KHS BOYS BASKETBALL 2007-2008

Post by **Simon Miller** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:40 pm

The Wildcat boys 2007-08 season has begun. After a competitive trip to Sandpoint, the Cats hosted Kootenai, Mullan, and Wallace for this year's Silver Valley Tournament. The talent dropoff from top to bottom in this tournament was disappointing to say the least. I think Mullan had some kids that were ineligible, but they struggled to get the ball up the floor most of the time. So Wallace smoked Mullan and Kellogg dominated Kootenai Friday night setting up a big rivalry for the championship tilt.

The game was a see saw affair the entire time, with Kellogg unable to capitalize on Wallace turnovers. Wallace managed to keep Kellogg from establishing any sort of tempo and rhythm and turned the game into an ugly battle, much to their advantage. The entire game it seemed like the Wildcats were thinking, "we should be beating these guys by at least 10," and they should have if they would have been hitting their short shots from 3-6 feet. Despite Ty Ketchum being hot in the 2nd half, the rest of the Cats were ice cold. As ugly of a game as it was, one has to give Wallace credit. They wanted that type of game and they hit shots when they needed to, something Kellogg struggled with.

At the end of the game, Kellogg had an opportunity to go up two, but missed a wide open layup off an underneath inbounds play executed to perfection. On the ensuing possession for Wallace Kellogg was called for a questionable foul at half court with just 5 seconds remaining. After Wallace made one of the 2 free throws (Kellogg had 12 fouls, to Wallace's 4) Kellogg had one last desperation effort, but they couldn't even muster a makable shot.

Again, not to discredit Wallace's effort, but this is nothing but a TRAP game for Kellogg, every year. Kellogg is now the bigger school, so they are "expected" to win. They have little to gain, and a lot to lose every time they square off with Wallace. This is no excuse for losing they way Kellogg did, but it definitely makes it tougher. I thought the Wildcats played tight the entire night. Hopefully when they two square off in January they will avenge this tough loss. But as always, they will have Intermountain League Play to be concerned with, so once again, it will be a challenge.

Casey Fisher · Post by **Casey Fisher** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:45 pm

Thanks for the update Golf Coach. All in all, it sounds like it was an exciting game regardless...

Post by **Gwen Johnson** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:24 pm

The game was crazy intense and I might even say...vicious at times. The refs were letting all kinds of stuff go...banging, hacking, slamming...and then calling ticky-tacky stuff. I hate when a game turns into "ratball", but that's how I'd describe much of this game. It was exciting...especially for Wallace. And at least we had a trophy for them when they won.

Ken Lagerquist · Post by **Ken Lagerquist** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 6:13 pm

Sounds like it is a game the boys can learn from. They probably just need to keep their composure and everything will work out. You are right Sib about Kellogg being the bigger school now and having nothing to gain and everything to lose against to dreadful miners, LOL. Anyways, thanks for the updates, i enjoy these. Im hoping we can make it to some games when i get back permanently.

Post by **Simon Miller** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:25 am

The boys got revenge tonight at Andrew's Gymnasium. After taking a 2-0 lead to begin the game they went cold from the floor and fell behind by as many as 18 in the second quarter. They chipped away and got it to an 11 pt deficit by halftime. They stuck with their game plan of pressure defense and wore Wallace down and won the game by 3 points in a thriller. They are now on a 5 game winning streak and I believe this game could be a turning point in the season. Tonight they didn't play a flawless game, but they played "all out" and together most of the night.

http://spokesmanreview.com/sports/preps ... ender=boys

Post by **Gwen Johnson** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:42 am

It was quite an exciting game at Andrew's last night. I was happy for the team, I know they really wanted that win. We still have to play the Miners one more time - on their home court...in about two weeks, I think.

Post by **Simon Miller** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:55 am

It definitely wasn't pretty, but defensively they really picked it up in the 2nd quarter. Check out the box score and look at the trend. The allowed 21, 8, 8, 9 in each quarter. Wallace was pretty hot in the 1st quarter because I thought Kellogg's D was still pretty menacing. They just gave up 3 or so 3 pointers. Offensively we still don't look overly cohesive, but the defense was relentless and depended on the bench which did a solid job. I agree with Gwen, they really wanted that win. Hopefully they get some confidence and keep improving.

Post by **Simon Miller** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:55 am

Well, after winning 8 games in a row, the Wildcat boys lost a tough road game @ Bonners Ferry. They had to follow up that tough road game with a game @ Wallace. The last two games vs. Wallace were close with each team winning one.

Saturday night, however was another story. The Wildcats seem to be gelling very well, especially on the defensive/pressure side of the ball as they harassed Wallace for 32 minutes, well 31, but I will explain that later. Anyhow, using their entire bench the Wildcats used a relentless full court pressure and a menacing defense to frustrate the Miners. Despite falling behind early 6-0 the Wildcats fought back and took a 22-18 lead after the first quarter. The pressure defense took its toll on Wallace all game long and if not for some tough misses on fast breaks, the Wildcats would have pulled away sooner. In the 2nd half Wallace simply ran out of gas and began to show signs of frustration. The game ended in a rather bizarre way as Kellogg, leading by 16 continued to execute their offense, with about 45 seconds left, the Wallace boys just quit. They all stood up and just walked towards the sideline. Now I have seen this before in the final 10 seconds or so, but never with so much time left. It was a great win and the Wildcats are beginning to establish an identity as an uptempo, scrappy, disruptive team that could be very dangerous down the stretch run of the season.

I have seen some very good Kellogg teams, but this team reminds me of some of those David Roberts teams that just kept coming at you, no matter what the score was. They are scrappy, tough, and balanced on offense. Hopefully they can keep it rolling the next few weeks!

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/sports/p ... ender=boys

Post by **Simon Miller** » Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:51 pm

The boys clinched an outright IML Title last night with an impressive win over Timberlake. They have a menacing full court defense and are fun to watch. They are really all playing as a team and with confidence. In addition they now have a 9 game home winning streak at Andrew's Gymnasium. If not for a 1 point loss to Wallace early in the year they would have run the table at home. That in itself is impressive!

Here is there season recap. Congratulations to Coach Finkbeiner and the KHS Basketball Players.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/sports/p ... me=Kellogg

Post by **Simon Miller** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:03 am

KHS Boys Basketball won a barn burner last night against perennial foe Bonners Ferry in the Dist. I-II Championship Game at NIC. It was like watching a cat and a badger fight throughout the night with both teams trading punches and making runs. Kellogg actually took command of the game in the 3rd quarter but went cold from the field and allowing their menacing pressure to lapse briefly before regaining the lead and winning as A.J. Bennet's half court desperation shot rimmed out as time expired.

KHS Boys Basketball:

IML Champs
Coach of the Year: Kieth Finkbeiner
Dist. I Champs

ON TO STATE!

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/sports/p ... ender=boys

Casey Fisher · Post by **Casey Fisher** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:12 pm

That is awesome news Coach!!! Thanks for the update. It's nice to see our boys win the District Championship, in addition to winning the league championship. There have been some KHS boys teams in the past that have won the regular season championship, but lose at Districts... Way to go Cats! Good luck at State!!!

How's this for a motto, "Take State in '08".

Ken Lagerquist · Post by **Ken Lagerquist** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:48 pm

DId the boys get screwed in their draw in their first game at State too??? Is the bracket out yet Simon? You and Amy going down there?

Post by **Gwen Johnson** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:02 pm

The boys get the same draw the girls did as the brackets are identical for boys and girls as far as I can tell. Kellogg will play the district 4 champion in their first game on the 28th of February. The brackets can be found at http://www.idahosports.com.

Post by **Simon Miller** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:36 pm

Ken Lagerquist wrote:DId the boys get screwed in their draw in their first game at State too??? Is the bracket out yet Simon? You and Amy going down there?

In all actuality it is a crap shoot to put it best. This year everyone thought the Kellogg girls got a bad draw having to play #1 Ranked and undefeated Kimberly but after seeing them, they were completely overrated. We performed at a C- level at best, and lost a starter to injury in the 2nd quarter and still only lost by 3. Last year the girls got paired with the eventual state champs which was brutal. But this year... not as bad as it looked on paper. Idaho is such a large and spread out state that I fear it would be nearly impossible to effectively seed the 8 teams that make it to the State Tourney. For example, Kimberly was ranked #1 largely because of their record, yet if you look at it, they played several 1A schools, 2A schools, and only played up once (4A Wood River). I thought they were ripe for the picking, but we put out a turnover prone lackluster effort in the 1st half.

As Gwen said the boys will play the Dist. 4 winner which will probably be Buhl or Kimberly.

I would love to go down again and watch this boys team. They are exciting to watch and are really playing scrappy team ball. They are very fun to watch. But I just have too many other priorities that need to be addressed, including the start of golf season in which the KHS girls will be looking to make a run at a 5th consecutive IML Title and 5th Consecutive State berth. The boys will be looking to extend their IML Title run to 4 this season with lots of young players.

The game will be on KWAL and I will happily provide a little KWAL to KHSGRADS webcast.

Ken Lagerquist · Post by **Ken Lagerquist** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:31 pm

Simon Miller wrote:
Ken Lagerquist wrote:DId the boys get screwed in their draw in their first game at State too??? Is the bracket out yet Simon? You and Amy going down there?
In all actuality it is a crap shoot to put it best. This year everyone thought the Kellogg girls got a bad draw having to play #1 Ranked and undefeated Kimberly but after seeing them, they were completely overrated. We performed at a C- level at best, and lost a starter to injury in the 2nd quarter and still only lost by 3. Last year the girls got paired with the eventual state champs which was brutal. But this year... not as bad as it looked on paper. Idaho is such a large and spread out state that I fear it would be nearly impossible to effectively seed the 8 teams that make it to the State Tourney. For example, Kimberly was ranked #1 largely because of their record, yet if you look at it, they played several 1A schools, 2A schools, and only played up once (4A Wood River). I thought they were ripe for the picking, but we put out a turnover prone lackluster effort in the 1st half.

As Gwen said the boys will play the Dist. 4 winner which will probably be Buhl or Kimberly.

I would love to go down again and watch this boys team. They are exciting to watch and are really playing scrappy team ball. They are very fun to watch. But I just have too many other priorities that need to be addressed, including the start of golf season in which the KHS girls will be looking to make a run at a 5th consecutive IML Title and 5th Consecutive State berth. The boys will be looking to extend their IML Title run to 4 this season with lots of young players.

The game will be on KWAL and I will happily provide a little KWAL to KHSGRADS webcast.

Do it!! Keep us informed, up to date!!!

Mike Nordin · Post by **Mike Nordin** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:45 pm

I'm hopefull and I'm cheering for them!!! I just hate the tension. I just don't want another 1989.

Post by **Simon Miller** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:39 am

Mike Nordin wrote:I'm hopefull and I'm cheering for them!!! I just hate the tension. I just don't want another 1989.

1989 was, and still is pretty painful to remember. We were heavily favored that year. This year we are far from favored, which is to our advantage, in my opinion. We are playing really good basketball and I am sure no one expects us to be very dominant. I like our chances because we play great defense, we hustle and scrap, and we don't have one or even two primary offensive players. We have 8 that can all score when the opportunity arises. We make extra passes and execute pretty well. I like this group a lot.

Kimberly beat Buhl for the Dist. IV title so we will fact Kimberly at 5:15PST on next Thursday.

Bonners Ferry came from 12 down last night in the 2nd half to beat St. Maries for the 2nd berth to the State Tourney.

Casey Fisher · Post by **Casey Fisher** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:02 am

Mike Nordin wrote:I'm hopefull and I'm cheering for them!!! I just hate the tension. I just don't want another 1989.

You beat me to the punch on this one Golf Coach... The 1989 team went down to state will all the expectations and pressure as they were one of the best KHS Basketball teams of all-time... Like you said Coach, this team will not be favored to do much and I don't think many of the Southern Idaho teams will take them all too seriously. This will hopefully be a huge advantage like you said... Anything can happen when you play great defense. Go Cats!!! Not that it matters like we discussed on the girls side, but do you know what Kimberly's record is and if they are ranked in the state?

Post by **Simon Miller** » Thu Feb 21, 2008 10:08 am

Casey Fisher wrote:
Mike Nordin wrote:I'm hopefull and I'm cheering for them!!! I just hate the tension. I just don't want another 1989.
You beat me to the punch on this one Golf Coach... The 1989 team went down to state will all the expectations and pressure as they were one of the best KHS Basketball teams of all-time... Like you said Coach, this team will not be favored to do much and I don't think many of the Southern Idaho teams will take them all too seriously. This will hopefully be a huge advantage like you said... Anything can happen when you play great defense. Go Cats!!! Not that it matters like we discussed on the girls side, but do you know what Kimberly's record is and if they are ranked in the state?

According to Idahosports.com they are in the top 5 but their record is not overly impressive as far as W-L goes. Here is the link:

Rankings http://www.idahosports.com/polls/boysba ... anking.asp
Brackets http://www.idahosports.com/tournaments/ ... 0brckt.pdf

The boys play at Meridian HS. It is too bad the girls can't do that. Middleton HS isn't the nicest of gyms.

Ken Lagerquist · Post by **Ken Lagerquist** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:52 am

Simon Miller wrote:
Casey Fisher wrote:
Mike Nordin wrote:I'm hopefull and I'm cheering for them!!! I just hate the tension. I just don't want another 1989.
You beat me to the punch on this one Golf Coach... The 1989 team went down to state will all the expectations and pressure as they were one of the best KHS Basketball teams of all-time... Like you said Coach, this team will not be favored to do much and I don't think many of the Southern Idaho teams will take them all too seriously. This will hopefully be a huge advantage like you said... Anything can happen when you play great defense. Go Cats!!! Not that it matters like we discussed on the girls side, but do you know what Kimberly's record is and if they are ranked in the state?
According to Idahosports.com they are in the top 5 but their record is not overly impressive as far as W-L goes. Here is the link:

Rankings http://www.idahosports.com/polls/boysba ... anking.asp
Brackets http://www.idahosports.com/tournaments/ ... 0brckt.pdf

The boys play at Meridian HS. It is too bad the girls can't do that. Middleton HS isn't the nicest of gyms.

Its painful to think i could have been on hat 89 team, but we had to move away. That was the one thing i was really looking forward to was playing with those guys when we were all in junior High