Bulldogs Can’t Slow Down Viks Cda Runs Away, 69-53 Over Sandpoint

Coeur d’Alene’s 69-53 victory over Sandpoint in an Inland Empire League boys basketball game Friday came down to aggressiveness vs. passiveness.

The Vikings, who have improved measurably since the start of the season, dined on the docile Bulldogs all night at Viking Gym.

Don’t be fooled by the final 16-point margin. The Viks could have won by more than 25, but they backed off considerably midway through the final period.

Now the Viks (2-2 in league, 3-12 overall) hope to make a sweep of their weekend IEL games tonight when they entertain Lewiston, a 55-50 winner over Post Falls on Friday.

“(Lewiston) is going to be the real test,” CdA coach Larry Bieber said. “Our goal is to be in shape so that when we face Lake City (next Friday) we’d be in position to be tied for the league lead.”

Sandpoint has retreated in all phases of its game since a league-opening win over Lewiston. The Bulldogs slipped to 1-3, 5-11.

Offensively and defensively, CdA played one of its better halves Friday. The Viks made 16 of 31 shots from the field in the first half as they raced to a 17-3 lead after the first quarter and extended it to 45-17 at halftime.

CdA hurt Sandpoint where its been most vulnerable in league; the Viks used a 1-3-1 halfcourt press and scored at least half their baskets in transition. The Bulldogs committed 15 turnovers in the first half, 11 in the first quarter.

And the players Sandpoint relies on the most for leadership and all-around play, seniors Brian Trenholm and Dallas Spielman, were ineffective during the critical opening quarters.

Trenholm picked up three fouls in the first quarter and had to sit out the final 9:04 of the half. He scored 16 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, 14 coming when the game was well decided in the fourth quarter. Spielman finished with six points.

Sandpoint coach Jack Dyck used a lengthy postgame session to challenge his Bulldogs to play with more pride.

“I’m at a loss; I don’t know what to say,” said Dyck, who’s been saying that often lately. “You’ve got to have a little bit of an attitude when you play basketball. We don’t have that right now. Basically, we’re giving the defense a chance to press for free. It’s very frustrating and it’s doubly frustrating when you can identify your weaknesses and can’t seem to improve on them.”

Several Vikings shared in the all-around solid effort.

All 13 Viks scored, led by the 13 points of Chris Pederson and 10 from freshman reserve Luke Adamen. CdA played without starting junior wing Jesse Hoorelbeke (bruised thigh).

Second-half play was nothing short of sloppy. A basket by Pederson with 4 minutes remaining in the game gave CdA its biggest lead at 65-33.

Bieber is especially pleased with his team’s shooting.

“We’re shooting a lot better now,” he said. “The kids coming off the bench are shooting the ball better now. We’ve really worked hard on transition. That’s where we’re starting to pick up our buckets now. Before, in our halfcourt offense, we could only generate 50 points per game.”

Coeur d’Alene 69, Sandpoint 53

Sandpoint 3 14 13 23 - 53 Coeur d’Alene 17 28 11 13 - 69

SANDPOINT Trenholm 19, Spielman 6, Buckmaster 2, Jeffres 5, Luce 2, Evans 3, Smith 0, Love 8, Leffler 0, Bouse 1, Bowman 2, Eller 5.

COEUR D’ALENE Coppess 9, Pederson 13, Adamen 10, Clute 4, Klassen 2, Corbeill 4, Hermstad 2, Fink 0, Davis 4, Stewart 8, Wild 9, Zimmerman 2, Doerr 2.

INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE

Priest River 66, Moscow 62, OT

Kyle York and Matt Rabe were 10 of 11 from the foul line in overtime as the visiting Spartans (3-2, 6-8) downed the Bears (2-3, 6-7).

York recorded four steals, five assists, 11 rebounds and 28 points. Rabe scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and OT.

Moscow 13 7 15 19 10 - 62 Priest River 11 13 16 12 14 - 66

MOSCOW Barnes 2, Miller 9, Walker 4, Johnson 8, Dudley 14, Lathan 0, Colbert 3, Keep 4, Pierce 6, Hudson 12.

PRIEST RIVER Score 6, York 28, Rabe 18, Schafer 4, Trost 4, Walters 0, Mohr 6.

NON-LEAGUE

Wallace 45, St. Maries 35

Matt Hegbloom scored 16 points and Ryan Nipp had eight rebounds to lead the visiting Miners past the Lumberjacks.

St. Maries shot just 3 of 22 from the field in the first half, and Wallace forced 24 turnovers.

Wallace 12 9 11 13 - 45 St. Maries 6 4 15 10 - 35

WALLACE Carlson 0, St. Peter 0, Stutzke 0, Heyn 4, O.Cotter 4, I.Cotter 10, Juelfs 0, Sprute 5, Nipp 6, Hegbloom 16.

ST. MARIES Bergquist 4, Craner 0, Shaw 3, Eberlin 0, Quigley 0, Holdahl 2, Spooner 3, Konkright 0, Weinmann 6, Arnett 2, Asbury 0, Dawson 2, Raebel 10, Brebner 3, Sindt 0.

Kootenai 84, Grand Forks (B.C.) 73

Dan Usdrowski had eight assists, 12 rebounds and 23 points to lift the visiting Warriors (5-5) past Grand Forks (7-7) in British Columbia.

Jon Chatfield had six assists and 17 rebounds for Kootenai, and the Warriors committed just 12 turnovers.

Kootenai 22 27 24 11 - 84 Grand Forks 21 17 9 26 - 73

KOOTENAI Derbyshire 9, Carlson 0, Chatfield 28, Renner 6, Usdrowski 23, Orr 3, Lamb 0, Greene 13, Reinhofer 2.

GRAND FORKS, B.C. Venhuis 7, Saini 8, Doucette 1, Shenstone 3, Demoskoff 12, Gill 7, Birch 4, Dunlop 12, Craig 13, Sharp 6, Painter 0, Zibin 0, Ip 0.