As the defending champion, Prairie had the biggest target.

The Pirates endured the biggest gauntlet this week as well,and they proved their mettle yet again as worthy champions.

Prairie outlasted Lapwai 54-50, repeating as 1A-I state boys basketball champions on Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Prairie senior Rhett Schlader quipped after the win, which was Prairie’s fourth straight title across all boys team sports. “This is an emotional one, maybe because it’s thelast time with all these guys.”

Schlader had 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists topace the Pirates, who survived against No. 2 Ambrose in the opening round andescaped Valley in overtime in the semifinals.

“I think this one is better because we breezed a little bit last year, and this year we had a lot of great teams that really made us work hard for it this time,” said junior Jake Bruner.

Going just 2-for-10 from the field, in the title game Schladerhit all 10 of his foul shots to put Prairie over the top.

Bruner poured in 16 points and eight rebounds to help Prairie. Schlader, Bruner and Lucas Arnzen played every second of the championship game – Schlader played all 32 minutes the night before.

Worries about energy and legs proved to be no issue, asPrairie played disciplined basketball and grinded out a victory over a Lapwaiteam that never really got into its own flow.

“I thought we did a pretty good job defensively today,”Bruner said. “We didn’t celebrate too much after Valley and we were able to refocus, get some rest and be ready to go.”

The Pirates repeated as basketball champions, to go with the football championship they won in the fall.

For Lapwai, Imani Mitchell scored 14 points, and Savion Henry added 10. Tommy Miles-Williams had nine points and nine rebounds.

Box Score

Webcast Replay

Idaho Sports Player of the Game: Rhett Schlader, Prairie.