STATE 2A BOYS SEMIFINALS: Not their Knight ... Slow start stops Lakeside's run of two straight championship game appearances with loss to Kamiah

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

CALDWELL — At some point, Lakeside boys basketball coach James Twoteeth knew that the magic was going to run out on his Knights squad.

Unfortunately, it came a night earlier than expected.

Top-seeded Kamiah jumped out to a 10-0 lead within the first three minutes, then limited the fourth-seeded Knights to 18-of-65 shooting in a 69-51 win in the state 2A boys basketball semifinals at Vallivue High.

Lakeside (16-6), which had advanced to the championship game in each of the past two years, winning the 1A Division I (now 2A) title in 2023, will face seventh-seeded Grace (13-14) in the third-place game today at 11 a.m. PST at Vallivue.

“These late games, they were a real adjustment for us,” Twoteeth said. “We’ve never had a late game. We’ve always been in the morning, and kind of hard to get used to. We just weren’t ready to play today. We knew we had to have energy when we came out, and even in warmups I could see that something was off.”

Kamiah (23-2) will face district rival Kendrick (19-7), which upset the Kubs in the District 2 championship game, for the 2A title today at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Junior Hallah Peone had 23 points and seven rebounds for Lakeside.

“They jumped on us fast,” Peone said. “They were just really fast to the ball. We started too slow tonight.”

Lakeside opened the second half on a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to 44-31 before Kamiah pulled away again.

“We came out a little nonchalant,” Twoteeth said. “And I told them they’re going to jump on us, and they did.”

Peone scored 30 points in Lakeside’s opening-round win on Thursday against Riverstone. Junior Tyson Charley had 13 points and six rebounds for the Knights on Friday.

“Hallah’s a tough performer and kid,” Twoteeth said. “He stepped up so much this year. From a sophomore to having 100% confidence this year. It’s just maturing into his body.”

David Kludt, who has signed to play basketball at NAIA College of Idaho in Caldwell, had 13 points and 16 rebounds for Kamiah, which shot 11 of 27 from the 3-point line, including 7 of 16 in the first half.

“We’ve got an energy level that we’ve been playing with since our district loss to Kendrick,” Kamiah coach Andy Skinner said. “We started hot and we don’t cool off. I don’t want to take the gas off because our guys can get complacent.”

“They were being real physical,” Twoteeth said. “When we don’t get those calls, we tend to get down on ourselves and can’t play through it. We’re a little small with our guards, and I knew that.”

Kamiah beat Lakeside 66-55 on Dec. 7 in Kamiah.

“Peone and Charley are a load to deal with,” Skinner said. “The way Peone can take you on the dribble-drive and spin in the lane, he knows how to finish. Charley is a strong, physical kid. You try to put your best play on him, but they’re some serious challenges with how they play ball.”

Lakeside was bidding for its fourth appearance in a title game since 2020, also winning the 1A Division II (now 1A) title that season.

“I think they’re disappointed they lost tonight, but I told them it’s building blocks,” Twoteeth said. “You can’t become champions overnight. It takes time and I told those juniors it starts the first day of practice. I told them they can still salvage this.”

Lakeside played its five starters — Peone, Furyus Louie, Preston SpottedHorse, Charley and Jadin Pluff — a majority of the game, with each notching at least 28 minutes.

“I’m proud of what they accomplished this year,” Twoteeth said. “To be honest, we would have been really lucky to have made it to the finals. It doesn’t happen that way all the time. I knew it was going to run out at some point. I run them pretty hard and barely have a sixth man.”

Lakeside    9    17    12    13    —    51

Kamiah    26    18    9    16    —   69

LAKESIDE — Peone 23, Louie 4, Falcon 0, Greensky 0, Abuan 0, Ironcloud 0, Samuels 0, SpottedHorse 7, Charley 13, Pluff 4. Totals 18-65 7-28 51.

KAMIAH — Roberts 0, Crowe 17, M. Oatman 14, Engledow 0, E. Oatman 10, Kludt 13, Skinner 0, Landmark 15, Keen 0, Wimer 0. Totals 26-53 6-9 69. 

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Lakeside guard Preston SpottedHorse attempts to get to the basket during the second half of Friday's state 2A boys basketball semifinal game against Kamiah at Vallivue High in Caldwell.