Lewiston beats Burley, advances to semis in Idaho Class 5A state tournament action
Mar. 6—MERIDIAN — Lewiston’s Royce Fisher scored the second-most points in a single game of his career, 34, as the top-seeded Bengals dominated the eighth-seeded Burley Bobcats 60-55 in the first round of the Idaho Class 5A boys basketball tournament Thursday at Rocky Mountain High School.
Fisher scored more than half of the Bengals’ points in the five-point victory.
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Lewiston coach Brooks Malm said he was pleased with the way the team played.
“I’m really proud of our guys for being able to hold on and face adversity, show some resilience (and) come away with a victory,” Malm said.
Of Fisher’s near career-high day, he said, “I don’t know (about career-high), but I’m happy he’s on our team.”
The fisherman’s big game
The second and third quarters belonged to Fisher.
He scored nine of the Bengals’ 14 points in the second quarter and 16 of Lewiston’s 21 points in the third quarter. Fisher said a dunk early in the second quarter kicked off his momentum.
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Fisher shot 11 of 22 from the field, including 10 of 15 from two-point range. He made a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and shot 11 of 15 from the free throw line.
Fisher credited his inside game for the majority of his points. He said he felt like he took a step forward in his inside game and that’s why he was able to score so many points.
“It was awesome,” Fisher said. “My teammates were able to get open. We were able to execute what we needed to and I got some buckets.”
He said he was able to make so many mistakes because when he was driving, Burley collapsed on top of him.
“Then they would hack me or foul me,” Fisher said. “And I just needed to throw (the foul shots).”
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Fisher also finished with a game-high eight rebounds and dished out an assist.
The Bengals remain calm
Lewiston held the lead from the opening minute, taking an 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Bengals (21-3) held Burley (14-12) at bay and used big quarter help from Fisher, along with a few free throws from Jordan Walker and a few points from Andrew Haines. Lewison led 28-20 at halftime.
The third quarter was basically all Fisher with a few points from Haines and Blaze Hepburn sprinkled in. Lewiston held a healthy 49-40 lead heading into the fourth.
The Bengals led by five or more points for the majority of the game until the Bobcats made it a three-point game with 4 minutes, 12 seconds remaining in regulation.
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Then a three-point play by Fisher, where he drove to the basket and was tackled by a Bobcat defender before making the bucket and the ensuing free throw, created a spark.
Brady Ruldoph followed up with one of three 3-pointers the Bengals made throughout the game to put the game out of reach at 57-50 with 2:16 left.
Lewiston closed out the game with a couple of free throws for their final three points of the game.
Malm said that offensive sequence, along with huge defensive stops, helped the Bengals win the game.
“Those were probably the biggest plays,” Malm said. “I mean, to be in that moment, we had to make a lot of stops. And I thought we did a good job. I thought Mason Way was really good. I thought Drew Haines did a good job rebounding. DJ Wilkerson gave us a good boost in the first half.
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“So I thought we were good defensively throughout the game. The biggest offensive plays of the night were those 3s in the second half. I mean, those were huge for us to win.”
Malm said as the game got closer, it was key to lean on last year’s players who have state tournament experience.
“Just having the composure…just having the experience from last year playing that game (helped),” Malm said. “I think it helped some of these older guys. A lot of these guys were on last year’s team. So the message from our guys throughout the game is, ‘We’re going to win, we’re going to win, we’re going to win.’ So I thought they did a really good job of keeping their composure and staying the course.”
The semi-finals on deck
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The Bengals advance to a semifinal game against the Columbia Wildcats of Nampa at 11 a.m. Pacific today at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. The winner of this game will advance to Saturday’s state championship.
Malm said the team was happy with the win, but said the focus shifted to the next game right after the win.
“We’re excited, but we’re here to try to win,” Malm said. “We’re not just happy, lucky, happy to be here. We want to keep playing. We gave ourselves a great opportunity to play in the state semifinals, so we’re going to make sure we do everything we can to take advantage of that opportunity tomorrow.”
BURLEY (14-12)
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Teegan Schreiter 2 0-1 4, Phoenix Castro 0 0-0 0, Cove Thompson 2 1-2 6, Jake Seely 1 0-0 2, Jacob Redder 2 0-0 5, Nash Gillette 8 2-2 21, Jayden Garcia 0 0-0 0, Ryker Page 5 0-0 10, Fields Bangerter 0 0-0 0, Ty Shirley 0 0-0 0, Matthew Coats 0 0-0 0, Qentin Alvarado 0 0-0 0, Joseph Kloepfer 3 1-2 7, Trevor Jones 0 0-0 0, Krew Thompson 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 4-7 55.
LEWISTON (21-3)
Zavier McFee 0 0-0 0, Royce Fisher 11 11-15 34, DJ Wilkerson 0 0-0 0, Jordan Walker 1 3-5 6, Peyton Walker 0 0-0 0, Andrew Haines 3 0-0 6, Brady Rudolph 2 1-2 6, Blaze Hepburn 3 0-1 6, Carson Henson 0 0-0 0, Noah Schumaker 0 0-0 0, William Bobeck 0 0-0 0, Braylon Howland 0 0-0 0, Krew DeGroot 0 0-0 0, Mason Way 0 2-2 2. Totals 20 17-25 60.
Burley 6 14 20 15—55
Lewiston 11 17 21 11—60
3-point goals — Gillette 3, C. Thompson, Redder, Fisher, J. Walker, Rudolph.
Junt can be reached at 208-848-2258, tjunt@lmtribune.com or on X @TrevorJunt.
