Summit boys are second at District
Nezperce continued its role as the #1 team in Idaho’s 1A-D2 division, as they twice dropped district runner-up Summit in two District games last week at Lapwai. In so doing, the Indians travel to state this weekend in search of a state championship.
Fresh from a 57-40 win over Highland in first round district action last week, Summit dropped its first encounter to Nezperce Tuesday, Feb. 21, by a score of 72-46. Quarter scores were 32-16, 48-24 and 60-37. Summit actually outscored Nezperce 13-12 in the third and held on for a respectable 9 to 12 deficit in the fourth but the first half damage had been done and pretty well settled the issue.
Preston Hill with 20, Sawyer Wahl with 14, Shane Kuther with 13 and Ethan Scott with 11 did most of the damage for the Indians, while Summit scoring showed Dan Wemhoff with 3, Derek Nuxoll with 5, Shane Stubbers with 2, Austin Chmelik with 5 and Michael Waters with 20 with a remarkable 7 for 7 inside the 3-point arc and 6 of 7 at the free throw line and one missed 3-point attempt. David Waters scored 7 and Matthew Schwartz 4.
Rebounds and assist stats for Summit: Wemhoff 0 and 1, Nuxoll 3 and 2, Stubbers 5 and 0, Justin Dempsey 1 and 0, Chmelik 2 and 3, Michael Waters 4 and 0, David Waters 5 and 4, and Schwartz 0 and 0. Nathan Beckman and Josh Lustig also played in the game but failed to connect on any shot tries.
Chmelik had 3 steals while Michael Waters had 2 steals and a block.
The Patriots were 14 of 31 from the field for 45% and 9 of 13 at the line, 69%. They were also 3 of 15 on treys attempted with Wemhoff, Chmelik and David Waters each connecting on 1.
The loss put the Patriots into the loser-out game Thursday with Highland once again, who had earned a wild 37-36 win over Timberline on Tuesday to stay alive in the tourney. A Jared Arnzen goal at the buzzer gave Highland another chance at Summit but the results were much the same as the earlier matchup as the Patriots prevailed 45 to 29 after leading just 12-11 after the first quarter.
Summit’s tough defense held the Huskies to just 2 points in the second quarter as they opened up a 24-13 halftime lead.
They outscored the Huskies 21-16 in the second half to put the Patriots into their second contest with Nezperce the following night, with still a chance to earn the one state trip allotted to this district.
Scoring, rebounds, assists and steals for the Patriots: Wemhoff 2, 2, 1, 4; Nuxoll 6, 8, 0, 2; Lustig 8, 2, 2, 0; Stubbers 9, 8, 0, 2; Dempsey 0, 1, 0, 0; David Waters 0, 0, 2, 1; Chmelik 14, 8, 4, 3 and 1 block and Schwartz 6, 2, 0, 2. Beckman played the 4th quarter but Michael Waters was unable to suit up for the game.
In their second game of the week with the first place Indians from Nezperce Summit cut their turnovers from 21 to 12 and also narrowed their losing gap by three, finishing behind their opponents 68-47 this time. 
The first half again proved their undoing as Nezperce outscored the local boys 38-18 in that half but only 30-29 in the second.
Held to 9 points by a tenacious Summit defense in the third, the Indians exploded for 21 points in the fourth to Summit’s 16, with Sawyer Wahl doing most of the damage in the last quarter with 8 points. Wahl ended up with 22 points to lead Nezperce, but was ably assisted by 10 from Parker Hill, 7 from Jonathan Riggers, 7 from Justin Zenner, 7 from Preston Hill, 6 from Mitch Wemhoff, 2 from Ethan Scott and 7 from Shane Kuther. For Summit Wemhoff had 5 points with 1 three, Lustig had 3, 14 from Chmelik including 3 of 5 from 3-point distance; David Waters 9 points on the strength of 3 treys, brother Michael 11 points and Schwartz 5. 
The Patriots were only able to connect on 35% of their 2-point attempts, blocked frequently by the tall Nezperce inside defense, but did hit half of their 3-point attempts, 9 of 18, and the same from the line at 2 for 4.
Rebounds, assists and steals for Summit: Wemhoff 3, 1, 0; Nuxoll 6, 0, 1; Stubbers 2, 0, 1; Chmelik 3, 0, 2; David Waters 5, 1, 1 and a block; Michael Waters 3, 1, 1; Schwartz 0, 0, 0.
The loss ended Summit’s season with an overall record of 9 and 15 and they will be without the three seniors on next year’s team, Nuxoll, Chmelik and David Waters. Returning lettermen and an incoming frosh class should provide Summit the opportunity to schedule JV games next year, missing this year due to low numbers.
The Nezperce team is the fourth to represent Central Idaho’s tough White Pine League as Genesee, Lapwai and paly-in winner C.V. travel to state also to represent the D1 part of the White Pine. 
In the coming two year cycle the D2 division will ad Kendrick and Deary and most probably Logos for a total of 7 teams while Kamiah is coming down to the D1 level from 2A to give that division 7 teams also. 
The new format marks the end of an overall White Pine winner, as division opponents will play each other twice and others on a scheduled basis. The additional teams do mean that Summit’s division will be allowed 1½ and possibly 2 teams to state during the next 2-year cycle.

Cottonwood, Idaho 83522
 

Home

Classified Ads
 

COTTONWOOD
CHRONICLE
503 King St.
P.O. Box 157
Cottonwood, ID 83522-0157
editor@cottonwoodchronicle.com
or cotchron@qwestoffice.net
208-962-3851
Fax 208-962-7131
Template Design by: