Rockland evades semifinal curse, earns spot in state championship game with commanding victory over Carey

CALDWELL — The Rockland Bulldogs arrived at this week’s Boys’ Basketball State Championships having lost in the semifinal round three times in the last five years. Head coach Shae Neal called his team’s inability to find a Friday win a “monkey on our back.”

Rockland steamed out of the Caldwell High School locker room, intent on undoing that curse. Less than 50 seconds into the game, the Bulldogs had recorded two steals and grabbed an immediate 4-0 lead, forcing the District 4 champion Carey Panthers to take an early timeout.

The stoppage did little to undo Rockland’s hot start, however, as senior guard Woodrow Lowder led the Bulldogs to an 18-0 advantage seven minutes into the game.

Carey battled back in the second and challenged the top-seeded Bulldogs. But Rockland was too much for the Panthers on both ends of the court, cruising to a 68-29 win and earning a spot in Saturday morning’s 1A state championship game at the Ford Idaho Center.

Neal talked about his team after the game, saying it is unlike any other group he’s ever coached. He said that he and his assistant coaches went to a coaches’ breakfast at the Idaho Center Thursday morning, and when they got back to the hotel, the entire team was crowded around one computer watching game film together.

“They wanted it,” Neal told EastIdahoSports.com. “They knew that they could punch their ticket if we played our basketball. It feels good to get that monkey off, get back to the Idaho Center and feel that energy.”

Rockland removed any thought they would succumb to the semifinal curse that has gotten previous squads with a their 18-0 start. During that run, Lowder scored 11 of his game-high 27 points. He also snagged a pair of steals during the early onslaught, to go with two steals and a block from junior Xavier Parrish and another steal from junior Zach Permann.

Neal, who described himself as a defense-first coach, talked about the defensive performance he got from his team early.

“It just makes me excited,” he said. “It’s something we’ve always prided ourselves on — guys flying around, working hard. It shows their true character, that they really get after it and play defense.”

Lowder, who finished with three steals, said he and his team were extra-focused on defense after a subpar performance on that end in a 69-33 victory over Dietrich on Thursday.

“We had an emphasis on playing great defense today, because (Carey is) a great team,” Lowder said. “Our defense was kinda lacking a little bit, yesterday, so we brought it up.”

All that early work nearly evaporated, however, when Carey surged back with a 13-1 run of their own.

Neal said the Panthers’ push was not fueled by shoddy Rockland defense, but poor shot selection. Missed 3’s, he explained, lead to long rebounds and runouts the other way. And once Carey found the bottom of the net, they started hitting from outside.

“I was not enthused by it,” Neal said about the Carey run. “But it’s good to call a timeout and get a little chewing done — refocus them.”

Freshly chewed out and refocused, Rockland came right back to take a 30-16 halftime lead.

Eight minutes later, the game was effectively over. With a 19-5 third quarter, Rockland seized a 49-21 advantage heading into the fourth.

Neal pulled the six players that make up his primary rotation in the fourth, letting younger players, including a trio of freshmen, take the game home. And they were as effective as the starters — facing Carey’s bench.

And after putting maximum effort into every play on both ends of the court, the Rockland starters worked even harder rooting for the pups, led by Permann and senior Isaac Held. They celebrated every stop and yelled vigorously for every bucket, as the Bulldog bench outsocred the Panthers 19-8.

“It’s a great feeling, because those kids are what has been pushing us to get better,” Lowder said of the cheering section he and the starters became. “When we graduate and move on, and they have to step up into our shoes, they can fill them.”

With the win, Rockland earned a spot in the championship game, where they will face Garden Valley, who beat Watersprings in the other 1A semifinal game.

Neal said before the second semifinal game that while he is happy for his team, he knows that there is no room for complacency with the competition they’ll see on Championship Saturday.

“It feels good to punch our ticket. These guys have put in the work,” the coach said. “It’s not going to be easy. We’re going to face one of two really good teams. It’s not going to be easy. But at the end of the day, defense and rebounding is what we’ve got to do.”

Lowder called the semifinal game his team’s biggest enemy over the last three years. This will be his first trip to the championship game and Ford Idaho Center, after helping Rockland win two third-place trophies and one consolation.

“It’s been my goal to get to the championship game. I’ve been close several times,” he said. “It feels good that we were finally able to do it, as a team.”