Priest River missed Kreager as Spartans fall to Bonners
Teigan Marinello puts up a jumper in Priest River's game against Bonners Ferry on Monday.
Priest River received news that its leading scorer Trentyn Kreager suffered a case of appendicitis moments before tipoff against 3A Intermountain league foe Bonners Ferry.
During the first half, the Spartans and Badgers both refused to give an inch.
Priest River had a 29-27 halftime lead but its rotation suffered from the loss of Kreager.
The second half belonged to the Badgers as they came away with the 68-52 victory.
“Our first half was one of our better halves of the season,” Priest River boys basketball coach Jaden Barrett said. “In the second half we just came out and kind of died, we had no energy.”
The two teams traded the lead six times in the first half and 10 times total but once Asher Williams made a corner 3 with 1:00 left in the third to put Badgers up 38-33 the Spartans failed to come close to the lead again.
“Our rotation just wasn’t used to playing the amount of minutes they were playing,” Barrett said. “When you lose a guy like Trentyn, that’s a good 30 minutes right there.”
During the first half both teams were playing with an energy as if it was the final half of a state championship game.
No team led by more than four points and both offenses were shining. The difference in the second half was the Badgers were able to keep pace and step up defensively in the final 16 minutes.
“They pressured the crap out of us,” Barrett said. “We were doing a good job pounding the paint and getting them into foul trouble in the first half but we went away from that in the second.”
Both teams came into the game with matching 8-8 records, so this win boosts Bonners Ferry up to second place in the 3A Intermountain league standings.
Jace Yount paced Priest River with 16 points, Blake Barrett added 15.
Asher Williams led Bonners Ferry with 17 points.
Bonners Ferry 12 15 21 20 — 68
Priest River 11 17 13 10 - 52
Priest River
Baker 9, Matthews 0, Marinello 10, Gleason 0, Barrett 15, Engelson 2, Yount 16.
Bonners Ferry
R. Williams 8, Henslee 0, Petsch 2, A. Williams 17, Thomas Bateman 8, Hubbard 9, Trey Bateman 4, Mai 5, Blackmore 15