Lake City triumphs on Vikings' old court

By MARK NELKE

Sports writer

COEUR d'ALENE — Lake City senior Chris Irvin didn't mind that Saturday's game at city rival Coeur d'Alene was moved, due to a scheduling conflict, from the Vikings new gym (Viking Court) to its old home court (Elmer Jordan Court).

After all, Irvin was a freshman the last time Lake City played on Jordan Court, beating the Vikings in a 5A Region tournament loser-out game in 2018.

On Saturday afternoon, in the first varsity boys basketball game in that building since, Lake City pulled away in the final three quarters to beat Coeur d'Alene 54-37 in Inland Empire League play before a spirited crowd.

"Actually we like this gym way better than the other gym. I think it played to our advantage," said Irvin, who got the start in place of injured sophomore Varick Meredith (out indefinitely with a wrist injury), and finished with six points (including one of Lake City's four 3-pointers) and eight rebounds. "The train always keeps going, no matter who’s starting."

Kolton Mitchell scored 10 of his 17 points in the second quarter for Lake City (11-5, 6-1 IEL), which trailed 14-12 after one. Blake Buchanan added 14 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Zach Johnson had eight points and six boards.

"We mainly played seven guys, and all seven had their moments," Lake City coach Jim Winger said. "I thought our intensity was really good, our energy. It was a Saturday afternoon game, but it had a heckuva atmosphere.

"Chris has really come along, the last 4-5 games. He’s got his confidence, and he can shoot the ball, and he’s a very good defender, and a pretty darn good passer. He’s a good athlete. Chris is a total team player."

Cameren Cope was dominant inside early, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the first quarter for Coeur d'Alene (4-7, 3-4). He had 14 points and nine rebounds in the first half, but sat after picking up his third and fourth fouls midway through the third quarter. He was whistled for his fifth foul with 6:04 left and the Vikings trailing 44-30. Cope finished with 17 points and 11 boards.

"That was pretty difficult to respond to, and then they got on a run," Coeur d'Alene coach Jon Adams said.

"Zach did a really good job on Cope early, even though he was scoring," Winger said. Our plan was to double him, and we didn’t double him. He was getting momentum to the basket; he is just so hard to stop. Once we started understanding we’ve got to (double him), we did a much better job. In high school basketball he’s just hard to handle, period."

Coeur d'Alene was 6 of 12 from the field in the first quarter, but just 7 of 41 the rest of the way, including 1 for 13 in the second quarter.

"We’re still finding a way to put four quarters together," Adams said. "We’ve got good personnel, we like the style of defense we have, we like the style of play we have, we’re just trying to find a way to put it together for the full length of a game."

Lake City took the lead for good at 21-18 when Mitchell took a pass from Ben Janke and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The T-Wolves led 29-22 at halftime.

Coeur d'Alene pulled within 31-27 on a basket by Cooper Larson two minutes into the third quarter. But the Vikings scored just one point the rest of the quarter, and didn't make another basket until two minutes remained in the game.

Both coaches played for Coeur d'Alene on Jordan Court — Winger graduating in 1984, Adams in 1991 — and Winger coached the Vikings for two seasons before starting the Lake City program in 1994.

On Tuesday, Lake City visits Lakeland, and Coeur d'Alene travels to Moscow.

Lake City 12 17 13 12 — 54

Coeur d’Alene 14 8 6 9 — 37

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 14, Hill 0, Jones 1, Janke 0, Irvin 6, J. Kiesbuy 6, Spellman 2, Johnson 8, Weaver 0, D. Kiesbuy 0, Mitchell 17, Bowman 0.

COEUR d’ALENE — Bengtson 2, King 0, Prka 0, Burgess 0, Larson 6, Ivankovich 3, Entzi 2, Gatten 0, Cope 17, Smith 2, Reyes 0, McLaughlin 5.