THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: March 15, 2014

He's not the first person that some people point to for the regular season success of the Coeur d'Alene High Viking boys basketball team this season.

But Justin Carpenter definitely left his imprint on the outcome of plenty of games at Elmer Jordan Court.

CARPENTER, A 6-foot-4 senior guard/forward, capped his senior year by averaging 11.6 points and six rebounds a game for the Vikings, who finished the season with the school's first outright regular season championship since the 2007-08 season.

"We really didn't have any superstars and were just really balanced," first-year Coeur d'Alene coach Kurt Lundblad said. "Justin led us in scoring, but was just really consistent all year. We had some good kids that gave us good parity, but he was the most consistent and didn't miss a practice. I'll be sad to see him go."

Fear not fans in North Idaho, you'll get another chance to see him this afternoon as Carpenter was selected to the North all-star team for today's 11th annual North vs. South all-star basketball games at North Idaho College.

"I'm excited for it," Carpenter said. "It's going to be fun to play with all the best seniors in the area. I'll get a chance to play will all these people that I've been battling with the last four years. I played with (Lake City point guard) Justin Pratt in AAU for the last couple of years, so that will be fun playing with him after going against him for so long."

Not flashy on the court by any means, Carpenter showed up to play every time coach Lundblad needed him to do this season.

"He's one of those kids that all coaches are lucky to get when they get him," Lundblad said. "He's the first one here, and last to leave after practice. He lets his work speak for itself and just works his tail off, so I knew what to expect in games and practices. He's got a lot of good things going for him."

WHEN HE first started out as a freshman at Coeur d'Alene, Carpenter competed in everything, including baseball and football.

"As a freshman, I played all three, but then didn't play baseball after my freshman year," Carpenter said. "I played a lot in football my freshman and sophomore year, but not as much as a junior and not at all this year. The seasons were overlapping with the football team playing in the championship game each year, so something had to give and I wanted to get ready for basketball season."

Through a coaching change midway through his junior year to learning from a new coach as a senior, Carpenter has remained dedicated to the program.

"It's definitely been crazy with all the ups and downs," Carpenter said. "It's been a good varsity basketball experience with everything and something that not a lot of players get to experience.

For now, Carpenter is receiving interest from Division III Crown College, a private Christian college in St. Bonifacius, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

"Crown is the one that's recruiting me the most right now," Carpenter said. "But I don't think I want to go that far away. I'm also talking with Lewis-Clark State and am going to work out with them in a few weeks, so that might be a possibility."

With his size, Carpenter was often times asked to guard the opponent's best player, taking away from his own offensive production.

"I told him that he could have scored more points, but we asked him to defend the other team's best player," Lundblad said. "We asked him to do a lot on the defensive end, and he didn't get enough shots up. He's a very unselfish kid and did a lot of good things for us."

"I definitely wanted to guard the other team's best player," Carpenter said. "But I don't think it was my coaches' fault I didn't take enough shots. I've always been a less-selfish kind of player with my shots."

"A lot of it was the mental side of the game with him," Lundblad said. "Justin never got rattled, no matter how big or small the game was. He always stayed on that even keel and never got too high or too low and is just a mentally strong kid. He's very interactive off the court. He's not the class clown, but very interactive and popular kid on the team. He wasn't a screw-off or headphone guy. He just showed the younger guys how it's supposed to be done."

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. Follow him on Twitter at JEPressSports.