PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Vikings bounce back, down Lewiston with late run

LEWISTON — To take the next step, sometimes you’ve got to experience a few setbacks.

After rallying from an eight-point deficit after three quarters, Coeur d’Alene got a jump on Tuesday.

Senior Alexander Nipp scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half, hitting a 3-pointer at the start of a 9-0 run to open the fourth quarter for the Vikings, who outscored the Lewiston Bengals 21-5 in the fourth quarter of a 57-49 Inland Empire League game at Lewiston High.

“Alexander hit a three, which is something he doesn’t normally do, and Carter Rupp hit one,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams, whose team trailed 44-36 after the third. “We just made some shots on got a lead. We were contesting shots, but they were making them early, but didn’t at the end.”

Steven Burgess went 7 for 7 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to close it out for Coeur d’Alene (10-4, 2-1 IEL), which had lost its previous two games.

“Winning in Lewiston is very tough,” Adams said. “Our ability to bounce back was key for us. It was nice to win that game on the road after losing two straight at home.”

Coeur d’Alene travels to Post Falls on Friday.

Karson Mader scored 13 for Lewiston (10-3, 3-1), which plays at Lake City on Friday.

Coeur d’Alene 10 17 9 21 — 57

Lewiston 7 26 11 5 — 49

COEUR d’ALENE — Larsen 2, Orchard 6, Nipp 17, Entzi 3, Rupp 11, McGraw 2, Burgess 9, Symons 7.

LEWISTON — Gomez 6, Way 8, Bramlet 11, Mader 13, White 6, Wren 4, D. Hottinger 1, Lawrence 0.

Lake City 75

Post Falls 43

COEUR d’ALENE — It’s a comforting feeling for Lake City, the top-ranked team in 5A, that when its shots aren’t falling, the Timberwolves have a Plan B that works just fine.

Lake City’s pressure defense — specifically, its full-court press — broke the game open in the second half, turning an eight-point lead midway through the third quarter into an IEL triumph over the visiting Trojans.

“We missed a lot we usually make (from 3-point range), but I kinda like how this game played out,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “There’s a lot of different ways this team can get after you. Today was the presses. They did a good job slowing it down early, and we wanted to speed it up, but what we were doing was speeding ourselves up on offense, and we didn’t run our stuff crisp.”

Blake Buchanan of Lake City (12-0, 2-0 IEL) led four players into double figures with 18 points. Nathan Hocking added 16 points, Reese Strawn three 3s and 12 points, Kolton Mitchell 10 points. Lake City hit nine 3s total.

Neil McCarthy, who led Post Falls (2-13, 0-3) with nine points, hit back-to-back baskets to pull the Trojans to within 41-33 in the third quarter.

But then Lake City picked up the pressure, particularly the full-court variety, with some half-court traps mixed in, hit a few open shots, and scored 30 of the game’s next 34 points for a 71-37 advantage with five minutes left.

“Coming in here, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “Lake City’s got all the makings for a really good team. We needed to take away their runouts — I think that’s the No. 1 thing they do that’s so special — and they got too many of those at the end of the third quarter. And we didn’t handle their pressure as well as I would have liked.”

Post Falls hung around early. Lake City tried to pull away in the first half, and settled for a 36-23 halftime lead. Tyras Blake hit a pair of 3-pointers to pull the Trojans within nine, and Post Falls was still within striking distance when Lake City changed the game with its defense.

“In the second half in particular, the kids executed the presses really well, then the game started rolling there.

“Blake had his 18, but the last few games Nathan’s played well, and Reese is shooting the ball well,” Winger said. “If we get other than our two leading scores (Mitchell and Buchanan) to score like that, we’re an extremely difficult matchup.”

“For three and a half quarters, I was very proud of my guys, to compete and battle,” McLean said. “I don’t need to tell anyone else; that team’s really good.”

For the second straight game, Lake City struggled from the free-throw line, hitting just 6 of 17 on Tuesday night.

On Friday, Post Falls plays host to Coeur d’Alene, and Lake City is home vs. Lewiston.

Post Falls 11 12 14 6 — 43

Lake City 18 18 22 17 — 75

POST FALLS — Anderson 0, Ostlund 2, McLean 3, McCarthy 9, Shields 7, Cameron 0, Craig 5, McKeown 2, Wolfe 2, Blake 8, Bowie 5, Carver 0.

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 18, Strawn 12, Hill 0, Miller 7, Kiesbuy 5, Johnson 7, Mitchell 10, Snow 0, Hocking 16.

Kellogg 72

Lakeland 62

KELLOGG — Senior Riply Luna scored 17 of his game-high 41 points in the second quarter to spark the Wildcats past the Hawks in a nonleague game at Andrews Gymnasium.

“Lakeland got out to a pretty quick start and hit a shot at the buzzer to go up after the first quarter,” Kellogg coach Mike Martin said. “And then Riply just kind of took over. We tightened up our defense and Rip really got it going and set the tone going into the second half.”

Riply Luna also had 10 rebounds for Kellogg (9-3), which has won five straight. Senior Kolby Luna had 13 points, five rebounds and four steals.

Kenton Ferguson scored 21 for Lakeland (2-10), which faces Sandpoint in the Battle for the Paddle spirit game on Friday at Les Rogers Court.

Lakeland 16 14 15 17 — 62

Kellogg 14 25 16 17 — 72

LAKELAND — Nowell 10, Cameron 6, Ferguson 21, Ryan 8, Tebbe 0, Rothrock 0, Loutzenhiser 2, Hocking 11, Hensley 0, Harris 4, Roth 0.

KELLOGG — Miller 0, Whatcott 2, R. Luna 41, K. Luna 13, McLean 9, Maciosek 4, O’Neill 0, Robinson 0, Hendrix 3.

Clark Fork 51

Mullan 25

MULLAN — Cole Sanroman scored 17 points for the Wampus Cats in a North Star League win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion.

Ethan Howard scored nine for Clark Fork (6-5, 2-0 NSL), which plays at Kootenai on Thursday.

“Clark Fork completely took away everything we wanted to do on offense,” Mullan coach Paul Elston said. “They were pretty much able to do anything they wanted to on defense.”

Floyd Nelson scored seven for Mullan (5-6, 1-2), which faces Genesis Prep at The Courts in Post Falls on Thursday.

Clark Fork 15 11 16 9 — 51

Mullan 8 5 8 4 — 25

CLARK FORK — W. Caven 2, Ch. Sanroman 5, Co. Sanroman 17, Stevens 0, Matteson 0, E. Howard 9, Bailey 0, Mintken 0, Montgomery 2, O. Howard 5, S. Caven 2, Shelton 7, Christofferson 2.

MULLAN — Nelson 7, Trogden 3, A. Zingler 5, T. Zingler 4, S. Petit 2, L. Petit 2, Appiah 2, Rupp Connors 0, Acheson 0, Imes 0, Knoll 0, Ayers 0.