Badgers tripped up at home by Kellogg Wildcats

The Bonners Ferry varsity boys basketball team seems caught in a slump, as they dropped their third game in a row to Kellogg on Saturday night (30-63). This is the second time the Badgers, now 3-6 overall, have lost by more than 30 points this season.

The Badgers scored the first points of the game, but that would be the only time the home team led all night. The Wildcats responded to this bucket with a 7-0 run, and they put up 16 points in the first quarter. Bonners Ferry put up a respectable 12 points in the first, but they would score less and less as the game progressed: eight in the second quarter, seven in the third and only three points in the fourth.

Chris Sabin led the Badgers in scoring with seven points, followed by Seth Bateman with five.

One of the main reason Kellogg dominated this game was that they found ways to disrupt Bonners Ferry’s offense early on and kept at it. The Wildcats went into a full-court press from the very beginning and continued to press late in the game, even when leading by double-digits, and the Badgers had a difficult time beating their press.

Bonners Ferry’s head coach Andy Rice explained why Kellogg was able to get in their heads from the beginning: “The guys maybe have built [Kellogg] up because the last three years Kellogg has been undefeated in league. But athletic-wise, I think we match up well. We just didn’t take care of the ball.” Rice was referring to the 24 turnovers his team had in the game—12 in the first half and another 12 in the second.

Some of these turnovers were the result of miscommunication between Bonners Ferry’s players, which led to a number of squandered opportunities and missed passes. Kellogg took advantage of these mistakes and steadily built up a double-digit lead by halftime.

The Badgers’ communication problems continued in the second half, which frustrated the team, and this frustration just led to more mistakes.

“We had a lot of easy opportunities to score a nice basket and give ourself a chance to stay in the game, but we missed them,” coach Rice said, “and I think that kind of took a toll.”

The Wildcats, who opened the third quarter by knocking down a three-pointer, continued to play fast and aggressive basketball. Chase Jerome led the team in scoring with 18 points on the night, going four for five from behind the arc, while teammate Toby Colburn contributed 13 points.

Saturday night’s game against the Wildcats, who are now 11-2, was the Badgers’ first league game of the season. They will be playing mostly league games from here on out.

Talking about their upcoming games, Rice said, “Timberlake, Priest River, they’re gonna be tough. I think we can beat both those guys...I think we can compete with Kellogg, we just have to continue make some improvements. Our guys can compete with just about anybody.”

Their next league game is at Priest River on Jan. 27.