The Front Row with MARK NELKE Jan. 10, 2013

The Coeur d'Alene High boys basketball team wants to run ... and run ... and run.

But Lake City slowed the tempo down in beating the Vikings 44-40 on Dec. 18 at Coeur d'Alene High. Part of that was because the Timberwolves wanted to keep the Vikings from running, and part of it was to control the environment playing on the road, in the gym of their city rival - even though the schools are only a couple miles apart, it's still a "road" game.

"I actually take that as a compliment," Coeur d'Alene coach Kent Leiss said. "We're the young rookies that you'd think Lake City would want to stick it to us, but no, I don't think they want to run with Coeur d'Alene either. We take that as a compliment that they reacted to us in the last game and wanted to slow it down, playing a zone. And my young guys, to be honest, were not real effective against a zone that night. But we've been working on it, and we'll be better, but I don't know how much better, but we're going to be better attacking a zone, because we've spent considerable time (in practice) doing it."

The two teams meet again Friday at Lake City in the Fight for the Fish spirit game, and the pace will again be an interesting thing to watch. Because of the game-long noise created by the capacity crowd, with each school trying to display the most spirit, sometimes it's hard for coaches to make adjustments while the game is in motion.

"The Fish game kind of lends itself to craziness," Leiss said. "Because it's hard for us (coaches) to rein them in sometimes (because of the noise). We can go minutes at a time, and they don't even know that we're even there."

Preseason favorite Lake City (9-3, 2-0 5A Inland Empire League) has the early lead in the league. Coeur d'Alene (8-3, 1-1) has emerged as the top challenger to the Timberwolves, though Post Falls (5-7, 0-1) is an athletic bunch who could contend if the Trojans can make more of their layups.

This year, the Region 1 tourney champion advances to state, and the runner-up has to win a play-in game to make it there.

"I told the boys, I hate to say any game is a must win, but if you want to win the league and host the (Region 1) tournament, then we do have to win this game," Leiss said.

The other night against Post Falls, Leiss several times sent five new players to the scorer's table to sub in, something the P.A. guy often referred to as a "line change," as in hockey.

"I honestly believe that my 10 guys are fairly equal," Leiss said. "I don't feel right now that there's any of our players that we have to have on the floor for 28 to 30 minutes, like a Chad Chalich or a Deon Watson. So we want to have that philosophy that we are going to run and press and wear teams down. And you know what? Another thing is, I don’t think, having five sophomores, we’re physically strong enough to get in a half-court game night after night and try to bang with teams. I think we need to use our depth to get out and run, and press, and make things happen. I think that’s a much better way for our team to play. I don’t think this team is going to be very good right now if we’re really careful and deliberate.”

Also, the Viking coaches said, that makes their practices more competitive, since no one is guaranteed a spot.

SAINT MARY’S (12-3, 1-0), the current biggest rival of Gonzaga (15-1, 2-0) in the West Coast Conference, visits the McCarthey Athletic Center tonight to play the Zags (8 p.m., ESPN2), led by guard Matthew Dellavedova, the reigning WCC player of the year.

If Zag fans have any animosity toward Dellavedova, well, I’m sure they would love him if he were in a Zags uniform.

“He’s a phenomenal competitor, a tough guy, and he’s just a brilliant playmaker ... everything rolls off of him,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said.

Few mentioned something interesting the other day about the difference between the national, nonconference opponents the Zags play, and the teams they face in the WCC. Part of it is skill level, part of it is style of play.

“The thing that we always face at Gonzaga is, this team is built for these national opponents that are athletic and big and strong, and we get in our conference and we end up facing some highly skilled teams,” Few said. “Their 4s can shoot 3s, sometimes their 5s can shoot 3s, and they space out on the 3-point line, so it’s a little different game. We’ve always been able to make the adjustment year to year, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing now.”

A NOTE on Idaho sophomore Connor Hill, the former Post Falls High standout, courtesy of Spencer Ferrin of University of Idaho media relations:

Last season, Connor Hill broke Idaho’s freshman records for 3-point field goals made (47) and attempted (122) for a 38.5 percentage. Idaho isn’t even at the halfway point of the 2012-13 season yet, but Hill is already 33 of 72 (.458) from 3-point range. He’s on pace to finish in the top five in Idaho single-season history in made 3-pointers and in the top three in school history in single-season 3-point percentage. His .458 percentage on 3-pointers ranks 19th in the NCAA so far this year.

Idaho (6-7, 2-1 Western Athletic Conference) plays host to Denver U (7-7, 3-1) tonight and New Mexico State (8-8, 2-2) on Saturday.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be contacted at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.