First-year program Owyhee joins rare company with Idaho boys basketball state title win over Centennial

NAMPA - Who says a first-year program can’t win a state championship in its inaugural year?

Apparently a lot of people if you’re the Owyhee High School boys basketball team. But the Storm just used it as bulletin board material to fuel their chance at history. And by Saturday, they had done just that.

Owyhee became the first basketball team since the Lake City girls (1995) to win a state title in its first year of existence after a 50-43 victory against underdog Centennial in the 5A State Championship game at the Ford Idaho Center.

It’s also the first known boys basketball program ever to accomplish the feat.

“We just heard a bunch of stuff from SIC teams and just people all around Idaho saying, ‘We’re just a new program and they’re not gonna do much,’” said Owyhee sophomore Liam Campbell, who posted a team-high 16 points. “We took that personally. We wanted to show people what we could do and how we were going to do it. And we did tonight.”

It would be understandable if that type of talk came last summer when a lot wasn’t known about them. But evidently, it came during the midst of the season after the Storm (24-3) were picked as the favorite in the Southern Idaho Conference preseason coaches poll and racked off 17 straight wins, including the district title, heading into state.

Head coach Andy Harrington even saved a few unsavory tweets.

“Somebody posted, ‘OK, they’re doing well in California. But are they really doing anything in Idaho?’” Owyhee senior Jack Payne said. “We have that written on our wall right now. That kind of fired us up, and we proved them wrong.”

To the haters’ defense, Owyhee at state, didn’t look like the same one who had rolled through the regular season with all but one of its wins being by double figures. No, the Storm kind of struggled at times. They nearly gave up back-to-back second-half double digit leads, including Meridian, which went to double overtime.

And Owyhee once again found itself tested against a team that it had beaten twice before in the regular season by 29 and 25 points.

After an 8-0 start to the game, Centennial closed the quarter on a 12-5 run to only trail by one in the first quarter before actually leading at the break. It was the first time in months that the Storm went into the locker room behind.

The Patriots (16-11) kept coming too.

Even after Owyhee began the third with a 9-0 run to get some distance at 31-26 at the 3-minute and 26-second mark, they closed the gap back to one at 35-34 by the end of the quarter.

But the Storm finally got the separation they needed in the fourth quarter. A tip-in by freshman Jackson Rasmussen, who totaled 10 points, with 4:07 remaining, capped an 8-0 run. Centennial never got closer than four points the rest of the way.

“You gotta be tough,” Harrington said. “You’re not gonna make shots. You’re gonna miss free throws. You’re gonna miss a dunk Jack (Payne). But you’ve got to find a way to go get stops, take care of the ball and control what you can control. So I think that the kids really bought into that.”

The Storm did all of this with Payne, a Colorado State commit and arguably best player, only taking three shots for the entire game. He finished with just six points, but did grab six boards.

“When Jack’s on the floor, it just changes the whole game,” Harrington said. “I think people confuse scoring as being the best player on the floor. But that dude affects the floor more than anyone I’ve ever seen in the state, maybe since (Borah grad) Austin Bolt. “That dude, he’s a state champion.”

Owyhee also shut down the Patriots’ bread and butter 3-point game. Centennial entered leading the league in 3-point percentage (36.5%). But were well below that at 29.2%.

“That was the whole game,” Harrington said. “They shoot the crap out of it. So we knew we had to come in and be physical.”

Harrington also became the first known coach to win back-to-back state titles with two different teams. The 29-year-old won his first championship with Middleton last season.

“He’s pushed us and that’s what’s helped us a lot,” Campbell said. “He’s a fantastic coach and I can’t wait to play under him next year.”

Speaking of next year, Owyhee is set to return basically everyone with Payne being the only senior who saw significant time.

“We’re not done,” Campbell said. “I’m going to say it: We’re going back to back next year.”

Senior Weston Johnson went out with a game-high double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds for Centennial. Junior Hayden Fletched chipped in with 10 points for the eighth-seeded Patriots. They entered state having lost six games by 16 points or more, including a 33-point loss to Mountain View to open its district tournament.

“My emotions are all over the place, but I’m just so proud of them,” Centennial coach Josh Aipperspach said. “Nobody thought we’d do anything. Nobody thought we’d win a game when we came here. These kids prepared and they believed. That’s what it’s all about.”

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(All photos by Loren Orr)