Basketball Whip-Around: Poky tops Century, Rockland bests Butte County, Malad girls hammer Aberdeen

EASTERN IDAHO — The Pocatello Thunder overcame a slow start to beat the crosstown rival Century Diamondbacks at home Friday night.

Poky wasn’t the only team to earn a big win. The Rockland Bulldogs stayed hot, beating the Butte County Pirates for their sixth straight win, and the Malad Dragon girls improved to 5-0 in conference play with a lopsided victory over the Aberdeen Tigers.

Rockland @ Butte County

The Bulldogs (10-2, 3-0) avenged one of their two losses — a 64-62 overtime loss at the Ririe Bulldog Shootout — with a 59-52 road victory over the Pirates (8-4, 0-0).

Rockland was led by senior forward Isaac Held, who finished with game-highs in points, 22, and rebounds, 16. Like they have done with some regularity this season, the Bulldogs grabbed the game by the throat after the break, expanding a halftime lead with a dominant third quarter.

Held and fellow senior Woodrow Lowder scored seven apiece, with junior Xavier Parrish tacking on six, in a 22-15 third, turning Rockland’s six-point first-half lead into 13 before the fourth.

Lowder finished with 14 points on the night, while Parrish sealed things with efficient free throw shooting (5-of-6) in the fourth, ending the night with 14 points.

Butte County was paced by Braxtyn Parsons and Stetson Wanstrom with 14 points each.

The Pirates are back to work Monday, when they visit Raft River.

Rockland will host Clark County Tuesday for a conference showdown.

Century @ Pocatello

Century senior Adrian Gonzalez knocked down a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter, giving the Diamondbacks a slim 15-13 lead. The Diamondbacks (5-9, 0-2) built on that lead, holding advantages of 30-23 at the half and 44-38 after three quarters.

But the fourth quarter belonged to the Thunder (7-6, 1-0), who dug out of the six-point hole in less than three minutes to grab a 46-44 edge with 5:30 left.

Century was never able to battle back, as Pocatello pulled away for a 57-49 win.

The Diamondbacks, coming off back-to-back conference losses, will be at Hillcrest Tuesday to take on the Knights.

The Thunder will be at Preston Thursday, with the winner jumping ahead in the conference standings.

Aberdeen @ Malad

Led by a trio of seniors, the Dragons (15-2, 5-0) pushed their current win streak to five with a 59-31 beatdown of conference foe Aberdeen (5-11, 3-3).

Malad dominated all four quarters, holding the Tigers to single-digit points in the first, second and fourth.

Brynnlee Jones led all scorers with 17 points — including five 3-pointers. Mikell Keetch scored 12, with Izzy Haycock adding 10.

The hot shooting nights of Aberdeen’s Karlee Brown and Marley Kendall could not undo that balanced attack. The duo combined to shoot 7-of-11 from deep, with Brown scoring 12 and Kendall 10. No other Tiger scored more than three.

Malad will look to keep their winning ways rolling when they host Wendell Saturday in another conference tilt.

Aberdeen will host Butte County Tuesday.