Shooting 3’s a family affair for Rams, who open boys basketball season with a win

POCATELLO — For Highland High School, it feels right to have the name “Tripple” at the top of the record books for three-point shooting.

For roughly 30 years, the name Tennison Tripple has held firm to the top spot in school history for triples made in a single game. But he will have to move over to make a place for the new record-holder — his son, Tracen Tripple.

The younger Tripple shooter came out blazing Friday night, making all five of his long-range attempts in the first quarter. And he never truly cooled off, though he did end up missing a few to finish the night making 9-of-16 from deep, and scoring a game-high 27 to push the Rams (1-0) to season-opening 56-54 win over Shelley (0-2) at Highland.

Though he could not say for sure, Highland head coach Matt Stucki was confident of the record marks.

“I don’t know if that is or not (the record), but if you look it up it’s probably held by his father, who played here,” Stucki said. “I think that’s pretty special. He shot really well — he’s a great shooter.”

Following the game, the Highland Athletics department confirmed that Tennison had been the school record-holder, having made eight 3’s in a game twice in the 1995-96 season.

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Tracen, who transferred to Highland last month, quickly made a name for himself as a lights-out shooter at practice. And though he did not expect it entering the game Friday, Stucki knew there was a chance he could challenge his father’s record at some point this year.

“I didn’t think it was going to be a school record on day 1,” Stucki said. “I thought we would work towards it. But he just — some nights, the hoop feels like an ocean.”

Tracen’s hot shooting got the Highland offense off to a strong start, but Shelley was up for the challenge and finished the first quarter within one possession, trailing 17-14.

In the second quarter, both defenses got a bit tighter. The Russets held Tracen to 1-of-4 from deep, and made up the difference Highland built in the first quarter to send the game to halftime tied, 31-31.

Highland ran a short rotation, relying primarily on starters and just two or three subs. But things got interesting as both Ram big men, seniors Mukudzei Traore and Markell Bowens, got into foul trouble in the second half.

Having to dip a little further into his bench than he likely would have preferred, Stucki said he was happy with how all his players performed. Only two players, he said, came into the night with significant varsity experience.

“You never know what to expect the first game of the year, with a whole new squad. … We came out really strong — Shelley was extremely physical, so we’ve got some things that we’ve got to work on. Overall, we did some good things,” the coach said.

“This early in the season, I think, tonight, we’re going to really focus on the positive things and build on them,” he added. “We’ve got to get a little better movement — we got a little stagnant. We didn’t make them work on defense. … There’s a lot of things that we can fix, and we’ll just keep getting better.”

As things went back and forth throughout the second half, Shelley tied the game several times but never took a lead. Every time they seemed like they were going to make a run, Highland — Tracen and junior Marshall Glenn, primarily — would hit a big shot to push the lead.

In the closing minutes, it was Glenn along with the defensive effort of Bowens, Traore and sophomore Cedric Mitchell that helped Highland keep their lead, and stretch it to as much as six.

“Defensively, we did some good things,” Stucki said. “The one thing we’ve got to do is secure rebounds a little bit. We gave a few too many (offensive rebounds) up, a few too many second chances.”

Senior Chase Ricks made a pair of free throws to bring Shelley within a single possession with seconds left, but it was too little, too late.

Ricks finished with a team-high 14, to go with one rebound and two blocks. He was supported by Brett Crandall, who added 10 points, five rebounds, two steals and one block.

Tracen added four rebounds, one steal and one block to his 27 points. Glenn added 18 points, two rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

Highland is home again Tuesday, when they will welcome Idaho Falls (1-0).

Shelley will be at Century Tuesday to take on the Diamondbacks (0-1).

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