After a rollercoaster regular season, Bonneville punches its ticket to the state tournament

IDAHO FALLS – All aboard the Bonneville rollercoaster.

Bonneville boys basketball coach Cortland Hengel wasn’t joking when he said the whole season has been a rollercoaster ride.

The Bees lost three of their first four games.

The Bees endured a five-game losing streak in the middle of the season.

The Bees lost two of three entering the 5A District 6 tournament, and it really wasn’t clear at the time if Bonneville was on its way up, or speeding down the track.

“We’ve been challenging them all season,” Hengel said of trying to hit the rollercoaster peak at the right time.

Last year’s team graduated eight seniors, so this season the rockiness was not unexpected.

Judging by Tuesday night’s 81-73 win over Shelley in the district tournament championship game, the Bees are back and playing their best basketball of the season.

Bonneville (11-13) won the district tournament for the first time since 2014 and earned a berth to the 5A state tournament.

The Bees enter the state tournament on a four-game win streak that includes victories over Idaho Falls, No. 2 Hillcrest, and then No. 4 Shelley.

The Russets were the No. 4 seed, but advanced after knocking off Skyline and then beating top-seeded Blackfoot to advance to the championship game.

Shelley (8-16) still has a shot to advance to the state tournament, but the Russets will have to beat Blackfoot on Thursday and then win a state play-in game on Saturday.

“We knew we had the potential,” senior guard Tyler Jordan said of the team’s surge in the postseason, noting the win over Hillcrest was a good boost to the team’s confidence.

It was a close first half as Shelley led 28-26 at the half after a last-second basket by Brett Crandall.

The Russets took control in the third quarter as a 3-pointer by Alex Beck and another score by Crandall put them up 42-31.

But the clickity-clackity sound of the rollercoaster took an upward swing for the Bees, who put together a 13-1 run. A spinning layup by Grayson Temple gave the Bees a 44-43 lead with 1:35 left in the third quarter.

The Russets took a 58-56 lead midway through the fourth on a 3-pointer by Beck, but Jordan followed with a 3-pointer and then Kade Littlewood knocked down a 3-pointer and the Russets never recovered.

Jordan led the Bees with 23 points, Temple added 14 and Littlewood scored 13.

Crandall scored 22 points for Shelley and Beck added 17 points.