Sandpoint completes sweep of Bonners Ferry on senior night

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint boys basketball wrapped up the regular season with a commanding 71-52 win over Bonners Ferry on Friday night.

The Bulldogs seniors led the way on senior night, combining to score 55 points.

Kobe Banks finished with 21 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Will Treadaway had 14 points, five rebounds and three blocks.

The six seniors honored before the game were Ryan Roos, Banks, Christian Niemela, Treadaway, Brandon Casey and Donnie Moore.

Head coach Wade Engelson was glad they were able to send this group out with a victory.

“All six seniors have set the bar high based on what great teammates they are, how they support everyone, their work ethic and their commitment to the team,” he said. “They’re all outstanding young men and because of what they’ve done, they’ve shown the younger guys in the program what it takes to be successful.”

The Bulldogs rolled out an all senior starting lineup and they left their mark early in the final home game of their careers.

In the first quarter, it was all about rebounding and the 3-pointer for the Bulldogs.

Every time the ball came thundering off the glass or the rim, it seemed like a Sandpoint player was always there, whether it was Casey in the post or Banks soaring in from the backcourt. This limited the Badgers’ opportunities to get second chance baskets and allowed the Bulldogs to extend offensive possessions, and they capitalized.

“Overall, we’re a great rebounding team, that’s one of our keys to success,” Engelson said. “We always talk about whether we win the rebounding battle during the game or not, and when we do it just gives us a great opportunity to be successful.”

Thanks to a 3-pointer from Banks as time expired in the first, Sandpoint took a 18-11 lead into the second quarter. Banks hit a trio of 3-pointers and had 9 points in the opening quarter.

Sandpoint continued to control the paint in the second quarter and began feeding Treadaway down low and the Badgers had no answer.

“Will has been an excellent player for us all year,” Engelson said. “He’s one of our high IQ guys, he’s an outstanding rebounder, he’s a standout defender and he’s good at finishing around the rim so we just got to see what he does really well.”

The Bulldogs took a 36-21 lead into halftime.

Sandpoint continued to assert its will in the third quarter as the advantage swelled to 21 points after 24 minutes of play.

But then Bonners Ferry got some momentum early in the fourth quarter off a pair of 3-pointers and before the Bulldogs knew it, their lead was cut down to just 10 points with over five minutes left in the game. Then Banks silenced the Badgers run with back-to-back 3-pointers and Sandpoint executed down the stretch to complete a season sweep of Bonners Ferry.

No. 3 seed Sandpoint (10-11) will play at No. 2 Lakeland in the 4A Region 1 loser-out game 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24.

Bonners Ferry 11 10 10 21 — 52

Sandpoint 18 18 16 19 — 71

BONNERS FERRY — Hines 6, Williams 10, Bateman 8, Stockton 1, Hubbard 8, Rice 3, Mai 0, Petersen 3, Blackmore 9, Morgan 5.

SANDPOINT — R. Roos 5, Banks 21, Niemela 9, Eldridge 1, VanDenBerg 9, Dickinson 0, C. Roos 6, Treadaway 14, Casey 6.