Lakeside Goes Cold, Plays For 3rd

Lakeside coach Kevin Mulligan said his Eagles have had trouble kick-starting their offense after halftime all season long.

Friday night in the semifinals of the boys State A high school basketball tournament was no different. Lakeside trailed by just three at halftime, but missed its first six shots of the third quarter.

“It’s been our Achilles’ heel most of the season,” Mulligan said.

Zillah took advantage of this flaw in Lakeside’s game on its way to a 55-43 win in the Tacoma Dome. The Leopards (24-2) advance to the state championship game against La Center (23-1), which beat Omak 56-37 in the other semifinal. Lakeside (20-8) faces Omak (19-9) at 12:30 p.m. today for third and sixth places.

Lakeside went nearly 4 minutes in the third quarter before Ben Springer scored the Eagles’ first points of the half. By that time, Zillah, sparked by five points from Erick Nelson, had built an 11-point advantage.

“They handled the ball a lot better than we’ve seen,” Mulligan said. “We thought if we went to man (defense) we could get them to turn it over.” Lakeside did force 16 Zillah turnovers, but just five came in the second half.

The Eagles closed to within 38-31 at the end of the third, but their offense disappeared again. Lakeside missed five of its first six shots in the fourth quarter. The Eagles made just 8 of 29 shots in the second half.

“I wouldn’t call it lucky,” Zillah senior Ryan Simmons said. “We played good defense and had a hand in their faces. They were just missing.”

Lakeside’s poor shooting coupled with Zillah’s slow-down offense and brilliant foul shooting spelled the end for the Eagles.

“That was pretty frustrating,” Lakeside junior George Petticrew said of the Zillah stall, which ran more than a minute off the clock on one possession. “We couldn’t get the ball.”

Lakeside mounted a slight comeback late in the fourth quarter, closing to within 46-40.

At that point, the Eagles were forced to foul trying to get the ball back. The Leopards countered with 13 of 17 free throws in the fourth quarter. Simmons and Nelson sank four each in the period. Zillah hit 19 of 25 free throws for the game. Wes Hinson hit 7 of 9 and scored 14 points.

The Leopards jumped out to a 9-2 lead less than 3 minutes into the game behind the inside play of Curt Pentecost. The 6-foot-5 junior scored Zillah’s first seven points.

“We felt if we could jump out on them a little bit early, it would make it tough on them,” Zillah coach Doug Burge said. “They didn’t fold, though. We were lucky to be up by three at half.”

Pentecost scored 15 in the first half and finished with a game-high 19 points. A pair of 3-pointers by Simmons, who finished with 10 points, put the Leopards ahead 19-9 with 42 second left in the first quarter.

Lakeside held Zillah scoreless for more than 4 minutes and closed the gap to 22-16 with 4:55 left in the second quarter. Four points from Ben Spiger and a 3-pointer from Petticrew helped bring the Eagles to within 26-23 at halftime.

Zillah 55, Lakeside 43

Zillah 19 7 12 17 -55

Lakeside 11 12 8 12 -43

ZILLAH Dunn 0 0-0 0, Foster 0 0-0 0, Simmons 2 4-4 10, Hinson 3 7-9 14, Nelson 3 2-3 9, Buechler 0 1-2 1, Schuoler 0 0-0 0, Bass 0 0-0 0, Lilienthal 0 0-0 0, Pentecost 8 3-5 19, Bell 0 0-0 0, Delp 0 2-2 2. Team 16 19-25 55.

LAKESIDE Nelson 1 2-2 4, Tenney 0 0-0 0, Petticrew 5 0-0 12, Bender 2 3-4 7, 1 0-0 3, Brackel 0 0-0 0, Day 0 0-0 0, Desenbrack 0 2-4 2, Coe 0 0-0 0, B. Spiger 3 2-2 8, Miller 3 1-3 7, J. Spiger 0 0-0 0, Fieder 1 0-0 3. Team 15 10-15 43. 3-pointers - Zillah 4 (Simmons 2, Hinson, Nelson), Lakeside 3 (Petticrew 2, Feider). Total fouls - Zillah 16, Lakeside 21. Fouled out - Petticrew. Technical fouls - none.

, DataTimes