Lake City boys clinch 5A IEL title
<p>Lake City High's Justin Pratt has the ball stripped away from him by Corey Koski from Post Falls as Pratt goes up for a shot during the second half Tuesday.</p>
<p>Chuckie Adams from Lake City High looks for an outlet to pass to as a Post Falls High players falls on him during the second half.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Lake City High's boys basketball team won its first outright league title in 11 seasons Tuesday night, and the Timberwolves did it in a manner that made everybody happy:
By playing hard, pure and simple.
Lake City held Post Falls to eight baskets in a 43-25 victory over the Trojans to clinch the 5A Inland Empire League championship for the T-Wolves.
"We haven't been playing hard the last few games, and tonight we took it to 'em," Lake City junior point guard Justin Pratt said. "He (coach Jim Winger) got on us at practice, and we knew we could play like that."
Lake City (13-4, 5-0 5A IEL) will also be the top seed to the 5A Region 1 tournament, which begins Feb. 15 at LC.
Lake City last won an outright league title in 2001-02, back in the Border League days. The Timberwolves shared the 2009 title with Lewiston, and finished in a three-way tie for first last year.
Kyle Guice totaled 19 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots for Lake City. But this one was won on the defensive end, as the T-Wolves slowed down Post Falls' dribble penetration with a switching man-to-man defense.
“The Post Falls game the last time (Jan. 18) and the Lakeland game (last Friday), we didn’t play very hard,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “I told the kids I take responsibility; practices were a little light, the expectations were not high enough. That transforms into games after a while. Saturday and Monday we really dedicated ourselves to doing two things — playing our aggressive man-to-man, and rebounding the basketball ... that’s probably our best defensive game we’ve played this year.”
Pratt finished with six assists, a couple of those leading to dunks by Guice in the waning moments. Less artistically, but perhaps more importantly, he drove to the basket and fed Riley Moreen for a basket as Lake City ended the first quarter on a 10-0 run. In the second, he drove and dished to Guice for a hoop right before the buzzer for a 24-13 halftime lead.
Junior guard Chuckie Adams came off the bench and chipped in 11 points for Lake City, seven in the second quarter.
Post Falls (7-10, 1-3) jumped out to a 7-3 lead after 4 minutes, but made just six baskets the rest of the game. The Trojans pulled within 27-19 with 4:28 left in the third quarter, but managed just six points the final 12 1/2 minutes of the game.
“That’s what Lake City can do to teams,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “I was very impressed with their defense, and with their size and their length, they can really make the court seem small, as far as pass angles and dribble penetration. That’s the Lake City that I’ve expected to see all year. They were able to dictate the pace; they were able to do what they wanted.”
Post Falls visits Sandpoint on Thursday, then hosts second-place Coeur d’Alene (10-7, 2-3) on Saturday in a key 5A IEL game.
Lake City travels to Lewiston (4-13, 1-3) on Saturday. Lewiston upended Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday night for its first league win.
Post Falls 7 6 6 6 — 25
Lake City 13 11 7 12 — 43
POST FALLS — Hall 3, McKeown 0, Davenport 4, Pfennigs 2, Jackson 5, Hillman 0, Mueller 2, McCullough 0, Thompson 5, Corr 2, Koski 2.
LAKE CITY — Lake 0, Adams 11, Pratt 2, Redal 0, Murphy 0, Hocking 5, Guice 19, Louie-McGee 0, Moreen 6, Dahl 0, Winger 0.