Lessons for a little way down the road

Trophies aren’t handed out in mid-December when it comes to college or high school basketball.

Not even close.

But you’d be amazing how much just a few days in November or December might come in handy when that time comes later in the season.

WHEN THE North Idaho College men’s basketball team went 1-2 in the San Jose City College tournament, at first glance, you’d think the Cardinals were in trouble.

Probably not.

After losing to Monterey Peninsula 85-71 and 84-69 to the City College of San Francisco, NIC beat tournament host San Jose City 67-42 last Saturday to improve to 4-3 on the season.

So about those California teams?

“It’s some great basketball down here,” NIC coach Corey Symons said. “It’s good for us as we’re still trying to figure out things to work on, things to fix and where to play certain guys. It has just taken some time to figure out the rotation and those kinds of things.”

Most of the teams from California have also played 13 games so far, while NIC had played four — with a week off in between — facing Northwest (Wyo.) College and playing in a tournament at Everett Community College.

“Those teams are a little more set in what they do,” Symons said. “It’s great for us. We’ll learn from it heading into our home stretch.”

Don’t forget, NIC will host a crossover tournament starting this Sunday, then hold its annual Coeur d’Alene Inn-vitational Dec. 28-30 at Rolly Williams Court.

DUE TO a team backing out of last weekend’s Wildcat Shootout hosted by Lapwai High, the schedule was condensed so Lakeside was scheduled to play twice, against Yakama Tribal and Lapwai on the same day.

Something you really don’t see that often during basketball season.

Both Lakeside’s boys and girls teams beat Yakama Tribal, but lost to Lapwai on a long Saturday.

As for what they did in between games.

“We stayed and watched our boys play,” Lakeside girls basketball coach Chris Dohrman said. “Both of us went to Lewiston to get something to eat, watched some of the Yakama-Lapwai games, and played again. It made for a long day of basketball.”

Yakama Tribal and Lapwai also played in boys and girls games between Lakeside’s games.

At the AAU and middle school level, it’s not that farfetched to play multiple games on a given day.

“That’s just how it goes sometimes,” Dohrman said. “It was really similar to playing in an AAU tournament and that kind of format where you end up playing twice and get used to doing that.”

And who knows, maybe having to play twice on a given day might make a team a lot stronger in the long run on a basketball court.

Just don’t expect to see that happening when it really matters.

You know, when trophies are being handed in February and March.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.