Sugar-Salem, Century, Madison, Bonneville look for 3-0 finishes to East Idaho Holiday Shootout
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EASTERN IDAHO — The Highland Rams continued their slide, dropping their fourth straight game and falling in a second one-sided loss in as many days, Friday.
Highland (3-5) opened its East Idaho Holiday Shootout with a 70-42 loss to Centennial Thursday night at Thunder Ridge High School. Things didn’t get any better Friday for coach Matt Stucki’s squad, who fell, 51-31, and were out-hustled from the opening whistle by the Boise Braves at Shelley High School.
The Rams scored just five points while surrendering several easy fast-break buckets in the opening quarter. Stucki tried to coax more effort from his squad, calling a timeout less than two minutes into the game with Highland trailing, 5-0.
During the break, the coach yelled for his team to get back on defense after missed shots on their offensive end.
The Braves, who did not set the court on fire with their own offense, scored just two points over the next minute-and-a-half — when Highland finally notched their mark on the scoreboard.
Forward Mukudzei Traore scored Highland’s first point of the game, going one-of-two from the free throw line with 3:57 remaining in the opening period — 4:03 into the game.
Traore was the only Ram to score in the opening eight minutes, which ended with Boise leading, 14-5.
For three more quarters, the game followed the same rhythm — Highland unable to string together buckets and Boise relying on breakaways for their points while struggling in half-court sets.
Traore finished the game with eight points, four rebounds, one steal and one block.
Boise Isaac Thacker singlehandedly outscored Highland (13-12) in the first half, and finished with 18 points to go with three rebounds and two steals.
Century improves to 2-0; Shelley drops to 1-1
The Diamondbacks (6-3) beat Lakeland, 68-44, Thursday night Skyline, and followed that up with a 53-43 victory over Shelley (1-6) at Shelley.
Century is off to a good start this season, despite losses to Idaho Falls, Blackfoot and Jerome. But they are looking up at Preston (9-1), the top-ranked 5A team in the state.
Shelley earned its first win of the season Thursday, beating Jackson Hole (WY), 56-29, at home.
Bonneville gets second straight win
The Bees (5-3) leaned on the scoring of Ryan Egbert in earning an upset and hand Snake River (7-1) its first loss of the season Thursday, at Bonneville.
They followed up that win with a 68-48 victory over Layton Christian (UT) to grab their own 2-0 start to the Shootout.
Snake River got right back into the win column with a 52-49 victory over Ogden (UT).
Sugar-Salem and Madison join Bonneville and Century at 2-0
With wins over Ogden (UT) and Burley, the Sugar-Salem Diggers (7-1) join Bonneville and Madison — with wins over San Pedro (CA) and Westlake (UT) — as the only 2-0 District 5-6 teams.
Madison will host a 7-2 Ridgevue squad in a matchup of 6A powers, at Madison this afternoon. Ridgevue, who boasts wins over Rigby and Mead (CO), matches the Bobcats’ 2-0 record.
Bonneville will host host Evanston (WY), while Century and Sugar-Salem have an all eastern Idaho 2-0 showdown at Idaho Falls High School.
All three games are scheduled to tip off at 1:30 p.m.
The other local squads
Skyline, Idaho Falls, Rigby, Thunder Ridge, Teton and Pocatello are each 1-1, and looking to finish off a two-win Shootout.
Rigby joins Highland as the 0-2 local teams.
The third and final day of the Shootout, Saturday, will boast basketball all day at Bonneville, Madison, Rigby, Idaho Falls and Thunder Ridge high schools.