PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Lakeland to play for regional title

MOSCOW — Entering the night with just three wins on the season, the Lakeland Hawks hadn’t had much experience closing out games this year.

But when the Moscow Bears cut a 13-point Lakeland lead to one with 2 minutes left in a loser-out game Monday night in the 4A Region 1 tournament, the Hawks were able to hold off the home team and advance to the championship round.

“That was big for us,” Lakeland coach Tony Hanna said after the third-seeded Hawks beat second seed Moscow 61-56 at Bear Den. “We haven't been in a lot of those situations this year, playing with the lead and holding them off.”

Lakeland (4-16) plays at top-seeded Sandpoint (8-13) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series for the regional title and the region’s lone berth to state next week. Game 2 is Friday and Game 3, if necessary, is Saturday.

On Monday, Lakeland trailed Moscow 23-22 at halftime, then outscored the Bears 26-12 in the third quarter. Senior guard Scotty Hocking hit two of his three 3-pointers in the third quarter, and scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the period. Junior post Ben Ryan scored six of his nine points in the third quarter, senior Collin Cameron five of his 12 points, senior Nick Nowell four of his 10.

“I really wasn’t happy with our performance in the first half; I didn’t feel like we played as a team,” Hanna said of his offense. “Really, the message was, we have to use all our weapons, and play as a team. And other guys stepped up.”

Moscow, which lost its top two players (junior post Ian Hillman and senior guard Dylan Rehder) for the season to injuries in recent weeks, finished 8-13. Sophomore Grant Abendroth led the Bears with 13 points.

Lakeland and Sandpoint split their two meetings in Inland Empire League play — Sandpoint won 57-51 at Lakeland on Jan. 6, and Lakeland won 70-62 at Sandpoint on Jan. 20 in the Battle for the Paddle spirit game.

Though Sandpoint is the top seed, the winner of Wednesday’s game will host Friday’s game, and ditto Friday for Saturday, if necessary.

“I feel like we’re playing our best basketball right now,” Hanna said. “We have as good a shot as anybody; the good thing about Idaho is, it doesn’t matter what our record is. These guys have bought in, they want to go (to state).”

Lakeland 12 10 26 13 — 61

Moscow 9 14 12 21 — 56

LAKELAND — Nowell 10, Cameron 12, Ferguson 4, Ryan 9, Tebbe 0, Loutzenhiser 2, Hocking 23, Harris 0, Locke 1.

MOSCOW — Wilson 11, Reed 3, Cummings 8, Afatchao 0, Abendroth 13, Williams 6, C. Skinner 7, Izzo 4, Breese 2, Z. Skinner 2.

St. Maries 64

Priest River 35

ST. MARIES — After Priest River Spartans standout Tyler Engelson hit a 3-pointer and scored seven points as the Spartans jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead, St. Maries coach Bryan Chase called timeout.

“We just refocused on stuff we had talked about before the game that we weren’t doing,” Chase said.

Sufficiently focused, the top-seeded Lumberjacks took control of the game with their defense — and Greyson Sands’ 24 points didn’t hurt either as St. Maries ran away from the fifth-seeded Spartans in the semifinals of the 2A District 1-2 tournament Monday afternoon.

St. Maries (16-5) will play host to second-seeded Kellogg (16-6) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the district title game for a berth to state next week. The loser will have to win two more games, including a Saturday play-in game, to join them at state.

Sands made 5 of 7 3-pointers for the Lumberjacks, and Dillon Holder hit 3 of 7 from behind the arc, and added 15 points. Wyatt Holmes had nine points and eight rebounds, and Sands and Trace Wicks each had three steals.

St. Maries led 39-27 at halftime, then outscored Priest River 15-2 in the third quarter.

Engelson finished with 13 points for Priest River (8-13), which plays at Orofino (10-8) on Wednesday in a loser-out game.

On Saturday, Priest River 43-37 won at fourth-seeded Grangeville in a loser-out game.

Kellogg beat St. Maries 56-43 at home on Jan. 12. St. Maries beat the Wildcats at home 74-57 last Tuesday, needing to win by more than 13 points to earn the top seed to districts.

St. Maries has won eight straight district titles. Kellogg (and Priest River) dropped down from class 3A this year.

Priest River 14 13 2 6 — 35

St. Maries 21 18 15 10 — 64

PRIEST RIVER — Matthews 2, Butler 11, Stout 5, Marinello 0, T. Engelson 13, Korff 0, Hatten 0, Yount 4.

ST. MARIES — W. Holmes 9, Sands 24, Badgett 4, J. Barta 0, B. Barta 0, Yearout 0, Holder 15, Gustaffe 2, L. Holmes 0, Renner 3, Wicks 3, Sloper 1, Swallows 3, Hill 0, Smith 0.

Kellogg 51

Orofino 42

KELLOGG — As it turns out, there was a bank open in Kellogg on President’s Day after all.

Senior Bridger McLean banked in a 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining in the first half, giving the second-seeded Wildcats (16-6) their first lead in which they didn’t surrender in a win over the third-seeded Maniacs (10-8) in the semifinals of the 2A District 1-2 tournament at Andrews Gymnasium.

Senior Riply Luna scored 22 points, hitting 11 of 13 from the free-throw line for Kellogg, which advanced to the district championship game Wednesday at 6 p.m. at top-seeded St. Maries (16-5). Senior Kolby Luna added 18 on 4 of 7 from the 3-point line for the Wildcats.

Senior Joel Scott scored 16 points, sophomore Aiden Olive 13 for Orofino, which hosts fifth-seeded Priest River (8-13) on Wednesday in a loser-out game.

Orofino 15 9 3 15 — 42

Kellogg 9 16 10 16 — 51

OROFINO – H. Schneider 3, Drobish 0, Hudson 8, Scott 16, Naranjo 2, Olive 13.

KELLOGG – Miller 8, Whatcott 0, R. Luna 22, K. Luna 18, McLean 3, Maciosek 0, O’Neill 0, Robinson 0, Hendrix 0.