PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Coeur d'Alene clinches league title
LEWISTON — Junior Carter Rupp hit five 3-pointers and poured in 28 points as the Coeur d’Alene Vikings wrapped up their first outright league title in 10 seasons, beating the Lewiston Bengals 70-61 in Inland Empire League play Tuesday night.
Coeur d’Alene (16-3, 7-0 IEL) won the 5A IEL crown outright in 2014. The Vikings shared the 5A IEL title with Lewiston and Post Falls in 2016.
“The kids are pretty excited, when we sat down before the season and talked about season goals, winning the league outright was the first goal, and we checked that off,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “I'm proud of these kids; we’re pretty laser-focused on what we’re trying to achieve.”
Rupp hit four of his 3s and scored 13 points in the third quarter for Coeur d’Alene.
“Carter, boy, when he’s on, and defenses lose him, he is such a weapon,” Adams said. “Hat’s off to Logan (Orchard) and others for finding him.”
Gunner Larson and Kai Wheeler each scored 12 points for Coeur d’Alene, and Wheeler drew praise from Adams for holding Lewiston post Drew Hottinger to two points.
Jordan Bramlet hit four 3s and scored 28 points for Lewiston (11-7, 3-4), and Rylan Gomez added 16.
Adams did not make the trip to Lewiston, having thrown out his back on Monday. Assistant Arnold Brown was the acting head coach. Adams watched the game from home via the internet.
“Hat’s off to Arnold,” Adams said. “I have full confidence in him taking the team down there and winning a road game.”
Coeur d’Alene is idle until playing host to Lakeland on Feb. 9.
Coeur d’Alene 19 11 21 19 — 70
Lewiston 11 14 15 21 — 61
COEUR d’ALENE — Larson 12, Orchard 7, Rupp 28, Entzi 4, Wheeler 12, Symons 7, Nipp 0, Riley 0.
LEWISTON — Gomez 16, Bramlet 28, Walker 0, Fisher 12, Hottinger 2, Hepburn 3.
Lake City 62
Post Falls 51
COEUR d’ALENE — Junior Reese Strawn scored 25 points and the host Timberwolves jumped out to the early lead and held it the rest of the way in the Inland Empire League victory over the Trojans.
“The last game they got off to a real fast start,” and we were playing from behind,” said Lake City coach James Anderson, whose squad lost 72-58 at Post Falls on Jan. 16. “We were able to jump on them earlier this time, and stay in the lead. It’s an easier place to play from against them.”
Sophomore Josh Watson added 12 points and nine rebounds for Lake City (10-7, 2-3 IEL).
“Josh had some really good rolls, and rim runs, and established the paint,” Anderson said. “I thought Reese and Cason (Miller, who had three steals) were phenomenal; both played great floor games tonight.”
Alex Shields scored 18 points, Neil McCarthy 15 for Post Falls (11-7, 3-4), which plays host to Lakeland on Saturday.
Post Falls 13 11 11 16 — 51
Lake City 18 12 18 14 — 62
POST FALLS — Lysne 4, McLean 5, McCarthy 15, Cameron 0, McKeown 0, Carver 7, Blake 2, Shields 18.
LAKE CITY — Parker 3, Winey 3, Strawn 25, Miller 5, Watson 12, Kloos 5, Arrietta 6, Williams 0, Meredith 3, Carlson 3.
Bonners Ferry 86
Lakeland 53
RATHDRUM — The visiting Badgers, ranked No. 2 in 3A this week by the state’s media, got nine 3-pointers from five different players, and rolled past the Hawks on senior night at Hawk Court.
Junior Asher Williams made four 3s and scored 22 points for Bonners Ferry (15-3).
“They shot it really well, right from the get-go, and it came from a lot of different areas,” Lakeland coach Tony Hanna said. “They just play super unselfish, make the extra pass, and shoot the ball well. It wasn’t fun to watch tonight because it was against us, but if I was watching them play any other basketball team, they would be fun to watch.”
Junior Mason Hensley led Lakeland with 10 points.
The Hawks started all four seniors, including Toby Tebbe, who suffered a season-ending broken leg in the fourth game of the season. He stood on the court for the opening tip, then was subbed out immediately after the tip.
4A Lakeland closes out the regular season with four straight road games vs. 5A IEL opponents, beginning Saturday at Post Falls.
Bonners Ferry 24 19 25 18 — 86
Lakeland 10 10 24 9 — 53
BONNERS FERRY — Jiminez 0, Blackmore 0, Rice 7, Smith 3, Hinthorn 5, Williams 22, Th. Bateman 17, Tr. Bateman 14, Abubakari 8.
LAKELAND — Norce 7, Hensley 10, Ferguson 0, Ryan 8, Tebbe 0, Varner 6, Weil 6, Cook 0, Hillman 7, Carrel 2, Harris 1, Yager 6.
St. Maries 60
Kellogg 46
ST. MARIES — Senior Wyatt Holmes scored 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, finishing with 11 rebounds and five blocked shots as the Lumberjacks remained unbeaten in the Central Idaho League, beating the Wildcats at St. Maries High.
“Our defense was way better in the second half,” said St. Maries coach Bryan Chase, whose team trailed 27-22 at halftime before outscoring Kellogg 24-8 in the third quarter. “We did a better job getting out on their shooters and closing out the game.”
Sophomore JJ Yearout had 12 points and four steals and senior Seth Swallows five points, eight rebounds and five assists for St. Maries (8-5, 4-0 CIL), which travels to Orofino on Thursday.
Senior Reed Whatcott scored 11 of his 16 points in the first half for Kellogg (6-12, 3-4), which plays at Wallace on Feb. 9.
Kellogg 13 14 8 11 — 46
St. Maries 7 15 24 14 — 60
KELLOGG — Robinson 14, Whatcott 16, Coburn 4, Taylor 6, Blalack 4, Lewis 2, McDonald 0, Cheney 0.
ST. MARIES — W. Holmes 13, Garcia 3, J. Barta 6, Yearout 12, Gustaffe 2, B. Barta 0, L. Holmes 0, Defoort 8, Sloper 11, Swallows 5.
Lakeside 81
Wallace 25
PLUMMER — Senior Brutis SiJohn scored 18 points for the Knights in a Scenic Idaho Conference win over the Miners at Ron Miller Court.
Sophomore Tyson Charley scored 16 points and senior Liam Hendrickx scored 15 points for Lakeside (10-2, 3-0 SIC), which travels to Clark Fork on Friday.
Senior Stephen Paul scored 11 points for Wallace (3-9, 1-2), which travels to Timberlake on Monday.
Wallace 4 9 5 7 — 25
Lakeside 22 10 27 22 — 81
WALLACE — Stutzke 0, Sabala 0, Larson 0, Therrian 0, Myles 2, Anderson 0, Guardipee 4, Davis 5, Paul 11, Williams 0, Cleveland 3.
LAKESIDE — Peone 0, SiJohn 18, Callahan 6, Hendrickx 15, Nomee 4, Hall 8, Jones 4, Spotted Horse 0, Kee 10, Charley 16.
Priest River JV 57
Kootenai 41
HARRISON FLATS — Ayson Simcox scored 18 points, Nate Stifel 17 as the visiting Spartan junior varsity defeated the Warriors varsity.
Chris Moore scored a game-high 21 points for Kootenai (1-8), and Simon Hodges added 10.
“The boys are playing hard, super hard. I believe they have accepted the fact defense wins games,” Kootenai coach Tom Tucker. “But not tonight. We were playing a much bigger team with a large rotation of talented players coming off the bench.”
Tucker said freshman Logan Strobel stepped up at both ends of the floor, and 5-foot-11 senior Dillan Unger “grew into a man tonight. He played against a 6-5 center and stood his ground and was solid. He never backed down and had his best game. Cheers to all my hard working boys tonight; we are all proud of them.”
Kootenai plays host to Clark Fork on Thursday in North Star League play.
Priest River JV 13 18 10 16 — 57
Kootenai 9 5 15 12 — 41
PRIEST RIVER JV — Simcox 18, Berns 0, Aekiey 0, Bauds 4, Knaack 0, Smith 7, Legen 5, Stifel 17, White 4, Rainwater 2, Strange 0.
KOOTENAI — Addington 2, Braz 0, Derry 0, Strobel 8, C. Moore 21, Hodges 10, Unger 0.
St. Regis JV 44
Mullan 27
ST. REGIS, Mont. — Junior Talan Rupp Connors had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Mullan Tigers in the loss to the St. Regis Tigers junior varsity.
Stephen Petit had 11 points, six rebounds and three steals, and Colten Imes had 10 rebounds for Mullan (1-11), which was outscored 25-10 in the second half.
“The second half we had some really good looks, and they just didn’t go down,” Mullan coach Paul Elston said.
Mullan plays host to the Timberlake “C” team on Thursday.
Mullan 5 12 4 6 — 27
St. Regis JV 12 7 12 13 — 44
MULLAN — Rupp Connors 11, S. Petit 11, Imes 2, Appiah 3, Calvert 0, Ayers 0, Knoll 9.
ST. REGIS JV — Thomas 0, Todd 0, Jimkins 2, Bush 5, Todd 12, Stolla 9, Bollen 2, McCoy 0, Boh 14.
N.I. Christian 63
Kootenai Thunder 30
LIBERTY LAKE — Senior Caden Smith had 27 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists and one steal for the Royals in a Mountain Christian League win over Kootenai Thunder at the HUB Sports Center.
Senior Ethan Antone had 10 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four steals for North Idaho Christian (13-7, 10-4 MCL), which is scheduled to face Immaculate Conception on Monday.
Senior Jude Beck scored 12 points for Kootenai Thunder (3-13, 2-11).
Kootenai Thunder 6 4 8 12 — 30
N.I. Christian 12 20 15 16 — 63
KOOTENAI THUNDER — Palmer 0, Manning 4, J. Beck 12, P. Beck 8, Peterson 6, Myles 0.
NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Smith 27, Scott 8, Winde 2, Ca. Malinauskas 6, Antone 10, Co. Malinauskas 7, Finney 3.
Coeur du Christ 68
Christian Center 36
COEUR d’ALENE — Junior Ben Connelly scored 30 points for the Saints in a nonleague win over the Lions at the Boys and Girls Club of Coeur d’Alene.
Sophomore Greg Hayes scored 11 points for Coeur du Christ, which faces Kootenai on Friday.
Freshman Cyrus Coppinger scored 10 points for Christian Center (9-9), which faces Spokane Athletic Co-Op on Monday at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake.
Coeur du Christ 19 17 21 11 — 68
Christian Center 13 12 7 4 — 36
COEUR du CHRIST — P. Schlader 9, S. Hayes 2, Connelly 30, G. Hayes 11, A. Urbina 0, Kenner 0, T. Schlader 10, Denke 2, J. Urbina 0, O’Neill 4.
CHRISTIAN CENTER — Jones 4, Tesky 4, Coppinger 10, McWhorter 9, Marshall 3, Cotton 6, Sperling 0, Mametiff 0, Paulson 0, Siers 0.