vs
| 01/07/25 - Home | 55-53 W |
| 02/13/24 - Away | 54-55 L |
| 01/16/24 - Home | 51-50 W |
| 02/09/23 - Home | 74-77 L |
| 02/01/23 - Away | 45-68 L |
| + 5 more games |
Priest River and Timberlake are an even 5-5 against one another since January of 2021, but not for long. The Priest River Spartans will challenge the Timberlake Tigers at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, the two teams will really light up the scoreboard.
Priest River will bounce into Thursday's contest after beating St. Maries, who they had gone 1-8 against in their nine prior meetings. Priest River came out on top against St. Maries by a score of 62-50 on Tuesday. The victory made it back-to-back wins for the Spartans.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Priest River to victory, but perhaps none more so than Palmer Coleman, who posted 11 points in addition to eight boards and six assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Carter Cook, who went 5-for-6 to rack up 12 points.
Coleman wasn't the only one working in the assist department: Priest River was working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since the start of last season.
Meanwhile, it was a proper cat-fight when Timberlake duked it out with Kellogg on Tuesday. Timberlake pulled ahead with a 61-60 photo finish over Kellogg. The Tigers haven't had any issues with the Wildcats recently, as the game was their fourth consecutive victory against them.
Priest River better keep an eye on Tyler Engelson. He was instrumental in Timberlake's win, going 9-for-19 on his way to 32 points and eight rebounds. They are 4-2 when Engelson posts 25 or more points, but 5-8 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Maximilian Simpson, who dropped a double-double with ten points and 17 boards.
Priest River's record now sits at 14-4. As for Timberlake, their record is now 9-10.
Thursday's game will pit two of the most dominant guards against one another: Coleman and Engelson. Coleman has been dynamite this season: he has averaged 8.8 points, 2.4 steals, and 4.9 assists. For his part, Engelson has averaged 21.9 points, 1.4 steals, and 3.5 assists.
Priest River skirted past Timberlake 55-53 when the teams last played back in January. The rematch might be a little tougher for Priest River since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
