Kimberly rides its defense to end 70-year title drought in win over McCall-Donnelly
NAMPA - Sophomore Kasen Hammond raised the state championship trophy so hard that the net which was wrapped around it, flew off. It was hard to blame the Kimberly sophomore.
It had only been 70 years after all.
The Kimberly High School boys basketball team rode its defense to a 40-22 win over McCall-Donnelly Saturday in the Idaho 3A State Championship game at the Ford Idaho Center.
It was the program’s first since 1952.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” senior Jackson Cummins said. “We’ve been at it for years now.
“That’s crazy. I can’t believe it really happened.”
It was fitting because a few months before, the Bulldogs (19-6) actually honored one of the only living members of that 1952 team. They had an assembly for Gary McEwen and hung a banner in his name because back then, none were given out.
This one came after years of taking home every other trophy, but the blue one. The Bulldogs (19-6) won the consolation title last year, took second in 2020 and 2018 and placed third in 2019.
“It was really scary coming into this game because we had been here in the last five years,” said sophomore Gatlin Bair, who was the only player to reach double figures in scoring with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. “This was the year we had to do it.”
They started it off with a 17-point win over Fruitland, which beat them for the title in 2018. Kimberly then got payback on Marsh Valley 46-36. The Eagles beat the Bulldogs en route to a state title last season.
So they had come too far to stop now.
The Vandals (20-3) scored the first five points of the game and led 10-6 after one. But Kimberly rattled off a 9-0 run and outscored them 14-5 in the second quarter to take a 20-15 advantage into the locker room. The Bulldogs were never threatened again.
A 16-0 run to begin the second half made sure of that.
It was because of their defense too.
McCall-Donnelly didn’t score a field goal until four minutes into the third quarter.
Shot 2 of 19 in the second half and 7 of 39 for the game.
And reigning 3A State Player of the Year, DJ Green, who had just dropped 30 points the night before against Snake River, was held to just seven total points on 13.3% shooting.
“I think I’ve got one of the best defensive players at any level to be honest with you. (Senior) Jaxon Bair is unbelievable,” Kimberly coach Daren Garey said. “The crazy thing is, I can put him on just about anybody and I feel like he’s going to do a great job of neutralizing whoever he’s defending.”
It all resulted in Kimberly setting a new classification record for the fewest points in a game.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Garey said. “We had our plan and the kids absolutely committed to it and believed in it and absolutely executed.”
Senior Alex Johnson was really the only Vandal player to have any decent luck shooting the ball. He finished with 10 points on 44% shooting for McCall-Donnelly, which lost in the state title game for the second year in a row after previously never being there.
PHOTO GALLERY
(All photos by Loren Orr)
