NAMPA — The Pocatello High boys basketball team soaked it all in.

The Thunder took a team photo with the student section, shook hands, signed autographs for every single fan − and there were several − who wanted one and probably would have stayed in the locker room all night if it was allowed to.

The moment was long overdue in a number of different ways.

They finally got past Hillcrest 73-67 in the Class 4A state final for the first championship in 24 years Saturday night at the Ford Idaho Center.

“I for sure thought it was gonna happen this entire year,” said senior guard Kesler Vaughan who logged 18 points, four 3-pointers and four rebounds. “I’ve told every single person we’re winning it no matter what. I promise you we’re winning it.”

Pocatello (22-5) almost had to. Because it was the last chance to do so with this group.

This year’s seniors had ended a 12-year postseason drought, won three district titles in a row and were playing in a third straight state final.

But there was still something missing − that ever elusive state championship.

Like the 2009 squad before them, they had come up short on the biggest stage. Only it just wasn’t once, but twice and in two completely different manners nonetheless.

The Thunder were blown out by the Knights in the 2022 championship game, 76-44. It was not only the most lop-sided loss in the program in more than four years, but the biggest rout in a Class 4A title game ever.

Yet, last year’s finals loss to Hillcrest was arguably the more painful one. That’s because they let a 10-point first-half lead slip away in a gut-wrenching 62-58 defeat.

“For a lot of years, we just couldn’t get over that hump,” Pocatello head coach Joe Green said. “And we had to keep believing. It was brutal. It was tough.

“It’s been kind of a gut check. But honestly, my guys, my players, they don’t doubt themselves. They’re pretty dang resilient.”

Especially Saturday.

While Pocatello took a 37-32 lead into the locker room after seven lead changes and two ties, things still looked a bit grim.

Star player Julian Bowie took a nasty spill during the final second of the first half. He was going up to block the shot of Hillcrest’s Isaac Davis. But the BYU signee, who was the catalyst of the Knights’ back-to-back championship runs, pumped faked.

So Bowie, who is a Boise State signee and the reigning Class 4A State Player of the Year, flew right over the top of him and landed right on his back on the hardwood below.

His screams were heard from press row. They continued for a few minutes as he laid on the floor with trainers, coaches and Davis all attending to him. He had to be helped to the bench. Bowie immediately put his jersey up over his eyes to try and hide the tears. He then gingerly walked back into the tunnel for halftime.

Bowie said in the postgame press conference that it was likely his hip. He described a shooting pain throughout his whole leg for about 10 seconds.

“For the first three minutes, I thought I was done,” Bowie said. “I couldn’t walk at all. I couldn’t do anything.”

He got a cortisone patch put on and slowly walked back out less than a minute before the start of the second half. Remarkably, Bowie even returned to the starting lineup, too.

However, he was clearly not himself.

Bowie overshot the hoop entirely on a corner 3 and was almost limping back on defense. So with the Knights (19-7) on a 7-0 run and back up 39-37, Bowie’s night appeared to over after checking himself out of the game at the 6-minute and 7-second mark of the third quarter.

But less than a minute later, he was back in.

“I was like, ‘Alright this is it. This is my last-ever high school game with my boys. I gotta go do something,’” Bowie said.

It took a quarter, but he did just that.

After going 0-for-4 from the field in the third, Bowie erupted for 16 points during the final eight minutes. He made all nine of his free throws and went 3-for-4, including the return of his patented 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Pocatello the lead for good at 55-53 with 6:37 remaining.

This was all on top of dealing with a partially torn plantaris tendon in his right foot, as well.

“The kid, he’s a stud,” Hillcrest coach Dave Austin said. “He is who he is. He loves the game, and he’s gonna give it everything that he’s got.

“... He’s got a heart of gold.”

Hillcrest, which was trying to become just the 12th Idaho team ever to three-peat, did get back within a point a couple of times. The last of which was 59-58 after a Talan Taylor free throw with 4:28 left.

But the Thunder answered with a 12-4 run over the next three minutes to pull away. Vaughan capped it with a pair of free throws. But it was the play he made just second earlier, that really put the game away.

Ike Sutton, who led the Knights in scoring this season at more than 17 points per game, drove the lane for what looked like was going to be an easy layin. Vaughan had other ideas, though.

He came out of nowhere and not only blocked the shot, but caused the ball to bounce off of Sutton’s own knee and out of bounds for back-breaking turnover for Hillcrest, which was already down by seven at 69-62 with a little less than 90 seconds to go.

The Knights didn’t get any closer than four points the rest of the way.

“He kind of had a half step on me and I knew he was going up. I didn’t think it was going to bounce off his knee and I didn’t know if they were going to call it,” Vaughan said. “But I’m so grateful that it went that way.”

So is Bowie, who finished with a double-double of 20 points and 12 rebounds to go with four assists in his last game in a Pocatello uniform.

A state championship was the only thing missing from one of the most storied high school basketball careers in Idaho history. He’ll leave as a soon-to-be four-time state player and maybe both the back-to-back Class 4A Player of the Year and this year’s Gatorade Idaho Player of the Year.

Bowie is the program’s all-time career leading scorer with exactly 2,100 points, which also ranks eighth all-time in Idaho history. He’s the only player to have been on a Class 4A team or higher all four years on that list.

“I’ve never seen a guy be able to do what he’s done for four years,” Green said. “He’s the best player I’ve seen play in Idaho.”

Drey Contreras totaled a team-high 22 points with 15 of those coming in the second and third quarters when Bowie had just four points.

When the Knights were on the verge of possibly opening the game up a little bit with a four-point lead at 45-41 midway through the third quarter, the senior guard drained a huge 3 about 40 seconds later to keep the Thunder in it with Bowie still struggling. He added seven rebounds and a pair of assists, as well.

“Just an unbelievable night for him,” Green said. “He’s going through some stuff tonight in his personal life and I was amazed at what he was able to do.

“He carried us.”

And Contreras did so with his grandpa in the hospital. He was rushed over there the night before with signs of stroke. But it ended up being because of issues with his heart rate.

“I basically used that as motivation,” Contreras said. “You never know what happens in life. So you never take anything for granted.”

The championship is Pocatello’s first at the 4A level. The Thunder were competing in 5A when they last brought home a banner in 2000.

It’s also the program’s 11th championship, which is now tied with Moscow and Idaho Falls for the second-most in Idaho history.

“It’s such a cool thing for these guys to be a part of that history,” Green said. “To get that 2024 banner on the wall at Poky, it’ll be there forever.

“I’m biased, but I’ll take my guys against anybody. I love this team and I’m just super proud of them.”

Davis had a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double in the loss. Sutton and Taylor also reached double figures with 18 and 13 points, respectively, for Hillcrest.