Cd'A boys top Lake City for first league victory
COEUR d’ALENE — Showing patience against a zone defense, especially with a team full of athletes like the Coeur d’Alene Vikings, can be easier said than done.
But Coeur d’Alene coach Tony Hanna talked about it before the game, and the Vikings went out and did it, beating the visiting Lake City Timberwolves 55-45 in 5A Inland Empire League play Thursday night at Viking Court for Coeur d’Alene’s first league win.
“It’s pretty hard (staying patient),” said Coeur d’Alene senior Devon Johnson, who finished with 12 points and three assists, often flashing to the high post and finding open cutters, or post players down low. “There’s a lot of things that look really good, but then you go for it and it’s not really there. But the coaches put together a good plan for us, and we executed and got the job done.”
Point guard Luke McLaughlin led Coeur d’Alene (6-9, 1-3 5A IEL) with 14 points, and he also had seven rebounds. Sophomore Cameren Cope added 13 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots, and Alex Karns scored six of his 12 points in the first quarter.
“I thought our patience was really good,” Hanna said. “They’re pretty good at it (playing zone), but eventually a zone is going to break down. We did a good job of working it to the spots we needed to, getting the right guys in the right positions. And our bigs (Cope and Karns) did a good job of finishing. And we did a good job contesting their shots.”
Jack Kiesbuy and Seth Hanson each scored nine points for Lake City (11-5, 1-2), which shot 14 of 45 from the field, including 3 of 15 on 3-pointers against the Vikings, who played man-to-man.
“Coeur d’Alene played really hard, played great defense,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “We stood around on offense; we never did get the ball moving, and run our stuff all night. We got outworked under the basket.
“That’s our second league road game, and in both games I thought we played pretty passive, not like we have during the course of the year. We have to take a deep breath, and try to figure it out. When the game’s that rough, we’ve got to step it up and compete, and come right back at them, and we didn’t do that. Coeur d’Alene deserves a lot of credit; they played free and easy, and very aggressive, and we didn’t respond.”
Coeur d’Alene didn’t shoot much better from the field — 17 of 45. But the Vikings were 19 of 27 from the line, including 8 of 12 in the fourth quarter to keep the Timberwolves at arm’s length.
Coeur d’Alene built a 20-14 lead on Owen Smith’s 3-pointer with just under 3 minutes left in the first half. Kolton Mitchell’s fallaway 3-point shot from the left corner — nearly on his way of the gym — pulled Lake City within 24-22 at halftime.
In the closing seconds of the third quarter, the right-handed McLaughlin hit a driving, left-handed shot, got fouled and sank a free throw to put the Vikings up 34-32.
Coeur d’Alene never trailed in the fourth quarter. Johnson’s 3 from the left wing — thanks to a kickout pass from McLaughlin near the foul line — hiked the Vikings’ lead to 44-38 with just under 4 minutes left.
The Timberwolves missed too many shots to make a run, in part because of the 6-foot-4 Cope underneath.
He’s a monster,” Johnson said of Cope.
“I thought our kids held their composure,” Hanna said. “That’s what we need; we need to figure out how to win some of those close games. We went to the line and hit some free throws. They’re starting to do the things we need ’em to do to get something in the win column.”
Lake City beat Coeur d’Alene 53-44 at home Jan. 10 in the Fight for the Fish game.
On Saturday, Lake City plays host to Sandpoint, and Coeur d’Alene is home vs. Moscow.
Lake City 10 12 10 13 — 45
Coeur d’Alene 10 14 10 21 — 55
LAKE CITY — Janke 6, Irvin 7, Kiesbuy 9, Spellman 0, Johnson 8, Hanson 9, Mitchell 6, Sundstrom 0, Meredith 0.
COEUR d’ALENE — Bengtson 0, C. Smith 0, Johnson 12, Karns 12, Cope 13, O. Smith 3, Prka 1, McLaughlin 14.