Lakeland clinches No. 2 seed to regionals

RATHDRUM — Junior center Josiah Haaland had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots as the Lakeland Hawks routed the visiting Sandpoint Bulldogs 66-38 in the 4A Inland Empire League and regular season finale for both teams Thursday night at Hawk Court.

Kaden Davis added 10 points and five assists for Lakeland (12-7, 2-2 4A IEL), which clinched the No. 2 seed to next week’s 4A Region 1 tournament. Lakeland and No. 3 Sandpoint (6-15, 0-4) will play Monday at 8 p.m. at North Idaho College in a loser-out game.

Lakeland shot 58 percent (25 of 43) from the field, and had 16 assists. Nathan Johnson and Dylan Knight each hit 3-pointers in the opening moments, and Haaland got the crowd fired up during that stretch with a dunk.

“A lot of it was off our defense,” Lakeland assistant coach Bill Ryan said. “We forced some tough shots.”

Robbie Johnson led Sandpoint with 10 points.

Sandpoint 4 14 9 11 — 38

Lakeland 16 14 20 16 — 66

SANDPOINT — Vernon 2, Dalthorp 5, Niemela 0, Davis 7, Jones 2, Johnson 10, Casey 2, Stockton 7, Roos 3.

LAKELAND — Taylor 1, Zubaly 4, Johnson 6, Knight 9, Vahey 8, Davis 10, Skalskiy 8, Neilson 7, Haaland 13.

Timberlake 46

Bonners Ferry 33

SPIRIT LAKE — Sophomore Jacob James made four 3-pointers and scored a career-high 24 points as the host Tigers wrapped up the No. 2 seed to next week’s 3A District 1 tournament with the Intermountain League victory over the Badgers.

James scored 15 of his points in the first half for Timberlake (8-12, 4-2 IML).

“He’s been shooting the ball really well,” Timberlake coach Michael Scott said. “Colton Counts did a number the first time we played them, and they were concerned about him, and it really opened up the outside for Jacob.”

Scott said James was also primarily responsible for holding Chris Sabin of Bonners Ferry (9-11, 2-4) to 11 points.

Timberlake will play the third-seeded Badgers on Monday at 4:30 p.m. at North Idaho College in the first round of the district tourney.

Bonners Ferry 5 8 12 8 — 33

Timberlake 10 9 12 15 — 46

BONNERS FERRY — Ryan 4, Sabin 11, Seth Bateman 2, T. Bateman 0, Hill 8, Stone 2, Pluid 4, Bell 2, Morgan 0.

TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 7, Wilfong 0, Cramer 7, Meijerink 0, Counts 4, Kluss 0, James 24, Gardom 2, Kistler 2.