‘We’ve gotta get ‘er done.’ Unbeaten Melba edges St. Maries for chance at Idaho history

The first official boys basketball state championship in Idaho was awarded in 1917.

More than 100 years later, history is still within Melba’s grasp.

After the Melba girls basketball team went unbeaten and won a 2A state title in February, the boys have the chance to do the same thing Saturday when they face Bear Lake for the championship at 1:40 p.m. at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

No Idaho school has had its boys and girls teams finish perfect and sweep the state titles in any classification, according to Idaho Statesman archives.

“It’s lots of pressure,” Melba junior Cache Beus said with a smile. “We’ve got to match what the girls do or they’re going to hold it up against us. We’ve gotta get ‘er done.”

Facing St. Maries at the state tournament for the third year in a row, Melba escaped with a 62-58 victory in the 2A state semifinals Friday night at Capital High.

The Mustangs looked rushed to start the game, committing three early turnovers to fall behind 4-0. The mistakes were short-lived, though, as Melba responded with an 18-0 run to end the first quarter.

The Mustangs increased their lead to as many as 24 points, 28-4, with 5:36 to play in the second quarter. The Lumberjacks finally found some life at the free-throw line shortly before halftime, outscoring the Mustangs 15-4 to end the quarter down 36-23.

As insurmountable as that deficit appeared, St. Maries wasn’t deterred. The Lumberjacks kept chipping away, outscoring Melba 20-8 in the third quarter and taking their first lead since it was 4-0 on Greyson Sands’ driving layup with 7:30 remaining.

“In the game of basketball, it’s all about a bunch of runs, right?” Melba coach Spencer Trappett said. “They made a run, and we panicked. And a lot of times when a team is coming back from a long ways down, you panic the more they get closer, and we panicked.”

As the Lumberjacks made their comeback, the Mustangs struggled to navigate their full-court press, ultimately committing 17 turnovers that led to 17 St. Maries points.

“We talked about it. We settled down,” said Melba’s Cutter Beus, who missed last season with a broken foot. “We all got a drink of water, got a towel and whipped ourselves down, and just got ourselves ready to go again.”

Melba then led 57-50 with 2:31 to play, but St. Maries wasn’t done yet. The Lumberjacks pulled within 57-55 on a 3-pointer from Dillon Holder and another layup from Sands.

Cache Beus was then fouled on a made putback and sank the free throw to make it 60-55. The cushion grew to 62-55 with 1:06 to go when Melba broke the press for an easy layup from Cutter Beus.

The lead was enough.

Now the Mustangs, who have lived by the motto one quarter at a time, can finally turn their attention to defending their state title.

“We’re definitely not as nervous,” Cache Beus said. “We’ve all been there before pretty much. We’re ready to go back-to-back.”

Cache and Cutter Beus, who are cousins, each finished with 15 points, and Cache added 16 rebounds and two assists. Tucker Lowber chipped in 14 points, and Braden Volkers had eight points.

Sands was the top scorer for the Lumberjacks with 21 points, and Tristun Hill recorded a double-double of 14 points and 12 boards.

3A consolation bracket

Fruitland 61, Kimberly 56: With a strong second half and 3-point shooting, the Grizzlies (15-11) earned their way into the 3A consolation final Saturday at 10 a.m. at Meridian High against Buhl.

Fruitland, which won a trophy at state when it finished third in 2020, outscored the Bulldogs (9-16) 15-8 in the fourth quarter to escape with the victory after trailing by seven at halftime.

Luke Barinaga led Fruitland with 20 points and made half of the team’s 12 3-pointers. Eddie Rodriguez scored 14 points and Caleb Davis 11.

Buhl 57, Homedale 56: In a game with 12 lead changes and eight ties, the Indians (10-15) edged Homedale to prevent a District 3 showdown in the consolation final.

Despite its losing record, Buhl, the District 4 champ, will play for a trophy Saturday. Kyler Kelly scored 23 points on 7-for-11 shooting. The Indians shot better from the field (18-for-34) than they did from the free-throw line (13-for-26).

Jaxon Dines scored 13 points for the District 3 champion Trojans (15-9) and Sigmund Goode added 12.

2A consolation bracket

Cole Valley Christian 52, West Side 45: The Chargers, No. 3 in the final state media poll, were eight minutes away from going two-and-out at the state tournament.

Instead, they will play for the consolation title Saturday morning at 10 at Capital High School.

Cole Valley Christian (20-6) went on a 16-3 run and outscored the Pirates (13-15) 20-5 in the fourth quarter to keep its season going. Ben Beglinger scored 14 points, Sam Overton 12 and Eli Kingery 10 to lead the Chargers, who trailed 30-17 late in the second quarter.

1A Division II: Council to play Cascade

Cascade 55, Timberline 41: Thanks to a stellar performance from Tyler Thurston, District 3 champion Cascade (17-8) kept its season going with a convincing win over the Spartans (12-12) and will play district rival Council in the consolation final.

The Ramblers jumped out to a 15-3 lead after one quarter and never looked back, making seven 3-pointers and getting 33 points from Thurston, who was 10-for-14 from the floor and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. He made four of the team’s triples and also had 10 rebounds.

Cole Olson chipped in with 11 points.

Council 71, Clark Fork 44: Led by Porter McLinn, the District 3 runner-up will get another shot at Cascade after routing the Wampus Cats (13-10).

The Lumberjacks (19-6) got 30 points from McLinn, who missed just one of his 13 shots and added 10 rebounds. Macen Glenn scored 18 for Council, which scored 23 points in the opening quarter, shot 58.5% for the game and never was in trouble.