Bears bow to Badgers in hard-fought Avista semifinal

The Moscow Bears did not go down gently as they confronted the unbeaten Bonners Ferry Badgers in the Avista Holiday Tournament boys basketball semifinals on Friday at Lewis-Clark State’s P1FCU Activity Center.

Nonetheless, they did ultimately go down. The reigning Idaho Class 4A state champion Badgers pulled away late to prevail 66-50, booking a spot in today’s final.

Badgers travel well

Bonners Ferry (9-0) burst out of the gates with a shock-and-awe display to start the game, drilling a 3-point goal and making a steal and inside basket on the first two possessions to go up 5-0. Moscow (5-4) found its footing and played more or less evenly with the Badgers for the next three quarters, but never managed to erase that initial deficit and tie or take the lead.

The Bears were down 35-30 at the half and closed to within five points again as late as the first minute of the fourth quarter, only for an 11-point Bonners Ferry run to dash their hopes.

“They’re just a really solid team,” Moscow coach Josh Uhrig said of Bonners Ferry. “I thought we gave them too many second-chance points when we maybe had chances to creep back in. I was actually happy with the way we executed on offense, but we got one chance every time, and they got two or three chances.”

The Bears were far closer to home turf than their opponents, but that would have been difficult to tell from the crowd dynamic; the defending 4A state champion Badgers’ fan section was perhaps the most energetic and vocal of any team that played at the Activity Center on Friday.

“They traveled really well,” Uhrig said. “It’s, what, a four-hour trip for them? It’s amazing the energy that (crowd support) gives you.”

Bears battle back

Entering this game in the wake of a career performance which saw him score 33 points against McCall-Donnelly on Thursday, Traiden Cummings of Moscow showed a hand still palpably hot in the early going. The 6-foot-2 senior racked up 13 points in the opening half, with his highlight play of the day coming just over a minute into the second quarter when he intercepted a pass and charged across the court for a fast-break slam dunk. His jets finally cooled after intermission, however, as defensive pressure against him and foul trouble from his own attempts to cover 6-foot-6 Bonners Ferry guard Asher Williams mounted. Cummings scored only once in the third, and ultimately fouled out in the fourth.

Grant Abendroth, Moscow’s other regular double-digit scorer, raised his game to help keep the Bears in contention. An Abendroth 3-point goal to start the fourth quarter capped a seven-point Moscow run that closed things to 49-44, only for Bonners Ferry’s Thomas Bateman to answer with his own 3 that sparked a devastating 11-point run for the Badgers. Bonners Ferry, which had rushed and flustered Moscow in the early stages of the game, was very successful at slowing the pace and scoring at the end of long possessions in the fourth as the clock wound down and Moscow’s prospects evaporated.

Abendroth finished with a team-high 19 points, while Cummings tallied 15, going 7-for-10 from the field.

A grand debut

Abendroth and Cummings together managed just one more point than overall scoring leader Williams, who amassed 33 — half his team’s winning total. Williams was all-but-unstoppable on the inside, where he converted 10 total field goals, and fouling proved an ineffective strategy as he went 13-for-13 from the free throw line. He also repeatedly fed fellow Badger big man Sulay Abubakari for post shots, at one point executing a no-look pass to the 6-4 post while apparently driving in for a layup.

Abubakari joined Williams in double figures with 10 points on the day, two of those coming off an inside jumper with three seconds left in the first half to restore key separation for his team when Moscow had closed to within a possession at 33-30.

“Hats off to Moscow,” said Bonners Ferry coach Nathan Williams, who is also Asher’s father. “They executed well; they hit some big shots.”

The Badgers are playing their Avista Holiday Tournament, having traditionally participated in Spokane Valley’s Eagle Holiday Classic instead. The Avista organizers reached out to Bonners Ferry last summer, and Nathan Williams felt the elimination-bracket format of this tournament — as opposed to a showcase style — held appeal as the best preparation for the postseason.

“I really appreciate Shannon (Wilson) and Mike Tatko reaching out,” Nathan Williams said. “It was very nice of them, and we jumped on it.”

UP NEXT

Bonners Ferry meets the Clarkston Bantams in the title game today at 2:30 p.m., while Moscow takes on Grangeville (substituting in to the bracket as the Colfax Bulldogs are unable to play on Day 3) in a consolation game at 11:30 a.m.

MOSCOW (5-4)

Tyson Izzo 1 2-2 4, Abram Godfrey 0 0-2 0, JP Breese 1 0-0 3, Traiden Cummings 7 0-0 15, Maurice Bethel 0 0-0 0, Connor Isakson 0 0-0 0, Grant Abendroth 7 1-2 19, Max Winfree 2 0-0 4, Emeth Toebben 0 0-0 0, Jonas Mordhorst 1 0-0 2, Andrew Hurley 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 3-6 50.

BONNERS FERRY (9-0)

Ty Schrock 0 0-0 0, Eli Blackmore 2 0-0 5, Brody Rice 3 2-3 9, Peyton Hinthorn 0 0-0 0, Asher Williams 10 13-13 33, Thomas Bateman 4 0-0 9, Ivaan Cartwright 0 0-0 0, Sulay Abubakari 5 0-2 10. Totals 24 15-18 64.

Moscow 16 14 11 9—50

Bonners Ferry 21 14 14 17—66

3-point goals — Abendroth 4, Breese, Cummings, Hurley, Blackmore, Rice, Bateman.