Nighthawks soar in double overtime to win 1A WPL district title

LAPWAI — The 1A Whitepine League boys basketball district tournament final was theoretically held at a neutral site, but it felt more like a Nezperce Nighthawks home game, and never more so than in the closing moments of its second overtime.

“On to State! On to State!” the chant arose with Aidan McLeod at the foul line with 16.6 seconds on the clock for a pair of free throws that would establish the biggest lead of the game for the second-seeded Nighthawks.

Nezperce could do no wrong in the final period, soaring to a 77-68 title-clinching upset over the top-seeded Clearwater Valley Rams on Wednesday at Lapwai High School.

Breaking the deadlock

Nezperce (13-5) had been soundly defeated by Clearwater Valley (12-9) of Kooskia on two occasions during the regular season — a 63-43 season debut for both teams on Dec. 3, then a near-duplicate 61-42 encounter on Jan. 16. Wednesday’s district championship showdown initially appeared headed toward a similar outcome, with the Rams leading 18-11 through the opening quarter and 32-24 at halftime.

“Both teams came out real strong,” Nezperce coach Conner McLeod said. “CV, they were handling the ball a little bit better. We were struggling to stop them on their double screens — and hitting outside shots, CV was doing a heck of a job of that.

“End of the third, our defense stepped up. We just shut them down, crawled back, a couple buckets here and there, and it really took all the way until the last couple seconds of the fourth quarter to get it tied up.”

It was freshman Slater Kuther who completed the rally, driving across the court and draining a deep, contested 3-pointer to tie the game at 56-56 with 9.9 seconds remaining in regulation.

“That’s definitely the best one I’ve ever taken,” Kuther later said of the shot. “It felt so good.”

On the following possession, Clearwater Valley ran the clock down before Hyson Scott attempted a mid-range jump shot buzzer-beater that banked off the backboard, rattled in the hoop and fell through, but was ruled to have been released a split-second too late, sending the Nighthawk-friendly crowd into a frenzy.

The first overtime saw an energized Nezperce repeatedly nose ahead, only for Clearwater Valley to hang on. An inside jumper from the Rams’ Harvey Wellard tied things at 63-63 in the final minute, and a Nezperce attempt at the buzzer went well afield of the hoop.

Brennen McLeod made a contested mid-range jump shot while falling backward to the floor to delight the crowd on the first possession of the second overtime.

From there on out, the Nighthawks seemed unstoppable, eventually opening up a 71-65 lead when Carter Williams made an emphatic end-to-end drive, then hitting a series of free throws from Kuther, Aidan McLeod and Brennen McLeod that put them up by double figures at 76-65.

The Rams had been attempting to answer from 3-point range, but repeatedly saw the ball rattle in-and-out before Scott finally made one when it was too late to recoup the deficit. One last Brennen McLeod free throw established the final score.

A fabulous community

Whether measured by the visual presence of Nezperce blue and gold in the stands or the volume of the crowd response to plays and calls, it was evident the Nighthawk faithful had turned out in dramatically greater numbers than the Rams’ supporters. A stampede of feet on bleachers and raised voices from the Nezperce student fan section dominated the gym every time a Clearwater Valley player went to the foul line. The disruption effort when the Nighthawks attempted free throws, by contrast, was largely limited to the vocalizations of two elementary-aged children seated at the far corner on Clearwater Valley’s end of the bleachers.

“We have a fabulous community around this group of boys,” Conner McLeod said. “They do everything they can to help lift us up. Every game; pep rallies in town; I mean, our community is behind these guys 100%.”

Following the trophy presentation, players and fans alike gathered to jump up and down at center court chanting, “I believe that we just won! I believe that we just won!”

Soaring to State

Kuther shot 7-for-12 from the field including 3-for-5 from 3-point range and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line to amass a team-high 23 points.

“He’s a heck of a freshman,” Conner McLeod said of Kuther. “We love having him on the team.”

Conner McLeod’s cousin Brennen McLeod (17 points), Brennen’s brother Aidan McLeod (15) and Carter Williams (12) were the other key offensive contributors to the upset.

Scott put up 24 points for Clearwater Valley, nosing ahead of Kuther to lead all scorers for the game. Teammate Matthew Louwien had a big night from distance, sinking four 3-pointers en route to totaling 14, and Timuni Moses added 10 points for the Rams.

Clearwater Valley coach Alana Curtis said the Nighthawks have gotten “a lot more physical” over the course of the season, and that “just didn’t fall our way today.” She anticipates another “tough, tough battle” as her team prepares to face Deary, with which it split regular-season contests, in a loser-out game on Thursday at 6 p.m. back at Lapwai.

Meanwhile, Nezperce has obtained its first state berth in recent memory, advancing to the Idaho Class 1A championships to be held March 6-8 at Caldwell High School.

CLEARWATER VALLEY (12-9)

Harvey Wellard 3 1-2 8, Hyson Scott 10 2-4 24, Matthew Louwien 5 0-0 14, Joshua Gardner 4 0-0 8, Timuni Moses 4 2-4 10, Cason Curtis 2 0-0 4. Totals 28 5-10 68.

NEZPERCE (13-5)

Slater Kuther 7 4-4 23, Jace Cronce 2 3-6 7, Carter Williams 5 0-0 12, Brennen McLeod 6 4-6 17, Aidan McLeod 5 5-6 15, Zane Wildcox 1 1-2 3. Totals 26 16-22 77.

Nezperce 11 13 19 13 7 14—77

CV 18 14 12 10 7 5—68

3-point goals — Kuther 3, Williams 2, B. McLeod, Louwien 4, Scott 2, Wellard.

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.