Coeur d’Alene defeats Eagle
We expected the winning team to exploit mismatches. We just didn’t expect it to be these two. While Coeur d’Alene solved the size problem, not letting Eagle’s Gillmor and Shaw dominate inside, and Eagle did a decent job of containing Cd’A’s Watson (he was definitely the most athletic player on the floor), it was the Viking’s Matheson and Barraco that were the difference makers.
Matheson got things going early for Cd’A and his confidence was contagious for the north Idaho team. Barraco was very active, grabbing rebounds and loose balls. By halftime you could tell that it was going to be the Viking’s afternoon. They also showed that they are deeper than just two players with solid contributions coming from 6 guys. It sets up a great match up for tomorrow’s first semi-final game.
Centennial builds on their momentum over Timberline
The first half was solid for both teams and as they headed into the locker room it was tied at 26. And both teams showed signs of championship charisma, with bench players getting solid minutes for teammates that found themselves in early foul trouble.
But for Timberline, the problems started in the third quarter. They were only able to score 5 points. The only player that seemed able to create on offense was Marcus Graham. And though he would end with 26 points, it wasn’t enough to advance to the semi-finals.
Centennial’s Faruk Huskic had a big second half with 15 of his 17 points. And Patrick Manning locked the game away with 16 points and going 8 of 8 from the free throw line, denying Timberline from a “foul their way back into the game” type of come back.