Both teams opened up pretty balanced. Rocky was very disciplined in their offense and got good looks most of the night. But their shots weren’t falling early. Timberline was led early by Jackson Reed* on the boards and he was aggresive going to the boards. After the first period Timberline was up 12-10.
In the second, Rocky started to get away from their patience on offense. A few quick shots and turnovers led to easy baskets for Timberline. Jack Tate had a nice second quarter and the Wolves started to pull away, going into halftime up 28-14. Rocky was going to need to make some adjustments.
They came out in the second half with increased pressure, mixing in full court man to man with some run and jump. The change worked. Rocky’s pressure forced several turnovers and dramatically picked up the tempo. They got several quick transition layups and got Timberline to rush shots early in their offense. They cut the lead to 42-35 after three.
The fourth started the same way the third ended…with a 3-pointer from Rocky’s Ryan Skurdal. Rocky kept the pressure on and were eventually able to bring the lead down to 3. But with Timberline settling down and several Rocky players getting into foul trouble and running out of gas, Timberline pulled away in the end, getting the win 60-50.
You can tell that Rocky Mountain is a talented team but they are still trying to figure out how to find a consistent level of play. For Timberline, even though he didn’t fill up the stat sheet Marcus Graham appears to be emerging as the team’s leader.
*It was pretty cool to see Jackson Reed, David Trompke and Colby Henderson all on the court. All three played for our first Idaho Select 8th grade team almost four years ago.
Five Idaho Select players on the floor in the Timberline at Rocky Mountain game