Badgers defeat Spartans 52-35 to close league play
<p>Elijah Price pulls down the rebound as the Badgers defeat the Priest River Spartans on the road on Feb. 17.</p>
PRIEST RIVER — The Bonners Ferry Badgers defeated the Priest River Spartans 52-35 in the last match up of the season Tuesday night at Spartan Arena.
It was senior night for the Spartans, who hung with the Badgers through the first half.
The score was 20-19 at the break in favor of the visiting team.
“They played pretty tough,” said Badgers coach Andy Rice, “We never really got in any kind of rhythm on offense.”
After half time the Badgers switched up their defense to put some pressure on the Spartans.
“This lead to our offense taking off and we pulled away to take a solid lead,” Rice said.
The Badgers held the home team to four points in the second half until the end of the third quarter when they scored at the buzzer on a defensive breakdown.
“We played a solid fourth quarter and finished the game out strong,” Rice said. “Wyatt Nelson played a great second half, scoring all 14 of his points in the third and fourth quarters.”
Caleb Blackmore had another strong game for the Badgers, scoring 12 points and Kaleb Stockton scored 8.
The Badgers will take on Clark Fork tonight at 7 p.m. in a senior night game to finish out the regular season of play.
• Tied for second in the league, Bonners Ferry will play Timberlake in the first night of district play ON Feb. 23.
Seeding will be decided by a coin flip Sunday night. Priest River will play Kellogg after the Badgers’ game then Sandpoint vs. Moscow.
All games are at North Idaho College in Coeur d’ Alene. The Badgers begin play at 4:30 p.m.
Bonners Ferry 9 11 18 14 — 52
Priest River 7 12 6 10 — 35
Price 5, Sabin 0, O’Hara 5, Stockton 8, Stone 6, Carle 0, Nelson 14, Blackmore 12, Pluid 2, Bateman 0.