4A Region 1 boys basketball championship series — One step closer: Lakeland boys win opener, now just one victory from state

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

RATHDRUM — The Lakeland Hawks are playing like a confident bunch determined to break through and return to the state tournament for the first time since 2016.

The Moscow Bears, the four-time defending regional champions, are equally determined not to make it easy for the Hawks.

Lakeland moved one step closer to a state tourney berth Wednesday night, making a couple key plays down the stretch to stave off Moscow 54-49 at Hawk Court in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series for the 4A Region 1 boys basketball title.

"We made a couple of plays down the stretch, hit a couple free throws, and that’s what it takes to win," Lakeland coach Dave Stockwell said. "They wouldn’t go away; I thought we had 'em on the ropes there for a little bit, but they just came storming back. I wasn’t really happy overall with our play. There were some good moments, but not overall, the way we should have played. They’re used to winning; there’s no quit in them whatsoever."

Game 2 is Friday at 6 p.m. at Lakeland, with the Hawks needing one win to move on to state next week at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian. A Moscow win would force a deciding Game 3 on Saturday in Rathdrum at 7 p.m.

All five starters scored in double figures for Lakeland (10-8) — Noah Haaland tallied 12 points, Bryce Henry and Jalen Skalskiy 11 each, Carson Seay and Ammon Munyer 10 each.

Lakeland jumped out to a six-point lead early in the second quarter, but Moscow (6-9), which hit six of its seven 3-pointers in the first half, hung tough, and took a 27-26 lead at halftime on a free throw by Joe Colter with .4 seconds left in the half.

Moscow relies on 3s; Lakeland gets off on dunks. The Hawks had four of them, with Haaland's one-hand cram putback down the middle starting an 8-0 run midway through the third quarter. Back-to-back 3s by Skalskiy and Seay capped the run, and suddenly Lakeland led 38-33.

"It definitely changes the momentum of the game," Skalskiy said of the Hawks' dunks. "It gets us going, after a dunk, gets us hyped after that — go get another dunk."

Lakeland led 49-40 after Henry's three-point play with 4:07 left. But Moscow hung around, pulling within 49-46 with 2:13 left.

But the Bears missed a 3 to tie, then missed two of three free throws when they needed all three to tie.

Down two with 25.9 seconds left, Moscow stole the ball but missed a 3 and had to start fouling, as the Bears were far from putting Lakeland in the bonus.

With 11.5 seconds left, Seay hit the front end of a one-and-one to make it 52-49 Lakeland. He missed the second, but no one boxed him out, and he scooped up the loose ball in the key, was fouled, and sank two free throws with 8.9 seconds left to ice it.

"We had a few (chances)," Moscow coach Josh Uhrig said. "We dug a hole there in the third quarter, and they’re too good of a team to give them that much of a cushion. I was proud of our guys; we fought back and gave ourselves a chance at the end. Just can’t get over the hump; we’ve got to play 32 minutes against a Lakeland team like that, and that gap in that third quarter really hurt us."

Benny Kitchel scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half for Moscow. The 6-foot-4 Kitchel made all three of his 3-pointers before intermission, when Lakeland played mostly zone. The Hawks played more man-to-man in the second half, with the 6-9 Skalskiy making those looks from 3 tougher for his teammate on the 509 Elite club team.

"We were just trying to get up on their shooters a little more," Stockwell said. "In the zone, they moved into a couple of gaps and hit some 3s. We went to that zone a couple weeks ago, and it’s been good for us, but we also feel we have the ability to play some good man, too."

"Gosh, their length bothers us — and most teams they play — whether it’s zone or man," Uhrig said. "They defend really well in the man. We’ve been saying all year, we want teams in a zone, and with them, we want to get them out of a zone as quick as we can, and then we still have a hard time against their man."

Lakeland beat Moscow by 12 points at home on Feb. 13, then won by four at Moscow last week to earn home-court advantage throughout the championship series.

Moscow 10 17 11 11 — 49

Lakeland 12 14 16 12 — 54

MOSCOW — Brown 3, Simpson 6, Abendroth 1, Kees 3, Rehder 6, Larson 0, Colter 5, Kitchel 14, Skinner 11.

LAKELAND — Hocking 0, Seay 10, Henry 11, Am. Munyer 10, Haaland 12, Roth 0, Waddington 0, Skalskiy 11.