Bonneville proves it can play physical and finish games in handing Snake River its first loss
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IDAHO FALLS — The Bonneville Bees began the East Idaho Holiday Shootout Thursday hosting the undefeated Snake River Panthers.
It was a tough draw, no doubt. But the Bees (4-3) proved, like so many underdogs before them, that the game is played on the court, not on paper. Rallying behind an all-around performance from Ryan Egbert, big shots from Tyler Jordan and the rebounding of Kayden Carson, Bonneville earned a 60-49 victory despite facing size mismatches at nearly every position.
Head coach Cortland Hengel said that his team’s biggest takeaway from the win is the fact that they showed they are capable of making plays down the stretch to seal wins.
“That we can finish games,” he said when asked what his team learned about itself in the win. “That was the biggest thing, watching them last year, they just struggled to finish.”
Finishing was no easy task for a Bonneville team giving up, on average, nearly six inches at every position.
Hengel said that, in the past, size and physicality had created problems for the Bees. This was the fourth time Bonneville had played Snake River (6-1) this season — including two summer scrimmages. “They just killed us,” he said of the previous three meetings.
“We’re starting to figure out how to handle physicality — we’re starting to understand how to attack it better,” Hengel said. … “I think, the last couple games, we’ve shown we can handle it a little better than in the past.”
Bonneville looked like the better team much of the night, moving the ball on offense and limiting open scoring opportunities on defense. Yet and still, they never pulled out to a large lead.
Behind the tandem of 6-foot-5 Marcus Coombs and 6-foot-9 Bridjer Howard, the Panthers kept finding ways to snuff out Bonneville rallies and answer with buckets of their own.
The first time the Bees were able to create any breathing room was in the closing seconds of the second quarter, when Jordan hit a trio of triples. A nine-to-two run to end the second quarter gave Bonneville a 27-23 advantage at halftime.
Snake River and Coombs kept coming, though, and Bonneville continued to answer.
The Panthers pulled to within two points, 42-39, on the strength of a six-point run late in the third quarter. But the Bees held on and took a 46-41 lead into the fourth. And that was when the collective closer’s mentality kicked in.
Jordan scored seven in the first three minutes of the final period, while Carson, at 6-foot-3, continued to battle inside against Coombs, Howard and 6-foot-7 Spencer Anderson for every rebound.
Midway through the fourth, Bonneville had extended the lead to nine, 55-46.
For all its size, it was Snake River’s shortest player, 5-foot-11 point guard Dawson Jackman, who seemed to give the Bees their toughest fits. Jackman was constantly pressuring the Bonneville ball handlers, coming away with four steals, while contributing an efficient 13 points. But Jackman’s fifth foul marked the end to any real thought of a Panther comeback.
Egbert led the way for Bonneville, scoring 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Jordan added 18 points to go with one rebound and two steals, while Carson, giving a half a foot to Howard, scored six points and grabbed nine boards.
Coombs paced the Panthers with 19 points, 12 rebounds, five steals and one block.