Scores, updates: Idaho high school boys basketball state tournament semifinals 2024 (3/1/2024)

Winners advance to play for all the marbles Saturday in the Ford Idaho Center

NAMPA, Idaho - Now that’s more like it.

A year after being on the receiving end of a shocking upset, the Owyhee boys basketball team found itself back where it belongs - in a state title game.

The Storm pulled away in the second half for a 63-51 win over Madison during the semifinals of the Class 5A State Tournament Friday at the Ford Idaho Center.

Owyhee (23-3) will play Southern Idaho Conference rival Timberline (22-4) at 8 p.m. Saturday for the state championship.

“It’s very exciting,” Owyhee head coach Andy Harrington said. “Last year, we wanted to be in that game and we didn’t get to it. I really do think that it helped us in our path to get there this year.”

This was supposed to be their third consecutive state finals appearance. But the third-year program, which was the defending state champion at the time, was unceremoniously bounced in the first round a year ago. The Storm suffered a 51-48 overtime loss to a Meridian team that they had beaten by 33 points just two weeks earlier.

While Owyhee did bounce back to win the state consolation trophy, Harrington admitted to still taking the loss pretty hard. So much so that players Liam Campbell and Jackson Rasmussen had to tell him to just let it go during the Section 7 Tournament in Arizona over the summer..

“The journey started then,” Harrington said. “... I stopped. I still remember that. But that was a defining moment for our team and our program.”

It’s one that they carried with them into Friday, especially in a dicey first half. There were seven ties and two lead changes alone. If that didn’t add to the suspense, Campbell didn’t register a single first-half point for maybe the first time in his prolific career. 

The USC signee and two-time all-state player who is the likely Class 5A State Player of the Year, went 0-for-6 during the first 16 minutes of play.

It all resulted in the game being deadlocked at 27-27 at the break.

Campbell, who was also a McDonald’s All-American nominee, never did find his footing. His first points didn’t come until midway through the third quarter. He finished just 2-of-11 with seven points.

But none of that mattered.

Owyhee began the second half with a 14-2 run and never looked back.

“I think something that all of our coaches stress on is how much depth that we do have,” junior guard Boden Howell said. “It shows that we can still find ways to win even though our best player is having a slow night.

The South Medford High (Oregon) transfer was proof of that.

He was the one who kick-started the key run in the first place. Howell, who broke former Duke and Detroit Pistons’ Kyle Singler’s single-game scoring record with 56 points while at South Medford last year, sank a pair of 3-pointers and assisted Jackson Rogers with one of his own.

Howell ended the game with 15 points, including going 3-of-4 from beyond-the arch.

“He’s such an offensive threat for us,” Rasmussen said. “I don’t think there’s anyone that can guard him. The midrange, the pull-up or even getting to the rim, he brings a lot of offensive firepower to our team.”

Rasmussen had quite the game of his own.

He notched a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. The 6-foot-7-inch Rasmussen, who has an offer from the University of Idaho, had 12 points and five boards in just the second half. Six of those points came on back-to-back treys during the run that gave Owyhee its biggest lead of the game at 49-33 late in the third quarter.

The Storm never saw that advantage dip below nine points for the rest of the game.

“I get to watch him every day. I get to play against him every day. But it’s not something that I, or anyone on this team, should take for granted,” Howell said. “... When everything kind of slows down and we don’t have anything going on, we know we can always hit Ras and that’s pretty much an automatic bucket.”

Nash Humpherys put up 16 points for the Bobcats (23-3), who fell to the Storm for the second time this season. They suffered a 19-point defeat back on Dec. 16, 2023. Owyhee is the only team from Idaho to beat them this year.

Berrett Wilson (15 points) and Luke Watson (14) were close behind for the Bobcats, who had the state’s longest winning streak at 19 games before this loss.

“I felt like my guys did everything perfect, exactly how we wanted to do it,” Madison coach Shane Humpherys said. “And it got away from us in three minutes. We couldn’t recover.”

TIMBERLINE 60, COEUR D’ALENE 58, OT

Alex Ko drained a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining in overtime to send the Timberwolves to their first state championship game since 2000.

It was the last of his team-high 19 points. But the junior guard would not have been the game’s hero if not for another clutch shot by his own teammate.

Reece Elder, who was nursing an injured ankle, tied the game up at 49-49 and sent it to overtime on a corner 3 with just 2.1 seconds remaining.

The senior guard finished right behind Ko with 18 points. Bryce Heyne rounded out Timberline players in double figures with a near double-double of 11 points and nine rebounds.

Logan Orchard had a game-high 24 points for the Vikings (21-4), who were trying to reach their first final since 2008.

4A

POCATELLO 82, RIDGEVUE 46

Julian Bowie poured in 23 points on 7-of-11 (63.6%) shooting to go with six rebounds, two assists and a steal as the Thunder (21-5) advanced to a third consecutive state championship game for the first time since at least the 1970s with a Class 4A State Tournament semifinal win Friday at the Ford Idaho Center.

They’ll play two-time defending state champion Hillcrest (19-6), which has beaten them for both of those titles, for a third time at 6 p.m. Saturday right back inside the Ford Idaho Center.

Drey Contreras added 12 points for Pocatello, which never trailed and led by as much as 38 points even with its backups in the game.

Kaimana Nielson had 12 points for the Warhawks (16-8), who are playing in their first-ever state tournament.

HILLCREST 76, BISHOP KELLY 46

Isaac Davis racked up a game-high 29 points on 14-of-16 (87.5%) shooting to go with eight rebounds, two block shots and a steal, as the Knights will now try and become just the 12th team in Idaho history to three-peat.

Ike Sutton and Titan Larsen added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for Hillcrest, which never trailed and led by as much as 33 points.

Mason Suboh-Meuret had 13 points for the Knights (19-6) in the loss.