The Front Row with JASON ELLIOTT Dec. 1, 2012
I've seen a lot of thrilling finishes to high school basketball games in the decade I've covered sports in the newspaper business.
But Wednesday's nonleague boys basketball game between the University High Titans and Lake City Timberwolves in Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday is by far the craziest ending I've seen.
BETWEEN THE cheering sections for both schools, you'd had thought it was a regional tournament game in late February instead of the early season thriller it wound up being.
Both teams came out and shot the ball really well and at one point, I was convinced that neither team could miss in the first quarter.
Eventually, someone did and the Timberwolves took a 20-16 lead after the first quarter.
Lake City extended the advantage to 35-26 at the half and appeared to have things under control.
The second half started and those same shots from the first half didn't quite fall in the second half and just as quickly as the Timberwolves built a lead, the Titans took it back.
University appeared poised to come out of Coeur d'Alene with the win, but the Timberwolves kept creeping back into the game to the point where they eventually regained the lead with 4.5 seconds left on a 3-point play by Riley Moreen.
On the ensuing possession, University senior Brett Bailey - who just signed a letter of intent to play at San Diego - was fouled shooting a 3-pointer as time expired and went on to hit two of three free throws staring into the Timberwolves cheering section to give the Titans a 66-65 win.
Following the game, Lake City coaches were able to see the play again on film and couldn't see the foul or if the buzzer sounded before the foul was committed.
Just an odd ending to an exciting game.
THE ONLY other game that jumps out was in the first girls championship game of the Holiday Inn Express Invitational at North Idaho College — renamed the Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational last year.
That night had Federal Way playing against the Coeur d’Alene Vikings.
In that game, Federal Way led by 10 points midway into the fourth quarter, but the Vikings found a way back into the game, taking the lead with 30 seconds remaining and sealing the win on a blocked shot by current Saint Mary’s standout Carli Rosenthal at the buzzer.
When the teams played again in last year’s championship game, Coeur d’Alene rolled past Federal Way 80-36 to win a second straight title.
What made the University-Lake City a great game had a lot to do with the crowd.
Usually an early season game, especially a nonleague one, doesn’t have the same kind of intensity that Wednesday’s had.
The game was a well-played game and like all games, one team had to win and the other had to lose.
As it turns out, the only ones that lost were those fans not in attendance to see it.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.