Behind 6-foot-7 Isaac Davis, Hillcrest advances to Idaho 4A state championship game

NAMPA - The rest of the team waited for him.

It was Isaac Davis’ time.

The 6-foot-7 Hillcrest sophomore center was taking it all in after a monstrous double-double of 23 points and 15 rebounds. He was waving his hands up and down towards the Knights’ crowd to pump them up. 

But the moment was not lost on him either. He walked over to senior Cooper Kesler and gave him a big hug. Davis gave him and the rest of the senior class something they had been working four long years for - another shot at that elusive state title.

No. 1 Hillcrest downed No. 4 Middleton 50-41 to advance to only its second-ever final and the first since 2018 Friday in the semifinals of the Idaho Class 4A State Tournament at the Ford Idaho Center.

The Knights (24-2) will play No. 2 Pocatello (23-3) in the 4A title game at 6 p.m. Saturday right back inside the Ford Idaho Center.

“I don’t want to cry, but it felt amazing,” Davis said. “I love playing with all these boys. It’s been my dream to come here ever since I was young. I’ve always grown up watching basketball. My dream has come true.”

It was a much better ending than beginning for Davis.

After scoring the team’s first five points - all on free throws - he picked up his second foul with 1 minute and 50 seconds still left in the opening quarter. Davis ended up sitting the rest of the half.

He was sorely missed.

The Knights made just one field goal in the first quarter and went 5 of 23 (21.7%) from the field, including 10% from 3-point range in the first 16 minutes of play. Somehow, they still managed to maintain a 20-19 at the break.

“He felt like he was letting his teammates down,” Hillcrest coach Dave Austin said. “But they all pumped him up and said, ‘You’re not. You’re here. We trust you.’ We just saw it in his eyes. So as a coaching staff we said, ‘We gotta get it to him in the second half.”

Hillcrest did just that. And Davis was more than ready this time.

He scored 10 points in the third quarter alone. It was in the fourth when he made his presence really known.

Following a pair of free throws by senior Talmage Stucki that put Middleton up 38-37 with 3:57 to go, Davis took over. He converted the old-fashioned 3-point play with the layin and the and-one free throw to hand the Knights’ the lead right back seconds later. The play jumpstarted a personal 8-0 run that suddenly gave them a 45-39 advantage - the biggest since the end of the first (9-3). with just 1:26 to go. The Vikings didn’t get any closer the rest of the way.

The streak was highlighted by an emphatic 1-handed slam that brought the entire arena to its feet. Davis fed off of it by motioning to the crowd to raise the roof. The Vikings (24-3) didn’t get any closer

“I do it all the time,” Davis said in jest while referring to the dunk. “It’s nothing.”

Davis recorded a double-double in the second half alone with 18 points and 12 rebounds to go with a pair of blocked shots.

“He took over,” Middleton coach Nate Hartman said. “If I had it back, I wish we could do some different things, but good for him.

“He’s a big body. Where he beat us I thought, was he established the early position very deep. We were trying to get around in front. Then they started setting a cross screen and we were just late on the front.”

Senior forward Tyler Medaris, who has offers from Idaho State and Idaho, led three different Middleton players in double figures with 13 points. Stucki had 11 points, while junior Sawyr Hansen rounded it out with 10.

The Vikings will play No. 3 Jerome (23-3) at noon Saturday in the third-place game. Despite the loss, it’s still been one of the best seasons in program history for last year’s state champion. They posted an 18-game winning streak that is the longest in program history and the 24 wins is also a school record.

PHOTO GALLERY

(All photos by Loren Orr)