STATE 1A DIVISION II BOYS SEMIFINALS: Lakeside runs away from Dietrich in second half and into first state title game since 1997

CALDWELL — When the Lakeside Knights are at their running best, junior point guard Kenyon Spotted Horse is usually the one leading the mad dash.

But he tweaked his ankle in the first half of Friday’s state 1A Division II semifinal game, and perhaps not coincidentally, Lakeside seemed a bit sluggish.

However, that all changed in the second half, when the Knights turned turnovers and long rebounds into fast-break points and ran away from the Dietrich Blue Devils 76-59 on Friday afternoon at Caldwell High.

“It feels great, seeing all my teammates running with me,” said Spotted Horse, who finished with 15 points.

Lakeside (23-0) will play in its first state championship game since 1997 this morning, facing the Cascade Ramblers (20-4) at 8:30 a.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Cascade beat North Gem 73-68.

Senior guard Talon Twoteeth was steady with 24 points and six rebounds for the Knights. Darren “Day Day” Higgins added 15 points and nine rebounds, blocked several shots and influenced a few others. And freshman Vander Brown chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.

Lakeside jumped out to a 17-8 lead on Dietrich, but the Blue Devils wouldn’t go away, tying the game at 17 early in the second quarter.

Twoteeth hit a foul line jumper with 6 seconds left in the first half, and Lakeside led 28-25 at the break.

“We didn’t come out with very much intensity,” said Lakeside coach James Twoteeth, Talon’s dad. “We didn’t match Dietrich. They were ready to play; they were up in our face. We were kinda laid back; I don’t know why we started that way.”

A little pep talk from their coach got the Knights going, said Spotted Horse, who tweaked an ankle in the first half.

“And that kind of slowed him down a little bit,” Twoteeth said. “Usually he’s at the front of our press, and he’s got long arms, so he gets his hand on a lot of steals. He’s had ankle problems. He tweaked his ankle, and he walked it off.”

Leading by three with five minutes left in the third quarter, Lakeside finally got running, and expanded its lead to 50-39 after three. Spotted Horse scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half.

Junior Brady Power of Dietrich (19-8) led all scorers with 26 points. Jett Shaw, a sophomore who scored 34 points (including 18 of 19 free throws) in a 78-71 overtime victory over Mackay in the first round, hit 5 of 9 3s and finished with 18 points against Lakeside.

Shaw and Power, combined for 50 points on Thursday.

After shooting 11 of 31 (35.5 percent from the field in the first half, Lakeside shot 60 percent (21 of 35) from the field in the second half.

“I think they’re an excellent team; they shoot the ball really well,” Dietrich coach Wayne Gill said. “They have more speed, and more of it. They’re as good a team as we’ve played all year long.”

James Twoteeth was a starting guard on the Lakeside team that won the 1997 title, the only one in program history. It was also the first year the Idaho Center was used for the state big-school tournament, as well as all of the state title games.

Though no Lakeside team has been back in the big arena since, he said that shouldn’t affect this squad.

“They’re ready to take this; it’s been a long year,” Twoteeth said. “It’s been crazy.”

Dietrich 14 11 14 20 — 59

Lakeside 17 11 22 26 — 76

DIETRICH — B. Power 26, Dill 3, Cabrera 0, R. Robertson 5, K. Robertson 7, Shaw 18, C. Power 0, Dilworth 0. Totals 21-46 11-18 59.

LAKESIDE — Brown 10, Abuan 0, Higgins 15, White 6, Hall 6, Twoteeth 24, Spotted Horse 15, Matt 0. Totals 32-66 10-14 76.