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STATE 5A BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Lake City clamps down on Boise, reaches title game for first time since 2002

| March 6, 2021 1:30 AM

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

NAMPA — The numbers suggested the Boise Brave was not a very good 3-point shooting boys basketball team.

Early on in Friday's state 5A semifinal game, the numbers lied.

Boise hit 4 of its first 5 3s, and 5 of its first 7, and totaled 8 of 16 from behind the arc in the first half and led the Lake City Timberwolves by as much as 11 points in the first half.

But what happened in the second half was a turnaround of massive proportions.

Lake City adjusted defensively, and after trailing by 10 points early in the third quarter, held Boise to just four field goals (including two 3s) and 11 points in the final 14 minutes, and the Timberwolves won going away, 65-50, to reach the state title game for the first time since 2002 — the only other title game appearance for the school which opened in 1994.

"It’s crazy being in the state championship game," said Lake City senior wing Jack Kiesbuy, who finished with 13 points. "To be in one and play in one is huge, so we’re excited."

Lake City (18-6) will play Meridian (19-1) in the title game tonight at 6 PST at the Idaho Center. Meridian defeated Madison (20-5) 66-56 in the other semifinal.

Meridian last played in a state title game in 2001 and has won three titles in school history, most recently in 1992.

"It’s awesome; it’s everyone’s first time, so I just hope we can get the win, come home with the ring," said Timberwolves sophomore point guard Kolton Mitchell, who scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half.

Boise, bidding for its first title game appearance since 1991, hit four 3s in the first four minutes, two by College of Idaho-bound Whitt Miller, for a 14-4 lead and a Lake City timeout.

Lake City got it as close as three points in the second quarter, but Boise answered with an 8-0 run, and the Brave's eighth 3 of the half, by Cooper Howell, made it 36-29 at halftime.

Blake Buchanan, a 6-8 sophomore center, kept Lake City in it in the first half with 11 points and five rebounds. He finished with 19 points and nine boards.

"I tell you one thing — I don’t know if I’ve had a group more calm than this group, and considering quite a few of them are sophomores, that’s pretty special," said Lake City coach Jim Winger, who starts three sophomores and two seniors — and started four sophs for much of the season until one went down with an injury. "Same thing in the district championship — fell behind 14-2 to Post Falls, and timeout, everybody’s 'we’re all right' ... same thing tonight."

Cory Cadwell, who finished with four 3-pointers for Boise, opened the second half with a 3 and a 39-29 Boise lead. But Lake City outscored the Brave 13-3 the rest of the quarter to tie it at 42.

Kiesbuy scored six straight points in an 8-0 run to end the quarter — he was fouled on a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws, then drove to the basket for a three-point play.

Jack Payne, a 6-5 junior forward for Boise, fouled out with 5 1/2 minutes left. Miller stole the ball and scored for a 48-47 Boise lead, but Zach Johnson, who picked up his fourth foul late in the third quarter, answered in transition, and Lake City never trailed again, finishing on an impressive 18-2 run on steals and transition buckets, and capped by a dunk from Buchanan off a feed from Mitchell.

That was a 36-11 finish over the final 16 minutes.

"I think I said ‘Wow,’" Winger said of that closing stretch. "Just stand there and watch it. Stay out of the way, let the horses run, and they did. It was impressive; it really was. The thing that sticks out in my mind is their mental frame of mind, and hopefully that transfers to tomorrow."

Boise was just 2 of 8 from behind the arc in the second half, finishing 10 of 24.

Miller, who had no baskets and three points in a 50-47 victory over Rigby in the first round, hit 3 of 5 3s vs. Lake City, and finished with 19 points. But he missed his only 3 of the second half, after scoring 13 in the first half.

"Clamp down on Whitt," Kiesbuy said of Lake City's strategy in the second half. "He had a great first half, and we knew if we were going to win this game we had to limit his points, and that’s what we did. We didn’t close out like we needed to do (in the first hald), and we made that adjustment the second half."

"When we scouted them they didn’t have a very high percentage from the 3-point line, so that’s what we wanted to make them do — and they proved us wrong," Mitchell said. "Second half we started getting out on them more, and they started missing more shots."

"We’ve always switched a lot, this year we have not, and we switched and put more ball pressure and tried to take away the 3," Winger said of the second half. "We felt we had to jump it, get into them a little bit, and the kids executed it perfectly."

Senior Chris Irvin had seven rebounds to go with his four points for Lake City.

Cooper Howell hit two 3s and added eight points for Boise, which saw four players hit 3s.

"We don’t normally shoot 50 percent (from 3); I wish we did," said Boise coach Manny Varela, whose team was 2 of 15 from deep against Rigby. "They put pressure on us out in the wings, and they were putting a little more ball pressure on us. Their length disrupted us in the second half, but not having Jack that last five minutes was really, for us, the detrimental thing. We really don’t have size to match, other than him, and he’s only 6-5, so he’s very undersized compared to Buchanan. We did what we could with what we had, for as long as we could."

Boise 21 15 6 8 — 50

Lake City 18 11 13 23 — 65

BOISE — Cadwell 12, Smith 0, Britt 0, Alan 0, Goode 4, Payne 5, Michael 0, Howell 8, Miller 19, Owen 0, Porter 0, Thompson 2. Totals 18-50 4-6 50.

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 19, Jones 0, Janke 0, Irvin 4, J. Kiesbuy 13, Spellman 2, Johnson 8, Weaver 0, Mitchell 17, Meredith 2, Bowman 0. Totals 25-47 11-13 65.

photo

JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Irvin of Lake City cradles the ball on the floor as Jack Goode of Boise reaches in and Lake City's Ben Janke looks on during Friday's state 5A semifinal at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.