PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Lake City bounces back from first loss, knocks off Moscow
COEUR d’ALENE — Midway through the third quarter, after another 3-pointer by the Moscow Bears fell, Lake City coach Jim Winger called timeout and barked at his players:
“No 3s.”
The Timberwolves, the top-ranked team in 5A, gave up 11 3-pointers in suffering their first loss of the season Thursday night, at Lewiston.
Less than 48 hours later, Lake City allowed 12 3s by a sharpshooting Moscow outfit. But the T-Wolves countered with their highest-scoring game of the season in an 82-67 triumph in Inland Empire League play Saturday afternoon.
“That’s something we need to get better at,” Winger said of defending the 3. “We wanted to run them off the line, and they shot 60 percent for the game, so I was not happy with that whatsoever. I was very pleased with our offense attacking.”
On bouncing back from Thursday’s loss …
“Friday we practiced really well,” Winger said. “I think they took it personal how they played, and it was real important tonight to get back on the rails. 82 points makes it seem like we’re going all right.”
Junior Blake Buchanan, who transferred from Moscow after his freshman season, totaled 21 points and 13 rebounds for Lake City (18-1, 6-1 IEL), with most of his nine baskets coming on dunks. Nathan Hocking added 17 points, Kolton Mitchell 15 for the T-Wolves.
“Against a team like that, you can’t dig a 20-point hole,” Moscow coach Josh Uhrig said. “Our kids battled back, but we gave a really good team too many opportunities, and it’s a defense we just started working on yesterday. It was a modified 2-3 (zone), just trying to keep Mitchell from going off, and ideally keeping Blake from having anything at the rim. And we kept losing Blake, and he kept getting dunk after dunk.”
Freshman Cason Miller hit three 3s, including one at the first-quarter buzzer to give Lake City a 22-11 lead after one.
“I think the world of him,” Winger said. “He has spent as much time as anybody I’ve ever had, working on his game and shooting at school. It was nice to see it pay off. And he’s a great defender as well.
Bryden Brown hit five 3s and scored 18 points for 4A Moscow (11-7, 4-1), which came into the game leading the combined 4A/5A IEL. Jamari Simpson added 15 points, and Ian Hillman hit three 3s and scored 13 points for the Bears, who got it as close as 55-49 late in the third.
“Against Lake City, we were going to have to shoot the ball well,” Uhrig said. “And when we’re shooting like that, it opens stuff up at the rim. We were getting some stuff at the rim, because we knew they would challenge our 3s.”
“They made 10 (3s) on us in the summer,” Winger said, “so this was not some new thing. They can flat-out shoot it.”
“It was a fun game,” Uhrig said. “Lake City, they’ve got so many weapons, and that freshman kid (Miller), he hurt us in the first half. He hit some big shots in the first half, and we had to change what we were trying to do.”
Lake City returns to action Friday at home vs. Sandpoint.
Moscow 11 18 22 16 — 67
Lake City 22 19 18 23 — 82
MOSCOW — Kees 5, Simpson 15, Rehder 0, Isakson 2, Brown 18, Strong 10, C. Skinner 0, Z. Skinner 4, Hillman 13.
LAKE CITY — Buchanan 21, Strawn 3, Jones 2, Miller 9, Kisebuy 8, Hocking 17, Johnson 7. Mitchell 15.
Coeur d’Alene 75
Sandpoint 60
SANDPOINT — The visiting Vikings showed off its depth in a nonleague victory over the Bulldogs at Les Rogers Court.
The Vikings (12-4) had a rotation of about nine players on Saturday which made it difficult for Sandpoint (4-13) to defend all of their fresh bodies.
“Obviously our starters are all great players,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “But we have a deep team and everyone shared an even amount of minutes and that’ll tire out any team you go against.”
An example of Coeur d’Alene’s depth was shown through its leading scorer on Saturday, Tugg Wellsandt, a bench player who had 18 points, all of which came from beyond the arc.
“Every time they were rotating to the ball we just gave it to Tugg,” Adams said. “I was super impressed. None of his baskets even hit the rim; he was on fire.”
Sandpoint coach Brian Childs admitted that it was difficult for his guys to stay competitive with the Vikings’ rotation.
“This game really showed how deep of a team they are,” Childs said. “They’re rotating four new guys in at a time and that’s who they are, they’re a really good basketball team.”
During the first eight minutes it seemed as though Sandpoint may have had an opportunity to get an upset victory. The score was tied at 16. But Coeur d’Alene shut down all hope by going on a 22-2 run to end the second.
“We started putting on a lot of back-court pressure,” Adams said. “That changed the tempo a little bit and it made them rush shots a little bit.”
The Vikings also made the switch to a three-quarter-court press in the second which played a factor to the run.
According to Childs, this has been a common theme for the Bulldogs throughout the year, saying, “Once we start bleeding it’s hard for us to stop the bleeding.”
Adams was aware of how the Bulldogs score points, which is on second-chance baskets. So he had his defense preparing for that all week.
“We had guys going out, getting the rebound, and sticking to their lanes,” Adams said. “The kids were also just able to show great court vision.”
Jacob Eldridge paced Sandpoint with 14 points and Ethan Butler added 13.
For the Vikings, Steven Burgess reflected Wellsandt’s point total with 18 and Gunner Larson added 16.
On Wednesday, Coeur d’Alene plays host to Moscow and Sandpoint travels to Post Falls.
Coeur d’Alene 16 26 9 25 — 75
Sandpoint 16 5 12 14 — 50
COEUR d’ALENE — DeGraw 1, Entzi 1, King 0, Larson 9, Wellsandt 18, Nipp 4, Burgess 18, Orchard 8, Larson 16.
SANDPOINT — Johnson 0, Lee 6, Eldridge 14, VanDenBerg 2, Dunkel 0, Childs 9, Lane 6, Butler 13.
Lakeland 57
Post Falls 44
POST FALLS — Seniors Grant Roth, Abe Munyer and Bryce Henry took over in the fourth quarter of the IEL game as the visiting Hawks snapped a 27-game losing streak to the Trojans.
It was Lakeland’s first win over Post Falls since Jan. 25, 2001.
Roth (six points), Munyer (six) and Henry (four) combined for all but one of Lakeland’s points in the fourth quarter, which saw the Hawks (8-7, 3-2 IEL) outscore Post Falls 17-9.
Post Falls (3-15, 0-7) committed seven of its 14 turnovers in the fourth quarter.
“Credit to Lakeland, down the stretch, they really executed,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “Lakeland played very unselfishly; coach (Tony) Hanna had them prepared. Those seniors stepped up and closed it out.”
Roth hit two 3-pointers in the first quarter, and finished with 20 points. Munyer added 13 points, Henry 12. Those three combined to hit 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“Those three did what it takes to win a varsity game,” McLean said. “Lakeland hurt us by getting to the foul line, and getting to the paint.”
Jack Sciortino scored nine points for Post Falls, which plays host to Sandpoint on Wednesday.
Lakeland travels to Lewiston on Wednesday.
Lakeland 18 10 12 17 — 57
Post Falls 13 11 11 9 — 44
LAKELAND — Nowell 2, Rings 0, Henry 12, Munyer 13, Hocking 4, Roth 20, Haug 0, Loutzenhiser 0, Waddington 6, Pearson 0, Anderson 0.
POST FALLS — Sciortino 9, Naylor 2, Shields 4, McCarthy 8, VonBruck 3, Craig 6, Bowie 2, Blake 7, Butler 3, Cooper 0.
Timberlake 49
Genesis Prep 42
POST FALLS — Zach Yetter scored 22 points for the Tigers in a nonleague win over the Jaguars at The Courts at Real Life Ministries.
“He’s just a really tough player and sneaky quick,” Genesis Prep coach Lon Morast said. “Timberlake’s a well-coached team.”
Caleb Schroeder had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Genesis Prep (6-10), which hosts the Coeur d’Alene JV on Thursday.
Timberlake (6-9) hosts Kellogg on Friday.
Timberlake 8 20 4 17 — 49
Genesis Prep 14 9 10 9 — 42
TIMBERLAKE — Olivieri 4, Tay. Menti 9, Paslay 4, Yetter 22, Bangs 2, Higgins 8, Millsap 0, Borges 0, Tan. Menti 0.
GENESIS PREP — Schroeder 13, Russworm 9, McLuskie 9, Rubert 3, Specht 5, Snowder 3, Lewis 0, Young 0, Shinn 0, Daniels 0.
Kootenai at Nezperce, 1;
N.I. Christian 48
The Oaks 46
SPOKANE VALLEY — Senior Levi Grassi scored 20 points, including two free throws with 30 seconds left to give the Royals a one-point lead, and No. 2 seed North Idaho Christian held off top-seeded The Oaks in the championship game of the Mountain Christian League tournament at The Oaks.
Grassi also had eight assists and five steals for North Idaho Christian (23-7), which won its seventh straight MCL tourney title. Malachi Bullington added 13 points, 15 rebounds, five blocked shots and five assists.
“Just a rockfight; both teams played their hearts out,” fifth-year Royals coach Shawn Thompson said. “Just proud of our boys, their fight, and just grinding that game out.”
Cooper Christensen led The Oaks with 19 points.
N.I. Christian 11 9 11 17 — 48
The Oaks 7 19 9 11 — 46
NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Alliano 0, O’Brien 3, Dinkins 4, Heston 8, Grassi 20, Sakae 0, Bullington 13.
THE OAKS — J.L. Curran 4, Harken 8, J.M. Curran 0, Mattson 9, Krentel 9, Christensen 19.
Christ. Center 36
Spokane C.C. 33
SPOKANE — Colton Smith had 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Lions in a win over the Knights in the fifth-place game of the Mountain Christian League tournament at The Oaks Classical Christian Academy.
Tytus Barnhart had four steals and Devon Hansen nine points and six rebounds for Christian Center, which finished 9-9.
Nathan Kuntz scored 13 points for Spokane Classical Christian.
Christ. Center 5 16 0 15 — 36
Spokane C.C. 4 4 10 15 — 33
CHRISTIAN CENTER — Badgley 0, Smith 13, Hansen 9, Hamblin 0, McWhorter 5, Porter 7, Barnhart 2, Secrest 0, Stark 0.
SPOKANE CLASSICAL CHRISTIAN — Fowlkes 3, Bouck 2, Andrews 0, Kuntz 13, Hammond 2, Maguire 3, S. Timme 2, E. Timme 0, Piazza 6, Kalflan 0, Garvas 0.
