POCATELLO – Pocatello put forth its most dominating performance of the season, avenged previous postseason rivalry losses and moved one step closer to its first state tournament bid in two decades all in one with Thursday’s 63-36 home win over Century.

But it wasn’t time for a major celebration.

Poky players declined to join their court-storming classmates, who walked away once they got the hint.

The Indians (15-10) are one win away from securing their first state bid since 2009 after beating Century for third place in the 4A District 4-5 tournament.

“It just makes you want to work more hard, makes you want to be a leader and do everything you can to lead your team to a victory,” said Poky senior Kaden Hales of being close to going to state.

Pocatello’s season ended at the hands of the Diamondbacks each of the last two years, including last year’s 43-42 loss in a winner-to-state district tournament game.

The fourth-seeded Indians were never in danger of that happening Thursday, in what was their largest margin of victory of the season and what tied for Century’s largest margin of defeat at 27 points.

“I talked to them about, they’re in charge of their own confidence, they’re in charge of their mental preparation and being ready, and they did a really good job,” seven-year Pocatello coach Joe Green said.

“We happened to shoot really well, but I thought our defense was really good, too.”

Pocatello went ahead 20-5 near the end of the first quarter after Jadyn Downs and Ryan Payne each went into the lane for layups and both came away with three-point plays on back-to-back possessions.

“It went downhill in a hurry,” three-year D-backs coach Ryan Frost said. “Poky’s got good shooters and they’re going to get corner-3 good looks – if you allow them to. We were a step late, early (on), and when you let a good shooting team like Poky get going, it’s hard to stop them.”

Century’s deficit never dipped below 10 points after the opening quarter.

Downs finished the first half by draining clock until the final seconds before hitting a step-back just inside the arc to give the Indians the biggest lead of the game at 34-18.

The seventh-seeded Diamondbacks (10-16) struggled going inside against the Indians at the start and finished with their second-lowest point total of the season, after the Indians held them to their third-lowest point total in the previous matchup — also won by Pocatello.

“You sometimes have a bad night and you sometimes have a good night,” Frost said. “If you’re going to miss layups against a team that’s making a lot of 3s, it’s going to be a long night.”

In the second half, Century cut the margin to as low as 36-23 in the middle of the third quarter before Indians senior guard Isaac Brown scored five consecutive points. He opened the fourth quarter with a corner 3 to increase the margin to 20.

Brown wasn’t needed much longer and subbed out with 3:54 left in the game.

The guard finished with 16 points, while Hales had a game-high 19.

One win stands between them and state. If they get it, then the exuberant celebration will ensue.

“I’ve been wanting to go to state since I got into high school,” Hales said. “Being able to go to state will mean everything to me and our team.”

Up next

Pocatello faces Bishop Kelly in a 4A state play-in game Saturday at Jerome High School, while Century’s season is over.

POCATELLO 63, CENTURY 36

Century 10 6 14 6 — 36

Pocatello 20 14 13 26 — 63

Century – Williams 9, Holt 7, B. Fleischmann 6, Manning 3, Gunter 4, T. Fleischmann 5.

Pocatello – Hales 19, Ney 4, Brown 16, L. Bailey 2, Downs 10, Payne 3, B. Bailey 3, Williams 5, Killian 1.