4A REGION 1 BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Weight off their shoulders

COEUR d'ALENE - Tyrel Derrick held the ball near mid-court as the seconds ticked down and the horn sounded Wednesday night, which was only fitting for someone who had been around a program for so long, without making it to state.

Derrick scored the game's first two baskets, Lakeland scored the game's first 10 points, and the Hawks went on to beat the Sandpoint Bulldogs 38-29 in the championship game of the 4A Region 1 boys basketball tournament at North Idaho College's Rolly Williams Court.

The win qualified Lakeland for the state tournament for the first time since 2004 - the Hawks' last year in 3A.

"This has been 17 years in the making," said Derrick, a senior point guard and son of longtime Lakeland boys coach and now athletic director Trent Derrick. "For the past 12 years I've just been waiting for it to happen. It's a weight off my shoulders; I can't explain it."

Lakeland (16-6) advances to state March 5-7 at Borah High in Boise. The Hawks will open state next Thursday at 5:15 p.m. PST vs. Mountain Home (17-7), which lost to Middleton (16-8) 62-47 in the championship game of the District 3 tournament Wednesday night.

"It's been a long time since this program's been to state, so we're looking forward to that," fourth-year Lakeland coach Dave Stockwell said. "These (eight) seniors, they worked really hard, particularly Tyrel, with four years at this thing, so it's really good that we can go to state with this group here."

Sandpoint tried just about everything defensively - man to man, then triangle-and-two, box and one, you name it - in an attempt to slow down Derrick and the Hawks. It worked to a degree, but Sandpoint struggled against Lakeland's tough man-to-man defense, committing 15 turnovers and getting off just 25 shots, hitting 11.

"We needed to knock Tyrel out of his rhythm," Sandpoint coach Kent Leiss said. "I thought we did that a little bit. We ran a triangle and two, box and one, and we got them to take some goofy shots. But our biggest problem was trying to rebound out of those defenses."

"He (Leiss) threw everything in the book at us," Stockwell said. " ... we had to make some adjustments. The second half wasn't real pretty offensively, but of course we had to figure out what the heck he was doing all the time. But we scored when we needed to, got rebounds when we needed to, and I thought our defense tonight was outstanding."

"We didn't necessarily know what they were going to run; they did a great job preparing - that's the best anybody's played against us all year, as far as knowing what we're running," Derrick said. "But these guys played so hard. The thing that separates us from any other team I've played on, we've just bonded. We just play so well together, and we love every second of it."

While Sandpoint keyed on Derrick, who finished with nine points, five rebounds and a couple steals, other Hawks stepped up. Senior Slader Ray added 12 points, senior Jay Plunkett added seven points, and senior Auston Henry held junior Davan Norris, Sandpoint's top scorer, to a pair of 3-pointers and six points.

Senior point guard Matthew Timothy scored 10 points to lead Sandpoint (8-14), bidding for its first trip to state since 2009.

"We just struggled to score, and we did all year," Leiss said. "But I thought our kids played real hard; we held a 4A team to 38 points. We just had trouble scoring."

Lakeland, which led 22-9 at halftime, did not shoot a free throw.

How bad did Derrick, a first-grader the last time Lakeland went to state, want it? Late in the game, with Lakeland protecting a lead, Derrick was called for traveling, slammed the ball to the floor and was whistled for a technical foul.

"That was just being stupid," Derrick said. "A lot of emotions at the end of the game, hoping that it doesn't get taken away from us."

That little hiccup aside, Derrick and his Lakeland teammates made sure it didn't get taken away from them.

Sandpoint 7 2 11 9 - 29

Lakeland 12 10 6 10 - 38

SANDPOINT - Timothy 10, Spalding 0, Norris 6, Sundquist 3, Kuzmich 2, Oliver-Mitton 3, Speakman 0, Collado 5.

LAKELAND - Ram 2, Cooper 4, Derrick 9, Henry 4, Plunkett 7, Ray 12, Knight 0.

ALL-4A INLAND EMPIRE LEAGUE

COACH OF THE YEAR - Dave Stockwell, Lakeland

PLAYER OF THE YEAR - Tyrel Derrick, sr., Lakeland

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR - Jason Myler, jr., Moscow

ALL-LEAGUE - Davan Norris, jr., Sandpoint; Jack Akey, sr., Moscow; Jay Plunkett, sr., Lakeland; Slader Ray, sr., Lakeland; Jake Ram, sr., Lakeland.