Will Hoenike
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The Centennial Patriots and Highland Rams each overcame slow starts to win going away, setting up a semifinal match Friday night at 8 PM at the Idaho Center.
Centennial trailed Lewiston at halftime, 29-26, before pouring in a whopping 49 points over the game’s final 16 minutes to win, 75-54. At one point, the Bengals had a ten-point, second-quarter lead before the Patriots chipped away in the second quarter – and then ran away in the second half.
Talon Pinckney led Centennial with 19 points with Kendall Williams and Delvion Jackson adding 15 apiece. Braeden Wilson Led Lewiston with 14.
As for Highland, the Rams had to weather a hot-shooting barrage from Mountain View in the first half before storming back in the third quarter to take the lead. Senior Connor Harding took over from there, finishing with a game-high 22 points and contributing blocked shots and rebounds on defense as well to make sure Highland wasn’t threatened late in its 63-52 victory. Mason Baker added clutch buckets down the stretch, too, and finished with 17 points.
Damen Thacker had a strong performance for the Mavericks with 17 points and eight rebounds.
In the early matchups, Madison stymied Rocky Mountain in the second quarter and then overwhelmed them in the fourth, en route to a 67-41 win. They’ll meet the Borah Lions, who found their collective legs in the second half of the day’s first quarterfinal in a 51-38 win over the Capital Eagles.
After a fast-paced opening quarter, Madison held Rocky Mountain to just two points in the second quarter to seize control. Then, in the final quarter, the Bobcats erupted for 25 points to put the Grizzlies away. Josh Crane had 14 points and nine rebounds for Madison. Jaxon Edelmayer (16) and Mason Downey (11) also scored in double figures for the Bobcats.
Rocky Mountain was led in scoring by 20 points from big man Kolby Lee. He and Kobe Terashima combined for 35 of the Grizzlies’ 41 points.
In the day’s first game, Borah shook off a slow start to methodically pull away from Capital. The Lions clamped down defensively through the first three quarters, holding the Eagles to a total of 21 points.
Max Reitman hit a number of big shots for Borah, leading all scorers with 13 points. Senior DeAndre Jones added nine points and six rebounds for the Lions, who will now face a Madison team it handled at Borah back in December.
Capital got 12 points from Justin Saunders and ten from Cameron Daron in defeat.
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