After a few years away, Preston returns to the state tournament and rolls to another championship with win over Hillcrest
Published at
NAMPA — The past few years one of east Idaho’s best basketball programs has missed out on all the fun.
The 5A, previously 4A, state championship has been a Hillcrest vs. Pocatello affair the past three years, but Preston finally crashed the party.
Not surprisingly, waiting for the Indians in Saturday’s 5A championship matchup was Hillcrest, but by the time the celebration started at center court of the Idaho Center, it was clear Preston was more than ready to play the role of party crasher.
Preston defeated Hillcrest 64-47 and celebrated a title for the first time since 2020.
The Indians hadn’t been to the tournament since 2021, but cruised through this season like they were on a mission to make up for lost time.
Hillcrest, making its fourth consecutive title game appearance, has been a staple of the tournament since winning its first title in 2022.
Although missing the tournament the past few years, Preston is far from a Cinderella story, having won 10 titles prior to Saturday and winning four championships in five years from 2016 to 2020.
The problem was that in a three-team conference only one team earns the bid to the state tournament and that team had been Pocatello for the past three seasons. So Preston has been the team looking in from the outside.
That wasn’t the case this season.
The Indians (25-1) entered the tournament on a 14-game win streak with 13 of those wins coming by double figures. They beat Pocatello twice in the district tournament to slay that ghost, and then won their three state tournament game by an average of 22 points.
“That was the goal,” Preston coach Tyler Jones said of getting back to the tournament and challenging for the blue trophy.
“We knew that was one of the biggest things we’d face, but we trusted each other,” Jake Schumann said of matching up with Hillcrest’s recent tournament experience. “We knew we were going to play as a team so we came out ready for that.”
It was Hillcrest’s fourth straight championship game appearance after winning titles in 2022 and 2023 before Pocatello won last year’s game, but this year’s lineup had a far different look.
First-year head coach Mat Barber had a relatively inexperienced roster, but the Knights had won 14 of 15 games entering Saturday’s championship and were ranked No. 2 behind Preston in the state media poll.
In Saturday’s matchup, the Preston buzz saw jumped out to an early lead and built the advantage to 19 in the second half.
“They never backed down,” Barber said of his team. “They battled the whole time.”
Barber noted Preston’s balance as three players scored in double figures with Cruz Harris finishing with 19 points and Reggie Larsen and Kasen Bryce adding 15 and 12 points, respectively. Bryce also had a team-high four assists. The Indians shot 63% for the game and hit 6 of 10 3-pointers, most coming in dagger form when it looked like the Knights might cut into the deficit.
Preston was also pretty good at the other end of the floor, Hillcrest senior Titan Larsen said.
“That’s probably one of the best defensive teams we’ve played this year,” Larsen said. “They were flying around, they rebound, have big defenders …”
Larsen led Hillcrest with 18 points and Gage Blakeslee finished with 11 points.
The game was Titan Larsen’s sixth state championship appearance, having played in two football and four basketball title games. He’s won two titles in basketball and one in football.
EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.