Late rally carries Clark Fork past Kootenai

Through three quarters Saturday, Clark Fork coach Brian Powell was probably checking his team’s North Star League crown to see if it was made of tin.

But the Wampus Cats, with a flair for the dramatic, practiced a little alchemy in the fourth quarter, erasing a 12-point deficit and hitting a last-second basket to beat Kootenai 40-38 in the second-place game of the 1A District I boys basketball tournament at Lakeland High School.

Clark Fork (15-7) advances to the State 1A tournament beginning Wednesday at Caldwell and Vallivue high schools. The Wampus Cats face Sho-Ban (14-5), the District V-VI runner-up, at 2 p.m. PST on Wednesday.

“It was kind of similar to last night, except we didn’t get it done last night,” Powell said, looking back to a slow start in Friday’s championship loss to CdA Charter. “Tonight they did, and that’s high school basketball.

“We’ve been trying to convince them they need to start out faster – it worked out for them tonight, but they can’t play that way down at state.”

Kootenai led by as many as 15, at 29-14, 2 minutes into the second half, but senior point guard Mike Martin – scoreless and nearly without a shot from the field at that point – began to heat up. The second of back-to-back medium-range jumpers cut it to 10, 31-21, at the 3-minute mark of the third.

Down 12 to open the fourth, Clark Fork caught fire and senior Bo Gustafson’s 3-point bomb from the left wing on a kickout from Martin capped a 13-0 run, giving the Wampus Cats their first lead of the game, 34-33, with 3:45 left on the clock.

Junior Frank Donohoe’s baseline drive put the Warriors back on top on the next possession and a pair of free throws from senior guard Jeff Ness stretched that lead to 37-34 with just more than a minute left.

Sophomore post Jared Broggi, who matched Martin with a game-high 11 points, pulled the Cats within one with a bucket in the paint and, after Ness missed a pair of foul shots at the other end, gave Clark Fork the lead, 38-37, with another basket down low with 16 seconds to go.

Warriors sophomore Dakota Amy tied it up with 11 seconds left, hitting the second of two free throws, and the Wampus Cats, out of timeouts, blazed to the other end.

After senior wing Cameron Jeffres dribbled into the corner, he found Martin back out on the wing, who thought about a shot before noticing Gustafson frantically waving his arms under the basket with 4 seconds left.

“I penetrated to the middle, and I was looking for my shot and I see Bo doing jumping jacks on the block,” Martin said. “So I just hit him.”

Kootenai coach Mike LaFountaine said he was proud of his beleaguered team’s effort.

“It was a long week – we played on Tuesday and Wednesday and again last night,” he said. “We had our chances, but someone has to lose, unfortunately.”

Donohoe and senior post Anthony Cranford had 8 points apiece to lead Kootenai (12-8).