STATE 5A BOYS SEMIFINALS: Shot to the gut — Coeur d’Alene suffers heartbreaking loss in semis as Timberline hits game-winning 3 in closing seconds

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

NAMPA — It was theirs, and then it wasn’t.

Twice.

The Coeur d’Alene Vikings did about all they could to reach their first title game since 2008 on Friday night.

But the Timberline Wolves hit a deep 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to force overtime, then, trailing by one point late in overtime, hit another clutch 3 with 6 seconds left to stun the Vikings 60-58 in a state 5A semifinal at the Ford Idaho Center.

“We had it … it was one shot,” Coeur d’Alene senior Logan Orchard said, referring to the game-winner. “I don’t know… they hit huge shots down the stretch.

“It just sucks. It just sucks,” added Orchard, who scored a game-high 24 points.

“It was just a good shot; hat’s off to him,” said Viking junior forward Kai Wheeler, who finished with six points and nine rebounds.

“They hit shots when contested,” fourth-year Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “There’s nothing you can do about it, when you play right, you play with effort … they hit a couple of shots. They hit big shots when it counted.”

Second-seeded Coeur d’Alene (21-4) will try to bounce back today, when the Vikings face fourth seed Madison (23-3) of Rexburg in the third-place game at 11 a.m. PST at Ridgevue High in Nampa.

Third-seeded Timberline (22-4) advanced to the state title game for the first time since 2000 (and only the second time ever), and will face top-seeded and 2022 champ Owyhee (23-3) of Meridian tonight at 7 PST at the Idaho Center.

Junior Carter Rupp added 13 points, senior Max Entzi 10 for Coeur d’Alene, which led for much of the game.

Orchard had six points as the Vikings jumped out to an 8-2 lead. The Wolves led 13-12 at the quarter, but Coeur d’Alene started the second quarter on a 14-3 run, capped by a 3 by Orchard from the top of the key, for a 26-16 lead with 2 and a half minutes left in the half.

Timberline pulled within 28-23 at the half, but Coeur d’Alene maintained a two- to three-possession lead, and was up 40-32 early in the fourth.

But Timberline answered with a 10-0 run, capped by a 3 from Kole Hudson, for a 42-40 lead with 4:20 left.

The game was a thriller the rest of the way.

Coeur d’Alene took the lead three times in the next three minutes, and looked like it had made the defensive play of the game when the Vikings forced the Wolves into three missed shots on one possession. The third try was blocked, Orchard rebounded and was fouled. He hit both free throws with 18.2 seconds left to make it 49-46 Vikings.

But Timberline senior point guard Reece Elder, a left-hander, rose up and hit a deep 3 from the right wing with 2.1 seconds left to tie it.

The Vikings were unable to get off a desperation shot before the buzzer.

In the extra four-minute period, Entzi hit a couple free throws, then stole the ball at midcourt and drove for a layup and a 56-54 lead with 1:51 left.

Timberline junior Alex Ko answered with a 3 for a 57-56 Timberline lead with 1:32 left.

Rupp was fouled and hit two free throws with 1:16 remaining to put the Viks back up front 58-57.

Timberline missed a fallaway baseline jumper and Wheeler rebounded, but Coeur d’Alene turned the ball over with 22.3 seconds left.

On the final play, Elder said the Wolves tried to get the ball inside to one of their posts. That wasn’t open, so Elder, to the left of the top of the key, spun and whipped a pass to the right wing to Ko, who drilled a deep, contested 3 with 6 seconds left.

Out of timeouts, Coeur d’Alene rushed the ball up the court, but a desperation 25-footer fell short at the buzzer.

“I had the ball; I just had to make a play,” said Ko, who finished with 19 points. 

Adams said the Vikings had the play defended well.

“He just hit it,” Adams said. “He just hit it.”

Timberline finished 8 of 16 from 3, and most seemed huge, including a contested 3 at the end of the first half, and a banked-in 3 early in overtime from Elder, who was 3 of 5 from deep and finished with 18 points despite hobbling off the court several times with ankle issues.

“They’re a tough team,” sixth-year Timberline coach Travis Noble said of Coeur d’Alene. “They’ve got a lot of size; they’re physical; they run good stuff, they make you guard, 2 (Rupp) can shoot it really well, 1 (Orchard) had a great game tonight, he made some really tough shots. And they are physical; this was one of the more physical games we’ve played. They just made us work on offense as well. We struggled at times to figure out what we wanted to do offensively, but they played a great game.”

Adams had nothing but praise for his players afterward.

“I told the kids in the locker room, all a coach can do is hope the kids he is handed, he develops them as a team, and they play at their highest potential,” Adams said. “Gets the maximum ability out of that team, that group of players.

“I said it hurts now, but what they’ve done, to put Coeur d’Alene basketball back on the map … to play that style, to develop that style and set a standard for how we go forward. To have all these underclassmen there to see it, to watch what it takes — the dedication, the effort, the sacrifice, the struggle. They’ve set the blueprint for it.”

Timberline    13    10    9    17    11    —    60

Coeur d’Alene    12    16    10    11    9    —    58

TIMBERLINE — R. Elder 18, Stands 0, Huegerich 0, B. Elder 2, Buehler 0, Hudson 6, Ko 19, Heinz 11, Heyne 4. Totals 21-43 10-15 60.

COEUR d’ALENE — Larson 0, Orchard 24, Rupp 13, Nipp 0, Entzi 10, Wheeler 6, Symons 5. Totals 21-40 13-18 58.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Coeur d'Alene junior forward Kai Wheeler puts up a shot during the second half of Friday's state 5A boys basketball semifinal game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
  

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Coeur d'Alene High senior Max Entzi walks off the court following the Vikings' 60-58 loss to Timberline High of Boise in the state 5A boys basketball semifinals at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa on Friday. Coeur d'Alene will face Madison today in the third-place game at Ridgevue High in Nampa.