Lakeland turns up the heat, rallies past Sandpoint
COEUR d’ALENE — Lakeland hadn’t used the full-court press much during the season — in part because, as its coach admitted, the Hawks had usually been too far down for it to matter.
But he felt they might need it this week, against Sandpoint and Moscow, so the Hawks worked on it the last couple of weeks.
And that pressure sure came in handy Monday night.
No. 2 seed Lakeland turned the last quarter and a half into chaos with its press, and rallied from 10 points down to beat the No. 3 Sandpoint Bulldogs 51-50 in the loser-out first round of the 4A Region 1 boys basketball tournament Monday night at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court.
Jalen Skalskiy’s tip-in sat on the rim momentarily, before finally crawling over and through the net with 10 seconds left, for what turned out to be the winning points for the Hawks.
“Sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Lakeland coach Dave Stockwell said. “Thankful enough we’ve got some kids that went out there and gave it all they had, and lucked out and got the ball in the hole a couple of times, we got some good steals, some good rebounds, and they missed a couple free throws that helped us, too.”
Lakeland (13-7) will play No. 1 seed Moscow (8-13) on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at NIC in the first game of a best-of-3 series to determine the region’s lone berth to state next week.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Sandpoint (6-16), which controlled the tempo most of the game, and led for most of the second half before the pressure ultimately took its toll.
“Tonight it (the press) saved our butts,” Stockwell said. “Because they had us. They did everything t needed to do. They controlled tempo, got the shots they needed … “
Sandpoint went 1 for 9 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs led 43-33 after T.J. Davis scored on the press-breaker early in the fourth quarter.
But Lakeland kept chipping away, pulling within 47-45 on Ben Zubaly’s 3-point play with 2:51 left. The Hawks took the lead when Dylan Knight zipped a pass to Nathan Johnson underneath for a layin to make it 49-48 with 1 minute left.
Alex Stockton scored on the press break for Sandpoint some 10 seconds later. Lakeland missed a 3, Sandpoint rebounded but lost the ball. Zubaly’s reverse layin try was off the mark, but the left-handed Skalskiy, a freshman, was there for the tip-in.
Sandpoint rushed the ball up the floor but lost control and Lakeland recovered the ball, and that was pretty much that.
Zubaly, a sophomore reserve, led Lakeland with 11 points. Johnson and Knight added 10 each, and Josiah Haaland had seven boards. The Hawks made seven 3s as the Bulldogs played zone throughout.
Lakeland beat Sandpoint by 28 points at home last Thursday.
Robbie Johnson, playing gamely on a gimpy ankle, led Sandpoint with 14 points and six rebounds. Stockton added 13 points.
The first half was a game of runs.
Lakeland, starting off with 3s from Knight and Dylan Vahey, scored the game’s first eight points.
Sandpoint closed the quarter with a 7-0 run to trail 16-14.
Lakeland scored the first seven points of the second quarter. Sandpoint answered with six straight, then closed the half with a 6-0 run, capped by a 3 from the left wing by Bruin Jones with 6 seconds left that tied the game at 26 at intermission.
Moscow beat Lakeland by 12 points at home and by 18 in Rathdrum. Because the Bears went undefeated in the 4A Inland Empire League, Moscow will host game 2 on Friday, and game 3, if necessary, on Saturday, regardless of who wins Wednesday.
“We’ve got to win here (at NIC),” Stockwell said. “It’d be really nice, instead of having to go down there and try to take two at their place.”
Sandpoint 14 12 13 11 — 50
Lakeland 16 10 7 18 — 51
SANDPOINT — Niemala 0, Davis 11, Jones 8, Johnson 14, Casey 4, Stockton 13, Roos 0.
LAKELAND — Taylor 1, Zubaly 11, Johnson 10, Knight 10, Vahey 5, Davis 5, Skalskiy 6, Haaland 3.