Tiny Idaho basketball team survives season with no subs

MULLAN, Idaho (AP) — Mullan wasn't one of the four North Idaho boys basketball teams that played for a state trophy on Saturday.

It hasn't qualified for the 1A Division II tournament in 13 years.

A student body of 23 has put the shrinking mining town's athletic programs in a quandary.

But even with its current plight, wins aren't a phenomenon in Mullan, a school drenched in pride and tradition since its former glory in the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s.

Mullan's modern marvel: Existence.

"It's hard. But when you move to a place with such a rich history like Mullan, I just feel like giving up is the wrong thing to do," Mullan athletic director Stetson Spooner told The Spokesman-Review .