BOISE — With 2:35 remaining in West Side's 42-36 victory over Kamiah, West Side guard Kyler Austin knew he didn't have much time to react when Kamiah center Eric Hill got the ball in the low post.
West Side led 36-27, so Austin had no desire to commit a foul and give the Kubs a chance to cut into the lead. But he also wasn't about to give up the easy bucket. All he could do was stand his ground and hope for the best.
A second later, the whistle blew and Austin had the result he wanted. He'd drawn the offensive foul and Hill was out of the game. The mentality to do anything to win proved to be the difference as West Side (18-6) returned to the 2A state semifinals by beating Kamiah (22-2) on Thursday night at Capital High School.
“We knew that Kamiah was a tough team, and in order to beat them, we were going to have to play our butts off for the whole game,” Austin said. “Our mindset was to outhustle them for 32 minutes.
“(West Side) coach (Tyler) Brown really pounded it into our heads that they were a solid team, and we were going to have to be tough and smart. Part of being tough is being able to take charges.”
Before the game, Brown told his team that rebounding and containing Kamiah junior guard Jack Nygaard were the keys to the game. The Pirates executed the plan to perfection.
Nygaard finished with 15 points to lead all scorers, but he had to shoot 5-for-18 from the field to do it, and most of his points came after West Side had established a comfortable lead.
“Nygaard can really shoot it, and their other kids really look for him to score,” Brown said. “As he goes, they go. I'm proud of my kids for playing. We knew we had to stop him and limit his points.”
Meanwhile, West Side handled Kamiah on the glass, outrebounding the Kubs 36-25 and grabbing 25 defensive rebounds.
“If something is really important to coach Brown, he writes it three times,” West Side forward Tanner Smart said. “(Rebounding) was the main thing he had written three times. It was the same as our last play-in game, do or die. If we lose, our ultimate goal is out of the picture.”
Smart made sure the Pirates' goal of finally winning an elusive state championship was still in play by scoring 13 points to lead West Side. Six of those points came during a 90-second stretch when Kamiah started to gamble with a press to try to get back in the game, leaving Smart open for his teammates to find him.
“My teammates did an amazing job getting the ball into me,” Smart said. “To return the favor, I've got to score for them.”
West Side returns to the state semifinals, but for the first time in five years, longtime nemesis Firth is not around to block their path. The Cougars lost on Thursday night to New Plymouth, ending their four-year run as 2A state champions and setting up a meeting between West Side and New Plymouth tonight at 8 p.m.
The Pirates hoped that they would be the ones to end Firth's reign, but going through the Pilgrims is fine with them.
“Our mindset the last week is that (if) you win, you move on, and (if) you lose, you go home,” Austin said. “We don't want to go home. We've worked too hard to even consider it. We've got two more games in West Side jerseys, and we're going to do everything we can to take these jerseys off with pride.”
No comments:
Post a Comment