STATE 5A BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Lake City fends off Madison, on to state title game

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

NAMPA — It was their toughest game of the year — on the court and on the scoreboard.

But when it was over, the Lake City Timberwolves had fought off another team with a history against them, and was back in the state 5A finals for the second time in three years.

The Madison Bobcats of Rexburg wouldn’t go away, but Lake City was able to fend them off down the stretch for a 58-49 semifinal victory Friday afternoon at the Ford Idaho Center.

“It’s a great feeling; that was a hard-fought win. Madison’s a great team,” said Lake City senior Blake Buchanan, who finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

Lake City (25-0), on a bit of a revenge tour after being upset in the first round at state last year, plays for its first state title in school history tonight, facing Meridian (16-11) at 7 PST.

Meridian beat Lake City in the title game two years ago.

“We’re on a mission,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “I thought today’s game was great for us. We were tested. I knew Madison would play great, No. 0 (sophomore guard Nash Humpherys, who hit five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 19 points), I’m a big fan of his. The thing was, ‘He gets no 3s,’ well that’s real easy to say, but when he’s that far out, and you’ve got to recover, that’s a tough guard, and he’s a great player.”

Lake City beat Meridian 81-56 at home in December, but Winger said the Warriors are "a whole different team right now. They're shooting it well.

"It's kinda weird how tournaments work, with all the storylines," he added. "I think it gives us a little more motivation."

Lake City had four players in double figures. Kolton Mitchell led the way with 17 points and six rebounds, Nathan Hocking had 12 points, Zach Johnson 10 points and six boards.

It was Lake City’s closest game of the season. The T-Wolves, who entered state with a winning margin of 30.6 points, and their previous closest game was a 12-point win at Curtis, last year’s Washington 4A champs.

Friday’s game was as physical as any Lake City had played all year — and that’s the way games are called at state.

“Madison set the tone early,” Buchanan said. “We’re not used to playing that physical up north, so we kinda had to adjust to it.”

“A physical game? I personally love those,” Johnson said. “We knew it was going to be a tough game. We’ve got a huge bulls' eye on our back. And we just knew we were going to have to deal with adversity. Teams are going to make runs; how well can you handle it? We handled it pretty well; held them off.”

Lake City opened up a 28-17 lead late in the second quarter, but Madison (19-7), with five new starters (four juniors and a sophomore) from last year’s team that beat Lake City for the consolation championship, finished on a 9-1 run to trim the T-Wolf lead to 29-26 at the half.

Lake City got the lead up to 44-35 late in the third. Madison got it to within five late in the game, a follow by Hocking and a three-point play by Mitchell helped seal it. Earlier, sophomore Cason Miller answered a scoop layin by Humpherys that got the Madison fans going, by drilling a 3 from the right corner a second later.

“He doesn’t always get a ton of minutes, but that was a big shot,” Winger said.

“Our role guys, we trust them,” Johnson said. “When they’re open, we get them the ball, and we trust them to make the open shot.”

Humpherys helped keep Madison close, hitting 5 of 13 3s. Camden Allred added three 3s and the Bobcats finished 9 of 22 from deep. Madison also made nine two-point shots and only had five turnovers.

“I thought we showed some courage, I thought we showed some guts,” Winger said. “Defensively, pretty good, gave up too many 3s, but they earned them. Any time they needed a big shot, they got it. And it wasn’t like we were nowhere to be found, that kid (Humpherys) was making it from out there.

“It feels great, but there’s one more. The one you want’s tomorrow.”

“Credit to them, they played hard, and they rebound for their size well,” Winger added. “I did not expect a cakewalk whatsoever, I knew it was going to be a war. And I think it’ll help us for tomorrow, we had to gut it up down the stretch.”

“There’s no moral victories; we’re not into moral victories, but I’m proud of our guys, and how hard they played,” Madison coach Shane Humpherys said. “A lot of teams roll when Lake City gets up on you 12, and have all the momentum, but we kept fighting.”

Madison tried to test Buchanan, and he had the seven blocks.

“It’s pretty nice to know, somebody gets by you … OK, good luck,” Johnson said. “He’s a nice rim protector; I think it makes teams think twice when they’re driving the basketball.”

Madison 13 13 12 11 — 49

Lake City 14 15 15 14 — 58

MADISON — Humpherys 19, Lerwill 0, Crane 0, Br. Wilson 2, Allred 9, Be. Wilson 14, Watson 5. Totals 18-46 4-6 49.

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 11, Strawn 0, Miller 3, Kiesbuy 5, Johnson 10, Mitchell 17, Hocking 12. Totals 21-39 12-17 58.