THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: Lakeside then, and Lakeside now

Only one other man knows what it’s like to coach Lakeside High to a state boys basketball championship.

Greg Stutzman guided the Knights to their first state title in 1997, the fifth of his six seasons at the Plummer-Worley school.

Now retired and living in Fruitland, Stutzman was on hand for all three games in the Treasure Valley last weekend, as Lakeside, coached by one of his former players, James Twoteeth, won the state 1A Division II crown in the program’s first appearance in the title game since ’97. The Knights won their first two games at state at Caldwell High, then won the title game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

“It was cool to see James in that leadership role, coaching those kids after coaching him,” Stutzman said in a phone interview from southern Idaho earlier this week. “It doesn’t surprise me (he coached) ... I’m proud that a former player coached them to a second championship. He showed a lot of leadership on that basketball team, so that’s why it doesn’t surprise me that he’s there.”

THE 1997 team finished 23-1, coming off a runner-up finish at state the previous season. Lakeside lost in its fifth game of the 1996-97 campaign, 55-45 at Troy, after beating the Trojans by 17 at home in the season opener. In the state title game — the first year the state title games were played at the Idaho Center — Lakeside beat Troy 44-34.

Like this year’s squad, Lakeside won most of its games that season by wide margins — its closest victory was by 10 points.

This year’s team, which finished 24-0, only had two wins by less than 10 points.

The 1997 team beat Cascade in the quarterfinals and Dietrich in the semifinals. This year’s squad beat Dietrich in the semis and Cascade in the title game.

“We had some nice shooters then,” Stutzman recalled. “James , Glen Lambert, Andrew Twiss, big kid, 6-4, but a soft touch. Ken Pluff was an excellent shooter, and Sam Lozeau ... yeah, we were loaded. Buck Allen was a very nice player. Barrett Morris ... “

Stutzman, now 59, said both teams were seasoned from years of playing together, and both teams ran the floor well.

“The inside presence of our team was more prevalent. We probably rebounded better,” he said. “I thought we probably shot the ball better from the outside, but they got so many easy baskets in that state tournament off transition and steals, and just baskets inside the paint, that they didn’t have to rely on (outside shooting).”

The 1997 team consisted of four seniors and seven juniors. This year’s squad had three seniors, five juniors and a freshman.

Stutzman, who coached at Minico and Notus before coming to Lakeside, coached at New Plymouth and Payette after leaving Lakeside, which he coached to a third straight state tourney in 1998, when the Knights went two and out. All told, he was a head coach for 20-some years, retired from teaching a year ago, and now teaches driver’s education in Fruitland.

“Lakeside was some of my finest years ... great people, very good players,” said Stutzman, who said he enjoyed reconnecting with his former players last weekend, several of whom made the trek south to watch their alma mater. “It was a fun weekend.”

JAMES TWOTEETH had a special reason for enjoying this state title.

Like James on that 1997 title team, his son Talon Twoteeth was a senior guard on this year’s squad.

“If he was left-handed, he would be my clone,” James Twoteeth said. “I’m left-handed. I was a shooter, he is more of a midrange player. He’s smoother than I was. He’s a little bigger (6-foot, vs. 5-9).”

“There’s some differences, but so many similarities,” Stutzman said of the Twoteeths, father and son. “The movement ... James had a nice, sweet, smooth, left-handed stroke.”

“I kinda wish I was left-handed,” Talon said. “I just think left-handed players are better. I just try to shoot the ball, and get to the bucket, kinda just like he did. ... but I can’t shoot 3s.”

Bryan Chase, who recently completed his sixth season as head boys coach at St. Maries, was freshman coach and varsity assistant at Lakeside for two seasons (1995-97). Tristan Nelson Gentry, son of Brendan Nelson from that state title team of ’97, is a starter for Chase at St. Maries.

“James was always quiet and did his job,” Chase recalled. “He was never afraid to take a big shot. James has always had a passion for the game. We’ve played men’s league against each other for the last 20 years. I was excited to see him get the job; his demeanor is perfect for the job. He doesn’t get too high or too low. We talk a few times a year about basketball and the ups and downs of being a coach.

“Much of my coaching philosophy comes from the style of play we had back then. We weren’t real big but had athletes that could run and jump. Still today we run the same 2-2-1 press that we ran 25 years ago at Lakeside. Pushing the tempo and scoring a lot of points off turnovers is what we hung our hat on then, and what we strive for now.”

JAMES TWOTEETH said this year’s undefeated season was “trying, physically and emotionally for me as a coach,” but winning a state title “makes it so much worth it.

“It was so much pressure,” Twoteeth said. “In the district championship game, I think I lost sight in my right eye, just from pressure. I didn’t want to lose that game, and have to come back Friday (for a second, winner-take-all district title game). After we won that game, my vision suddenly came back.”

Speaking of pressure, that’s what this year’s Lakeside team liked to do to its opponents, to speed up the tempo.

Most teams tend to glide through warmups, move just enough to get loose. Not Lakeside.

The Knights charge out onto the court from one corner of the floor, run diagonally across the court to midcourt, then shuffle sideways along the midcourt line to the other side of the court.

Rinse, repeat. At game speed.

“Like Day Day (Higgins) said, we run like an hour before practice,” junior JJ Hall said. “That’s the main (warmup) we do before practice, but we do it full court.”

Hall said of what we saw in the warmup before the title game, “that’s light (compared to what the Knights do in practice). We complain, we don’t want to do it. I’m not going to lie, sometimes we cheat, but most of the time we’re used to it. It helps us in the long run.”

Next year, Chase will have most of his starters back from a team that just finished third at state in 2A. Lakeside will have most of its starters back as well, and will move up a division, to 1A Division I, just one division below St. Maries.

Hmmm ...

“It makes a lot of sense for us to play each other next year, and I think our ADs are working on it,” Chase said. “Eighteen miles away with two state-caliber teams makes sense. Something would have to give with our stifling defense and their high-octane offense. We do always try and play each other in summer league, but a matchup during the regular season would be entertaining at the least.”

As for the prospects of Lakeside winning a state title again next year, after moving up a division (along with Genesis Prep, to join Wallace in a new three-team league ...

“It’ll be tougher,” James Twoteeth said. “I will kinda relish when we lose that first game. It will be a relief a little bit, to get that monkey off your back. It’ll be a tougher division, but I think we’ll be fine. I think we can hang with pretty much everybody in that division.”

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.