolled over the Lumberjacks 76-43 in the consolation championship game Saturday morning.

The Lumberjacks opened the tourney Thursday with an 81-34 shellacking at the hands of Kuna. Combined, the District III teams beat St. Maries by 80 points.

In between, St. Maries struggled in victory, nipping Buhl 48-47 Friday.

It’s the second straight year St. Maries advanced to play for a trophy Saturday, but went home empty-handed.

St. Maries coach Todd Bitterman was particularly stunned by the margin of the loss after watching Lakeland give Payette all it could handle before falling 60-58 in an elimination game Friday.

The Lumberjacks, who finish the season 17-8, stayed close for a quarter. A bank shot in the key by Caleb Krebs tied the score at 11 with 1:18 left in the first period.

But James Rynearson’s two free throws gave Payette a 16-13 lead going into the second quarter. Then a combination of things began taking a toll on the Lumberjacks. Payette’s speed in transition afforded several uncontested layups and the Pirates’ quickness in the post was too much for St. Maries to defend.

Payette used a 14-6 run to close out the first half for a 37-20 lead. St. Maries made just 3 of 16 shots from the field in the second period.

It got worse in a hurry in the third quarter. The Pirates unleashed an 11-0 spurt to go ahead 54-28 with 2 minutes left in the period.

Luke McCarney worked inside and outside for Payette, finishing with a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds. Rynearson had 17 and Jeff Reeves added 12.

Derick Driggs and Trent Duffey led St. Maries with 10 points each. But Driggs needed 17 shots as the Lumberjacks shot 26 percent (14 of 54), 0 of 10 on 3-pointers.

St. Maries had to play without starting guard Pat Eberlin, who sprained an ankle Friday shooting layups in warmups.

But Eberlin’s absence made more of a difference defensively than offensively.

“We don’t have the same defensive intensity without him,” Bitterman said. “He’s taken about 17 charges and we don’t get that when he’s not in there. He’s a defensive stopper.”

Bitterman also knew that was just one of many factors in St. Maries’ poor play.

“Those guys are as athletic as Kuna. They just hammered us,” Bitterman said. “They hammered us in all aspects. It was a fine-tuned machine for them.”

Bitterman said his players didn’t adjust to the physical play at state. He said that was a major reason they missed dozens of shots in the key.

“We tell the kids it’s going to be physical down here and they haven’t adjusted, I guess,” Bitterman said.

Duffey, a 5-9 junior guard, played nearly every minute at state, again displaying his admirable leadership with all-out hustle.

“If we’d played like we did at districts we’d have competed a lot better at least; put up a better fight,” Duffey said. “We stepped up at district and we thought we’d keep it going, but I don’t know what happened at state.”

Payette 76, St. Maries 43

Payette 16 21 19 20 - 76

St. Maries 13 7 13 10 - 43

Payette (21-5) - Reeves 12, Je. Rynearson 0, Mendoza 0, Ja. Rynearson 17, Aguilar 3, Jones 0, Masingill 6, Hart 5, Dacis 2, Thomason 7, Pittz 5, McCarney 19.

St. Maries (17-8) - Willard 0, Duffey 10, Hanson 0, Grieser 4, Larsen 0, Krebs 9, Driggs 10, Harvey 0, Raebel 5, Stevenson 5.