STATE 5A BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Lake City falls to Madison in consolation title game

By MARK NELKE

Sports writer

NAMPA — A terrific season ended on a down note for the Lake City Timberwolves on Saturday morning.

The top-seeded T-Wolves started strong, leading by 14 points after the first quarter before ultimately falling to the third-seeded Madison Bobcats of Rexburg 55-51 in the consolation championship game of the state 5A boys basketball tournament at Columbia High.

Lake City (23-3) came in as one of the pre-tourney favorites, but was upset by No. 8 Centennial in the first round. The Timberwolves bounced back with an impressive win over No. 4 Eagle on Friday, before falling to a senior-laden Madison squad with a trophy on the line.

“It’s disappointing to go 1-2 down here, but I told the kids afterwards, they had a heckuva run; we just didn’t shoot the ball well,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “The last two days, after the opening round loss, our heads were up, and our attitudes were great. We showed a lot of character battling, but I think it just boils down to 3 for 20 (from 3-point range vs. the Bobcats) and 6 for 11 (from the free-throw line) and 18 for 35 (from 2). That’s just too bad, because we’re a good shooting team. Our shooting numbers are outstanding, but for a large part of the tournament we did not shoot the ball worth a darn.”

Blake Buchanan scored 10 of his 19 points in the first quarter for Lake City, and he also had six rebounds and three blocked shots. Nathan Hocking and Zach Johnson added 10 points each, and Kolton Mitchell had eight points, six rebounds and three assists.

On Friday, Lake City scored in four seconds off the opening tip. On Saturday, the T-Wolves did it in two-plus seconds, Buchanan tipping to Mitchell who fed ahead to Hocking for the dunk.

Lake City flew around and dominated the first quarter.

Madison (20-6) then dominated the second quarter, outscoring the T-Wolves 23-5 for a 31-27 halftime lead. Isaac Wilson, one of four senior starters for the Bobcats, had eight of his 18 points in that quarter and Logan Crane, another senior, had eight of his 15 in that quarter.

“I think our defense and our poise got us back into this game,” first-year Madison coach Shane Humpherys said. “We started running our sets. I told the guys, trust your sets, they’ll work. We were a little more patient on offense, and we trusted our sets. We started throwing zone in, and that really helped us. I felt like mixing it up just helped them (the T-Wolves) get out of rhythm.”

“The first quarter was our run, the second quarter was their run, and then it was just a war after that,” Winger said. “And then we went cold.”

Madison, which lost to No. 6 Meridian and beat No. 7 Mountain View earlier in the tournament, took the lead for good on a three-point play by Crane with 2:52 left. That put the Bobcats up 45-42, and Madison made 8 of 9 free throws the rest of the way.

“That’s the way life goes sometimes,” said Lake City senior guard Miles Jones, one of just three seniors on the team, and the lone senior starter. “You have to keep your head up, you’ve got to move forward. This team’s loaded with talent and they’re all coming back next year, and I have all the faith in the world they’re going to be right where they want to be next year.”

Winger had praise for Jones, who finished with nine rebounds and four assists — both team highs.

“Behind the scenes, the leadership of this guy has been a big part of the success of this team,” Winger said. “I think the world of him; he’s one of the best (team captains) we’ve ever had here.”

“it just meant everything,” Jones said of being a part of this team. “I was just so happy to be a part of it all. I love these guys to death; my brothers, my family. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

For a 10 a.m. non-title game, the atmosphere was festive and loud. Lake City traveled well, and Madison, as usual, all but emptied the town of Rexburg for the event.

“It’s a national holiday for Rexburg,” Humpherys said with a laugh.

More seriously, Humpherys, handed the microphone after the game for the trophy presentation, praised the Timberwolves for their class. He also did so later in a media interview.

“Not only that, after a tough loss, a lot of guys, they won’t look at you when they shake your hand,” Humpherys said. “Every single one of them (from Lake City) looked me in the eye and told me ‘Good job.’ I thought that was really, really cool.”

Madison 8 23 7 17 — 55

Lake City 22 5 11 13 — 51

MADISON — L. Crane 15, Hathaway 4, C. Crane 0, I. Sutton 13, R. Sutton 3, I Wilson 18, Be. Wilson 2, Young 0, Williams 0. Totals 20-44 11-13 55.

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 19, Strawn 2, Jones 2, Miller 0, Kiesbuy 0, Hocking 10, Z. Johnson 10, Mitchell 8. Totals 21-55 6-11 51.