Competition is Heating Up!

<p>March is quickly approaching and some teams need to get their act together if they want to truly make a splash at the state tournament! March basketball is the greatest test of the pretenders versus the contenders and it is easy to see which teams are truly in it to win it and who simply wants to drink free chocolate milk, eat mini-doughnuts, and wear the state sweatshirt. As for me, I love to see teams motivated by bringing home some hardware while looking for notoriety. As the late, great Kobe Bean said, "Friends come and go, banners hang forever." Continue reading for a look at a few recent games from across the Gem state.</p> <p><strong>Vallivue vs. Ridgevue: </strong>In the matchup of "vue’s" from the 4A SIC, Vallivue was able to stifle Ridgevue’s offensive attack as they easily marched their way to victory. Though the Falcons were able to secure a 15 point victory, the lead felt much larger for the majority of the game and Ridgevue seemed to have had the wind taken out of their sails from the very beginning. Vallievue shot the ball well and they were able to play well as a team to derail Ridgevue. Vallivue was led by an impressive 29 point performance from Gavin Weasweaver as well as 11 points from [player_tooltip player_id="969932" first="Jacob" last="Martinez"]. Ridgevue got their only double-digit scoring from Austin Ramos who finished with 10 points. </p> <p><strong>Ambrose vs. Nampa Christian:</strong> Ambrose continued to assert their dominance at the 2A level with a commanding conference victory over Nampa Christian. The basketball powerhouse is looking ready to go as they have hit their stride heading into their district tournament and the state tournament is just on the horizon. Ambrose has proven their ability to win at the 1A levels, but they have proven themselves again this season as they are continuing their winning ways. [player_tooltip player_id="921084" first="Hudson" last="Hughes"] led Ambrose with 22 points and also had a lot of help from [player_tooltip player_id="969568" first="Johnny" last="Sugarman"] and [player_tooltip player_id="969741" first="Ben" last="Blythe"] both adding 19 points each. Nampa Christian was able to hang with the Archers for a little while, but did not have enough steam to keep it up.</p>