Curlew sharpshooter nears scoring record

If Curlew can stick around for a few days and Jeremy Groth has a good state tournament, there could be a new leader atop the all-time state scoring chart.

Groth helped lead Curlew (25-2) into this week's Class B boys state basketball tournament at the Spokane Arena. Now the 6-foot senior needs 78 points to surpass Ryan Hansen as the state's all-time leading scorer for boys basketball. He should reach that plateau if Curlew makes Saturday's trophy round as expected - he averaged 32.6 points during the season.

If Curlew makes it to Saturday, that means Curlew and Groth will play four games.

Hansen, now the leading scorer for Eastern Washington University, is the state career leader with 2,411 points during his four-year career at Cascade High in Leavenworth.

Groth, who has played for four years at Curlew, has 2,334 points going into today's game.

Blaine's Luke Ridnour has climbed to seventh place with 2,247 points. The future Oregon Duck could have as many as five games left in his Blaine career, starting with Friday night's bi-district championship game against Nooksack Valley and then four games at the Class 2A state tournament next week in Yakima.

Clint Hull of Pateros (21-2) has 2,086 career points heading into today's Class B tournament opener against Bush School of Seattle.