Wampus Cats unable to shake early jitters in first round loss to Rockland

CALDWELL — It was Clark Fork’s first state tournament game in 13 years — and the Wampus Cats had the jitters to prove it.

Clark Fork failed to score a point in the first quarter and was plagued by turnovers throughout the game in a 57-20 loss to the Rockland Bulldogs on Wednesday in the first round of the state 1A Division II boys basketball tournament at Caldwell High.

“We have a lot of young guys on the team. A lot of kids came out with butterflies, we got off to a really slow start, and once you get down by a lot, it’s hard to get back up,” said junior guard Carter Sanroman, who led the Wampus Cats with six points.

Clark Fork struggled with turnovers, missed shots and offensive fouls in the early going. The Wampus Cats went 3 for 21 from the field in the first half, and finished 8 of 35 (22.9%) for the game. Clark Fork had 12 of its 22 turnovers in the first half.

“I think the first quarter was just shell-shock,” third-year head coach Heath Beason said. “We started to beat ourselves with bad passes and turnovers were killing us. We weren’t passing to our own players; we were pretty much giving the ball away on really just silly stuff. Once we got that under control, for some reason, even when we got within 5 feet, we still couldn’t drop a bucket.”

Clark Fork (4-13) will play Carey (12-6) in a consolation game Thursday at 11 a.m. PST at Caldwell High. Carey lost to Garden Valley, the No. 1 ranked team in 1A Division II, 84-58.

Rockland (20-6) also gave Clark Fork fits by playing a box-and-one defense on Wampus Cat senior point guard Cameron Garcia. Clark Fork has seen it before and didn’t mind the Bulldogs’ strategy, but was unable to make them pay for it.

“Just our guys being young, and not confident in running the stuff we’ve run all year long ... It just seemed like they were like deer in the headlights,” Beason said. “And when one turnover starts, it just snowballs, and we just started falling apart.”

“We knew coming in if we could disrupt him (Garcia), the other guys on the team would have a tough time scoring,” Rockland coach Shae Neal said. “So we kind of took the ball out of his hands and said ‘Hey, beat us with the other four.’”

Clark Fork’s first basket at state since 2008 came in the second quarter, when junior Sam Barnett scooped up a loose ball in the key and scored with just under six minutes left in the first half.

According to IHSAA records, Rockland broke the single-game record for points allowed in a 1A Division II tournament game. Salmon River allowed 22 points in a 2011 tourney game.

Rockland was credited with 19 steals, eight by Braden Permann and four by Wesley Matthews. Teague Matthews scored 12 points for the Bulldogs, who got most of their points in transition. Permann, a 5-9 senior point guard, also had 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.

“We make sure we play defense before we go score,” Neal said.

Clark Fork played its best stretch of the game early in the third quarter, a 9-4 run which saw Sanroman hit both of his 3-pointers, and Garcia hit one from deep for his only basket of the game. That pulled the Wampus Cats to within 40-15; Rockland answered with a 9-0 run to close the quarter.

“I know tomorrow’s going to be a way different story; we’ll have a way different mindset on the game,” Sanroman said. “We didn’t really know what we were coming into … we started getting somewhat better at the end, but it was a little too late.”

Rockland 16 18 15 8 — 57

Clark Fork 0 6 9 5 — 20

ROCKLAND — Parish 2, Bra. Permann 10, Meritt 7, G. Permann 2, Neal 0, Hall 0, W. Matthews 9, W. Hendrickson 0, T. Matthews 12, G. Hendrickson 0, Bri. Permann 11, Farr 4. Totals 24-45 7-11 57.

CLARK FORK — Garcia 3, Ch. Sanroman 0, Ca. Sanroman 6, Reuter 0, Matteson 0, Mintken 0, Barnett 2, Howard 3, Mayorga 4, Shelton 2, Wade 0, Christofferson 0. Totals 8-35 0-2 20.