STATE 1A DIVISION I BASKETBALL: Lakeside overtaken by Riverstone in semis

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

CALDWELL — The Lakeside Knights had the lead and the pace of the game in its favor, seemingly poised to return to a state title game for the second straight year.

But Riverstone, a private school in Boise, made a defensive adjustment in the fourth quarter, and scored 25 points in the quarter to overtake Lakeside 63-53 in a semifinal game of the state 1A Division I boys basketball tournament Thursday at Vallivue High.

"They slowed us down," Lakeside sophomore point guard Vander Brown said. "We got out running in transition in the first, second and third quarter, but they slowed the game down in the fourth quarter."

Lakeside (15-5), which moved up a classification after winning the state 1A Division II title last year, will play Grace (11-13) for third place today at 11 a.m. PST at Vallivue High. Grace lost to Lapwai 69-47 in the other semifinal.

Riverstone (15-0) will play in its first state title game today at 1 p.m. at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Lapwai (19-4) will be trying to win its 11th state title.

For much of the game, Brown and senior guard Kenyon Spotted Horse pushed the pace, trying to negate the size advantage of 6-6 Charlie DeBoer and 6-5 Nick Liebich.

Spotted Horse, who missed three weeks during the season after testing positive for COVID-19, had his best game since returning shortly before districts, totaling 28 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. Brown finished with 17 points.

"I came out of quarantine for three weeks, and I couldn’t find my shot, but I found it this game," said Spotted Horse, last year's 1A Division II Player of the Year. "I felt like my junior year."

DeBoer, who averages 22.3 points per game, scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half against Lakeside. Liebich, who had 31 points and 14 rebounds on Wednesday against Prairie, scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter against Lakeside, and also had 12 rebounds.

Lakeside led 37-30 late in the third quarter on a pullup jumper by Spotted Horse, and still led by five early in the fourth. The lefty Liebich scored in the lane for a 45-44 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left, and the Otters never trailed again.

Lakeside got it to 49-48 on a fast-break basket by Jayson "JJ" Hall with 3 minutes left. But DeBoer had a runout dunk, and Riverstone made 8 of 8 free throws over the final 1:37.

"They shot 30 free throws, we shot 6," Lakeside coach James Twoteeth said. "I don’t want to sound too bitter, but we were getting slapped, and we were getting ticky-tack fouls. It’s hard to play through that.

"I thought we were in control, too."

Riverstone coach Steve Bowen noted his squad had to come from behind in the first round as well, against Prairie.

"They outworked them; they basically just outworked them in the fourth quarter," Bowen said of the Lakeside game. "We had to jump on No. 30 (Spotted Horse), who had been hitting a bunch of shots. We switched up a man on him, and then we doubled him every time he came off a pick.

"We kinda let them get away with (a fast pace), and then we decided we had to clamp down with a different type on defense."

Riverstone 11 10 17 25 — 63

Lakeside 8 19 14 12 — 53

RIVERSTONE — DeBoer 21, Baird 3, Hurt 5, Coyle 7, Smith 5, Nenov 6, Liebich 16. Totals 18-47 21-30 63.

LAKESIDE — L. Matt 2, Brown 17, Abuan, SiJohn 0, Q. Hall 0, J. Hall 4, Spotted Horse 28, Louie 0, C. Matt 2. Totals 24-67 3-6 53.