Boys drop game to St. Maries

On Feb. 4 the visiting St. Maries outscored the Badgers 70-50 at Bonners Ferry High School.

Seniors Alex Awbrey,  Bradly Clausen and Andre Zarate led in scoring Awbrey scored 13 points and Clauson scored 11 points and Zarate  scored 10 points.

“Other than about a two minute stretch in the first quarter, we played a tough first half,” said coach Clint Arthur.  “The hot shooting that we had in Timberlake did not carry over. We were taking quality shots, but they weren't falling for us.”

In the second half, the Badgers  lost focus on the defense end, allowing too much dribble penetration which led to easy baskets for the St. Maries post players.

“We executed much better on offense in the second half, but we did not have the defensive effort to complement it,” Arthur said. “St. Maries is a tough team, and in order to beat them in the last game of the regular season, we will need to play better team defense and slow the game down.”  

The Badgers started out slow offensively at the beginning of the game against Kellogg on Jan. 27, which resulted in Kellogg scoring 60 and the Badgers 31.

“We had some good looks at the basket in the first, but nothing fell,” said Arthur.  “In the last three minutes of the first, we did not take care of the ball or get back in transition defense quick enough, and Kellogg went on a huge run control the game.”

Arthur said the team never clicked offensively all night and the defense lacked intensity.  

“Kellogg did a great job of sucking us into their fast-paced tempo, and they played a tough full-court trap the majority of the game, keeping us off balance. In order to beat a team like Kellogg, we need to play sound defense and out rebound them; we did neither.”

In Post Falls on Jan. 26, the Badgers played the Post Falls junior varsity winning the game 61-48.

Arthur said that after a slow start in the first quarter the offense kicked in.

Zarate had a great game, according to Arthur.

“He used his quickness to create shots for himself and his teammates,” said Arthur.

In the second quarter the defense made all the difference holding Post Falls to only six points.

“We only led by four going into the fourth, but clutch free throw shooting by Zarate (8 for 10) helped us extend the lead to a comfortable margin,” Arthur said.

Games for Thursday, Feb. 9 have been moved to Saturday, Feb. 12.

The boys C team will play at 11 a.m. 

The junior varsity will play at 12:30 p.m. and the varsity boys play at 2 p.m. All teams play at Bonners Ferry High School against Timberlake.