Workhorses and grinders
COEUR d’ALENE — With only two returnees from last year, the Lake City High boys basketball team is forming its own identity this year.
Gone are the 3-pointers and flashy play from last year. This year, a more workmanlike effort is required.
And that’s what had coach Jim Winger happy after the Timberwolves downed the Sandpoint Bulldogs 55-41 in nonleague play Friday night.
“It was a great game for us, considering last weekend and how we played,” Winger said. “We didn’t even show up one game. We’re kind of workhorses, we’re grinders ... We have to understand what we have to do offensively. I just told them we’re not Kentucky; we’re not going to play that way. We have no shot if that’s the way we’re going to play.”
Jerry Louie-McGee led Lake City (2-2) with 11 points, showing some of that familiar flash from football season. Seven of those points came in the second quarter as the T-Wolves built a 30-21 lead.
Jeremy Hughes added nine points for Lake City, and Joe Pasquale and Nick Hancock scored eight each.
“We’re going to have to be disciplined on offense, and reverse the ball several times and take a quality shot,” Winger said. “And defensively, run a lot of different defenses, and run ’em right. I thought tonight we did a good job defensively — we ran three different zones. I think we had three breakdowns on rotations, which is not bad for this early, with a brand-new team.”
Sandpoint is learning to play fast under new coach Kent Leiss. When it worked, the Bulldogs scored in spurts, making nine 3-pointers. When it didn’t, well, there were some dry spells.
One player Lake City did lose track of was Sandpoint junior Davin Norris, who made eight 3-pointers and scored a game-high 24 points for the Bulldogs (1-4), sinking four 3s in each half.
“My kids are starting to learn to play the way that I want,” Leiss, the former Coeur d’Alene coach. “The No. 1 thing that stood out is, we’re not rebounding well. And I know that Lake City is big, and that’s part of the problem, but the other part but we have to block out; we have to be more aggressive rebounding. We estimated they might have had 20 second-chance points, which was the ballgame.”
Sandpoint also went 0 for 9 at the free-throw line.
Lake City travels to Gonzaga Prep on Wednesday.
Sandpoint 9 12 11 9 — 41
Lake City 11 19 14 11 — 55
SANDPOINT — Timothy 4, Norris 24, Sundquist 2, Kuzmich 2, Coppess 3, Collado 6.
LAKE CITY — Louie-McGee 11, Goggin 4, Dotson 1, Hunter 2, Hughes 9, Pasquale 8, Colwell 5, Mitchell 7, Hancock 8.