Wildcats took wild ride

Forgive Kellogg High boys basketball coach Kieth Finkbeiner if he’s just a tad exhausted this week.

Consider what his team overcame last week:

“Kellogg lost 52-48 to Bonners Ferry in the District I championship game Tuesday.

“The next morning, Finkbeiner learned that sophomore starter Jeremiah Big Spring, an all-Intermountain League selection, was suspended for the rest of the season for an athletic code violation.

“About 12 hours later, Kellogg stopped Priest River 43-41 in a loser-out game the Wildcats never led until their final basket.

“Then Saturday, Kellogg slipped past Weiser 70-68 in overtime when Jacob Conboy hit two free throws after the referees called a technical on the Wolverines for calling an excessive timeout. But Weiser protested the referees’ decision, postponing Kellogg’s celebration for 24 hours. The state activities association upheld the referees’ ruling Sunday.

“It was a long week,” Finkbeiner said. “There were a lot of challenges. There were a lot of emotions. I guess a person could use the word drama, but it wasn’t so much drama as it was emotional.”

So when Kellogg (17-7) opens play today at the State 3A tournament, Finkbeiner will find out if his Wildcats have any fuel left in their emotion tank. Kellogg takes on District VI champ and 2005 state runner-up Shelley (19-4) at 2 p.m. PST at Meridian High School.

IML champ Bonners Ferry (16-6) opens in the game before the Kellogg-Shelley matchup when the Badgers go against defending state champ Snake River (16-8) at 12:15.

The trek to state might afford Kellogg some time to rest before it plays.

“I think they’ll be mentally ready to go,” Finkbeiner said.

In more ways than one, Finkbeiner, in his first year at Kellogg, breathed a sigh of relief when receiving the news Sunday that his team was headed to state. After all, he inherited a team that captured fourth last year, and the expectation coming into the season was the Wildcats wanted to return and improve on last year’s finish.

“To me, personally, it was a big sigh of relief getting them back to state,” Finkbeiner said.

But Kellogg is a different team than it was a month ago. The Wildcats have lost two starters, because Josh McDonald broke a foot in late January and was lost for the season.

That’s affected Finkbeiner’s substitution rotation.

“We were about nine to 10 deep, now we’re about seven to eight,” Finkbeiner said.

Kellogg will face a team in Shelley that’s on a mission after falling 37-35 in the state final. The Russetts were ranked second in the final poll.

“I would imagine they’re hungry to get back,” Finkbeiner said. “They’re very experienced. They have seven seniors and three juniors and most of them played last year.”

Hungry also is the apt word to describe the Badgers, whose two-and-out showing last year left them dissatisfied.

“It was an eye-opener for them,” BF coach Gordy Allured said. “All of us will be disappointed if we don’t do something good down there. They now realize the intensity level it takes to compete at state. You’ve got to be ready to play the first 5 or 6 minutes of the first quarter.”

Allured said the key for the Badgers at state is more mental than physical.

“We weren’t as good a team last year as we are this year,” Allured said. “They had skill last year, but they lacked confidence. We’ve been talking about it all year – about carrying a little bit of swagger, if you want to call it that.”

Allured expects senior post Matt Rice, the IML’s player of the year, to be ready to play at state after he missed most of the district tourney with a sprained ankle.

“I told the kids there’s only one team that’s going to beat us and that’s ourselves,” Allured said. “We’ve got to take care of business – our own business.”