Basketball Whip-Around: Highland outlasts Rigby; Grace Lutheran back in win column; Century stumbles at Burley

EASTERN IDAHO — The Highland Rams and Grace Lutheran Royals both bolstered their push toward potential state berths with conference wins Thursday night, while the Century Diamondbacks suffered a non-conference setback.

The girls’ state basketball tournament is just over a month away, scheduled for Feb. 19-21, with the boys’ tournament to follow two weeks later. With conference play underway for most local schools, teams across the state are looking to build momentum and, with it, their playoff hopes.

Grace Lutheran bounces right back

Two days after a tough road loss against fellow 1A favorite Rockland, their first loss of the season, the Royals (7-1, 1-1) got right back into the win column, besting the Sho-Ban Chiefs (2-2, 0-2), 56-50.

RELATED | Rockland knocks off Grace Lutheran in battle of 1A powers

Grace Lutheran was led by big man Garrett Grayson, who scored 20 points. Damon Schmidt added 13, and Rylan Ward chipped in with 12.

Sho-Ban hosts Leadore (4-2, 0-0) Monday as they continue their conference schedule.

The Royals are not back on the court until Jan. 13, when they host Mackay (9-1, 1-0).

Rams roll late

Highland (9-2, 2-0) collected its second conference win of the week, topping the visiting Rigby Trojans (4-6, 0-2) behind a solid two-way effort from senior Marshall Glenn.

The Rams stormed out of the gate, grabbing a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. But Rigby answered on both ends of the court in the second, taking a 23-19 halftime advantage.

Senior Marshall Glenn led that effort, according to head coach Matt Stucki, scoring 12 of his game-high 15 in the second half, to go with “several key steals,” as Stucki described it.

Fellow senior Tracen Tripple and junior Stockton Moore contributed nine and eight points, respectively.

The Trojans were paced by seniors Weston Walker, 13 points, and Seth Bradley, 12 points.

Highland will be back at home Saturday, when they host the Bonneville Bees (4-6, 2-2).

Rigby will have ample time to recover from the loss before they pay a visit to the Canyon Ridge Riverhawks (6-6, 0-2).

Burley best Century

The Diamondbacks (4-7, 0-0) continue to search for their first back-to-back wins of the season after dropping a road game to the Bobcats (3-6, 0-0).

Century was led by junior guard Justus Mangum, who scored 23. Xenphon Flesishmann (14), Luke Webb (13) and Adrian Gonzalez (12) each added double-digit scoring as they battled but came up just short.

The Diamondbacks will return home Saturday when they host the Jerome Tigers (1-7, 0-0) in their final tune-up before they open conference play against Preston (10-2, 0-0) next Wednesday.