STATE 1A DIVISION 1 BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP: No repeat — Lakeside’s bid for second straight state title falls short as Lapwai avenges last year’s surprising loss

By MARK NELKE

Sports writer

NAMPA — The Lakeside Knights’ dreams of another stunner ended early on Saturday.

The Lapwai Wildcats made sure of that.

One year after Lakeside started strong and beat storied Lapwai in the 1A Division 1 championship game, denying the Wildcats a three-peat, Lapwai turned the tables with a strong start of its own and went on to beat the Knights 67-54 in the state title game at the Ford Idaho Center.

“They just wanted it more,” said Lakeside senior point guard Brutus SiJohn, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. “They had that fire that we had last year.”

“It felt weird; we started off the tournament good, but we weren’t hyped for today,” said sophomore Tyson Charley, Lakeside’s leading scorer. “Just weren’t ready, like we were the last two days. They came out more excited than us; they had more fire. They wanted it more.”

“It’s just tough to get back here,” said Lakeside coach James Twoteeth, who also coached the Knights to the state title in 2020, and played on Lakeside’s first state title team in 1997. “We had a great season; it’s hard to go back to back. I just have to tell them they had a great season, and keep your head up.”

Kase Wynott, who became the state’s all-time scoring leader earlier this season, scored 46 points for Lapwai (25-2), which matched Borah of Boise by winning its 13th state title.

And the Wildcats needed just about every one of them to hold off a Lakeside (18-4) squad which made a run at Lapwai in the third quarter.

“I thought about that loss (to Lakeside last year) every single day,” Wynott said. “And we wanted Lakeside (in the title game); we did not want Potlatch to beat them (in the semifinals). That was the message the entire year, man: Lakeside. We thought about Lakeside, getting ready for Lakeside. And now that it was here, we came out and smacked them in the mouth. We’re super happy.”

Last year, Lakeside jumped out to a 44-22 halftime lead, then held on for an 81-79 victory in overtime, snapping Lapwai’s 62-game winning streak.

This year, Lapwai (actually, Wynott) scored the game’s first six points, went up 10-2 and built the lead to 27-12 after Charley, who was guarding Wynott, picked up his third foul. 

Wynott had 23 points in the first half as Lapwai led 37-20 at intermission.

The Wildcats went up 44-22 early in the third quarter on a 3 by Wynott.

But Lakeside picked up the pressure with a half-court trap, and started inching closer.

The Knights pulled within nine with 6 minutes left on a spin move by senior Qwincy Hall, and had a chance to get closer, but a 3-point shot by Hall spun out.

Lapwai called timeout, started working the ball inside to Wynott and others rather than hosting up 3s, and were able to hold off the Knights. 

“It’s been a problem this year,” Twoteeth said of his team’s slow start. “We were complacent. After you win it, maybe you’re not so hungry as you once were, I guess. We were really hungry last year this year, I had to prod them a little bit. We’re a good team, but we can’t just show up and win.”

Charley, guarded by Wynott, finished with 11 points, roughly half his average.

“It was personal,” Wynott said. “I’m going to take him out of the game … he’s averaging a third, a fourth of their points. If I can take him out, it would be hard for them to win, for sure.”

Wynott was 13 of 29 from the field (5 of 13 from 3-point range), and 15 of 17 from the line. He scored inside and outside, on alley-oops as well. He did miss a couple dunks, so he is human.

“He’s just a great player; it was hard (guarding him),” Charley said. 

“It’s hard,” Twoteeth said of defending the 6-foot-5 Wynott, who has signed with Utah State. “He got to the line a lot. If we just looked at him or breathed, he was at the foul line. It’s tough to overcome that.”

A total of 41 fouls were called, 20 on Lakeside, and 51 free throws were shot, with Lapwai going 21 of 27 from the line, Lakeside 19 of 24.

Poor shooting kept Lakeside from getting it closer. The Knights shot 32.1% (17 of 53) from the field, including 1 of 12 from 3.

“Not getting out and running; not getting the steals like we were last year,” SiJohn attributed to the slow start. 

Ahlius Yearout, younger brother of former Lapwai star and current Idaho Vandal Titus Yearout, added 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats. Christopher Bohnee grabbed 10 rebounds as Lapwai out-rebounded Lakeside 40-25. No one else scored more than three points for Lapwai.

It was the third state title at Lapwai for fifth-year coach Zach Eastman, who wouldn’t go so far as to say last year’s loss to Lakeside was good for the Wildcats, but it did take some of the pressure off, and helped the team reflect and adjust.

“It (last year’s loss) definitely ate at us a lot,” Eastman said. “For me as a coach, it’s just a way to motivate them. It’s hard when you’re winning to find motivation all the time. Here, I had motivation all day, all summer. So it was really nice to have that motivation.”

Lakeside    8    12    21    13    —    54

Lapwai     17    20    18    12    —    67

LAKESIDE — Peone 2, SiJohn 17, Callahan 4, Hendrickx 6, Nomee 0, Hall 7, Jones 0, Spotted Horse 4, Kee 3, Charley 11. Totals 17-53 19-24 54.

LAPWAI — Barros 0, Payne 3, Hayes 2, Q. Kipp 0, V. Kipp 0, Bohnee 3, Yearout 13, Wynott 46. Totals 20-47 21-17 67.

    MARK NELKE/Press Lapwai senior Kase Wynott shoots over Lakeside sophomore Tyson Charley during Saturday's state 1A Division 1 championship game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
  

    MARK NELKE/Press Lakeside senior Liam Hendrickx drives to the basket as Ahlius Yearout (23) and Joseph Payne (2) of Lapwai defend on Saturday during the state 1A Division 1 championship game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
  

    MARK NELKE/Press Lakeside senior Blaze Callahan (4) looks for his shot as Quenten Kipp (10) and Christopher Bohnee (22) of Lapwai defend on Saturday during the state 1A Division 1 championship game at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
  

    MARK NELKE/Press Lakeside players and coaches watch as Lapwai celebrates after beating the Knights in the state 1A Division 1 boys basketball championship game Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.