Bengal boys are State-bound

For the first time since 2017, the Lewiston Bengals are State-bound in boys basketball.

“It hasn’t happened in so long,” Lewiston junior guard Dray Torpey said. “So no one expects Lewiston to make it to State.”

The Bengals did everything in their power to defy that perception this season through sizzling 3-point shooting, a defiant defense and an unselfish brand of basketball.

It was all on display in the Lewiston Bengals’ 69-55 win over the visiting Sandpoint Bulldogs to secure the 5A Inland Empire League district championship on Thursday at Lewiston High School.

Junior Royce Fisher sank four 3-pointers and paced Lewiston (20-4) with 28 points, senior Parker Bogar added 13 and sophomore Blaze Hepburn drilled three 3-pointers and totaled 11 points.

“We’re always in the gym. We’re always playing,” Lewiston coach Brooks Malm said. “These guys invest a lot of time. We don’t spend time — we invest it. Tonight, we saw a return on investment.”

Two clutch shots

Lewiston started strong with a 24-point first quarter and built a lead as large as 19 points midway through the first half.

Then, the Bengals began to miss shots at a greater clip than the beginning of the game and Sandpoint capitalized. Lewiston still led by 15 points at halftime but the Bulldogs (11-12), who Malm said played a tough schedule and earned the right to play for the district championship, did not simply concede.

The Bulldogs came out of the locker room with a bit of bite to go along with their bark, posting a 13-3 run to open the second half.

Midway through the third quarter, Sandpoint’s Logan Roos broke into a Lewiston passing lane, stealing the ball and cashing in on an alley-oop dunk to cap a 13-3 run and cut the Lewiston lead to five points.

Then, the Bengals made a play.

On the next possession, Hepburn drove up the right side into the paint but watched his layup attempt roll off the rim into Fisher’s eager arms.

With the offensive board in his hands, the junior guard spun around and flung the ball to a wide-open Bogar, who sank his lone 3 of the night to extend the Lewiston lead to a slightly more comfortable eight points with 4:15 to go in the third quarter.

Bogar’s shot came in his last game on the purple-and-gold hardwood.

“I love this place,” Bogar said. “And it’s gonna be hard not playing here anymore.”

Sandpoint continued to stick around with Knox Williams (11 points) sinking three 3-pointers to headline five Bulldogs to score at least eight points.

With the Lewiston lead sitting at 10 with about four minutes left in the contest, Torpey found the ball in his hands.

The 6-foot-1 junior guard put up a left-wing 3-pointer that sailed through the nylon and got the LHS gym absolutely rocking.

“On the sideline after I missed two and I came out, (Malm) told me, ‘You’re gonna hit a big one. Just go straight through the ball. You’re gonna hit a big one,’” Torpey said. “I came in and I stepped up with confidence and I hit it.”

Unselfish shooting

With plays like the clutch third-quarter offensive rebound and subsequent assist to Bogar, Fisher filled up the boxscore and practically flooded the leaderboard with his 28 points.

While Fisher leads Lewiston in scoring, Malm said he is an unselfish kid who does anything it takes to win.

“He’s really efficient,” Malm said. “He’s scoring 20-plus points on typically anywhere from 12 to 16 shots. So he’s an efficient scorer. He’s a team-first guy. All he wants to do is win.”

State-bound

A sea of Lewiston faithful chanted the name of each member of the 2025 Bengal boys basketball team as they each took turns ascending a ladder and cutting down the net. Smiles were a fixture on every face.

With the net cut down, the Bengals lifted the distinct championship trophy and leapt up and down in a joyous mosh pit.

Following the ceremony, Malm proudly wore the net, a piece of Bengal basketball history, as a necklace.

“What’s gratifying about it is seeing the kids who spend all the time in the gym go up there and cut the net,” Malm said. “I just like being in the gym and helping kids get better, and being in the gym in the summer, and watching — this is a byproduct of that.

“These kids work extremely hard.”

The Bengals turn their attention to the 5A state tournament, which will be held from Thursday to Saturday at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian.

“We need to play the same style of basketball we have, and we need to play our game,” Bogar said. “We can’t get away from what we’ve been doing all year that’s been successful.”

The way the Bengals talk about the state tournament, it sounds like they’ve been there before.

“Very serious in practice,” Fisher said of what the next week contains for the Bengals. “And dialed in for our next opponent.”

SANDPOINT (11-12)

Knox Williams 4 0-0 11, Logan Iverson 0 0-0 0, Brock Yarbrough 4 0-0 9, Derrick Chamberlin 4 0-3 8, Logan Roos 3 2-3 8, Caiden Gion 2 2-3 4, Wil Leisy 1 0-0 3, Emerik Jones 3 3-4 10, Rece Wolff 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 7-13 55.

LEWISTON (20-4)

Dray Torpey 3 1-2 8, Royce Fisher 10 4-4 28, Drew Alldredge 1 1-1 3, Jordan Walker 1 2-2 4, Brady Rudolph 0 0-0 0, Blaze Hepburn 4 0-2 11, Parker Bogar 6 0-0 13, Mason Way 0 2-2 2. Totals 25 10-13 69.

Sandpoint 17 9 16 13—55

Lewiston 24 17 13 15—69

3-point goals — Williams 3, Yarbrough, W. Leisy, Jones, Fisher 4, Hepburn 3, Torpey, Bogar.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.