5A Inland Empire League boys basketball: Another rivalry thriller
<p>Coeur d’Alene High School’s Colby Daniels (12) puts a two-point shot as he is fouled by Lake City’s Michael Goggin during the fourth quarter Thursday in Coeur d’Alene.</p>
<p>Lake City’s Joe Pasquale (24) comes down with a tipped pass to Coeur d’Alene’s Joe Naccarato (1) in the second half.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - The Coeur d'Alene Vikings survived a boatload of their own missed opportunities, as well as a 50-footer by Lake City to force overtime, to capture the 5A Inland Empire League boys basketball opener for both teams 50-49 on Thursday night before an estimated 1,000 fans at Coeur d'Alene High's Elmer Jordan Court.
"I told the boys I'm real happy with the 'W,' but we'll spend two-plus hours tomorrow (at practice), defending and blocking out," Coeur d'Alene coach Kurt Lundblad said. "And we won't be taking a lot of shots tomorrow, and they understand that."
Sophomore Brody Lundblad's free throw with 14.9 seconds left broke a 49-all tie for Coeur d'Alene (8-3), and the Vikings survived a pair of missed free throws by Lake City (5-5) with 3.5 seconds left.
Lundblad, a sophomore, led Coeur d'Alene with 14 points. Colby Daniels added 12.
The game between the Vikings, expected to challenge for the league title, and the Timberwolves, in their first game since losing starting point guard Jerry Louie-McGee to a broken kneecap in a sledding accident last Saturday, was tight throughout.
Lake City, with pretty much a brand-new team after last year's third-place finish at state, led 39-36 after three quarters. But the Timberwolves committed eight turnovers and shot 2 for 8 from the floor in the fourth quarter, and had three more turnovers in overtime.
Nick Hancock, who led all scorers with 19 points, hit a jumper in the lane to give Lake City a 41-40 lead with just under 5 minutes remaining.
Daniels' steal and basket put Coeur d'Alene ahead 44-41 with 1:17 left. He was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw. The Vikings missed three free throws and a layup after a steal in the final 1:17. Lake City missed two free throws and a 3-pointer during that stretch. After the Viks missed a free throw with 5.2 seconds left, Joe Pasquale of Lake City took the outlet pass and buried a 3-pointer from just behind the half-court line at the buzzer to force overtime.
In OT, Tony Naccarato of Coeur d'Alene and Quinn Mitchell of Lake City traded baskets. Joe Naccarato hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with just over 2 1/2 minutes left to put the Vikings up 49-46. Hancock hit a free throw with 43.3 seconds left, then hit two more with 16.2 seconds left, to tie the game at 49.
Lake City put on some pressure in the backcourt, and inadvertently fouled Lundblad after the inbounds pass. The left-hander sank the first of two from the line for the winning margin.
"Some of those (turnovers in the fourth quarter and OT) were on Coeur d'Alene's part for good defense, but a great portion of those were with nobody even on us," Lake City coach Jim Winger said. "It's pretty hard to win an IEL game against your rival on the road turning the ball over like we turned it over. We had every opportunity to win that game, but the whole story was turnovers. And we missed a lot of free throws again. I thought we busted our butt, we executed offensively what we wanted to do for the most part, and defensively we were solid like we have been, but we just can't turn the ball over like that. That's just a shame. That was there for the taking. That's the easy explanation - absolutely horrific turnovers."
Most of Lake City's turnovers came in its half-court offense - for the most part, the T-Wolves, despite missing their point guard, handled the Vikings' extended pressure.
Pasquale hit three 3s and finished with 15 points for Lake City, which was 3 of 10 from the line. He also had seven rebounds and two steals. Michael Goggin had six rebounds, two steals and two assists, and Hancock and Mitchell had five boards each.
Joe Naccarato finished with seven points, eight rebounds and a couple of assists for Coeur d'Alene. Elliott Sparks had seven points and seven boards.
Kurt Lundblad praised Lake City for keeping the tempo of the game slower than the Vikings wanted.
"For the most part, I thought it was a gutty performance on their part," Lundblad said. "Obviously I thought we had a few opportunities to put the game away, and that 3-pointer from half-court wouldn't have mattered, but we didn't do that. So hopefully we'll learn from that, and understand time and possession and score a little bit better, and make better decisions down the stretch."
Lake City is home against Moscow tonight at 7.
Coeur d'Alene plays host to Post Falls on Tuesday in the Trojans' 5A IEL opener.
Lake City 13 11 15 5 5 - 49
Coeur d'Alene 14 10 12 8 6 - 50
LAKE CITY - Goggin 2, Dotson 2, Hunter 5, Hughes 0, Pasquale 15, Mitchell 6, Hancock 19.
COEUR d'ALENE - J. Naccarato 7, Lundblad 14, Lynn 0, Daniels 12, Schuon 4, Sparks 7, T. Naccarato 6.