Maniacs fight hard in state play, but lose to defending 2A champs

    Defending 2A champs, the Firth Cougars, rough and tumbled their way to a 63-42 win over the Orofino Maniacs at Thursday’s state basketball game at Capital High School.

    The Cougars (22-2) shooting performance had little to do with their win; they connected on just 23 of 64 attempts (35.9 percent).

    The combination of Firth's extended-court defense, 49-22 rebounding edge that cost Orofino 26 turnovers, and the stout frames of its players proved too much for the Maniacs to overcome. Firth's mastery of the boards also landed them 19 more shot attempts than Orofino.

   Orofino started well, with D.J. Wright burying a 3-pointer; and a tip from Nathan Struhs corkscrewed into the basket, giving the Maniacs an 11-8 lead late in the first period.

    After that, however, Orofino (15-8) went almost a full quarter without scoring any points, while Firth racked up 18 points and a 15-point lead. The Maniacs were able to narrow the deficit to 10 points in the third period, but never closed the score gap to single digits.

    "I think we made them look pretty good," said Wright, who collected 15 points, five rebounds and four assists before fouling out. "They're just a lot stronger than we were and played pretty physical. We kind of got out of our game, started trying to run with them."

    Although the Maniacs couldn't match Firth's physicality, it didn't stop them from trying. Orofino players frequently dove to the floor, and the Cougars' putback scores were usually hard-earned.

    "I was really proud of how our kids battled," Coach Tony Snyder said. "I thought they played hard. We just didn't do the two things we needed to do, and that was take care of the ball and rebound."

    Struhs and Zac Goodrich provided 10 points apiece for Orofino, with eight of Goodrich's points coming in the second half.

    The Maniacs face Wendell in consolation action today at 12:15 p.m. PST at Capital High.

    The Cougars, who will play in this evening's semifinal round, got 15 points and seven rebounds - both team highs - from Jordan Bartlett.

OROFINO (16-7)

Joey Wityczak 1 0-0 2, D.J. Wright 5 3-4 15, Michael Welch 0 0-0 0, Dylan Midstokke 1 0-0 2, Frank Haskett 0 0-0 0, Jeff Vicory 0 0-0 0, Nathan Struhs 5 0-0 10, Zac Goodrich 5 0-2 10, Corey Corder 0 0-0 0, Cody Newman 1 0-0 3, Kyle Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 3-6 42.

FIRTH (22-2)

Colter Reeves 4 4-6 13, Nick Jensen 1 2-2 5, Robert Goodwin 3 0-0 7, Sean Williams 1 1-2 3, Taylor Hopkins 4 2-4 11, Jordan Bartlett 7 0-1 15, Chris Fielding 0 2-2 2, Wyatt Jolley 0 0-0 0, Jesse Sorensen 2 1-3 5, Kriff Jensen 0 0-0 0, Kory Andersen 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 12-20 63.

Orofino 11 7 14 10-42

Firth 14 16 17 16-63

Three-point goals - Wright 2, Newman, Reeves, Jensen, Goodwin, Hopkins, Bartlett. Total fouls - Orofino 15, Firth 13. Fouled out - none.