Cda Wins Going Away Big Second-Half Spurt Does In Sandpoint

At the 6-minute mark of the third quarter of the Coeur d’Alene-Sandpoint boys basketball game Friday, referee Steve Hudson stopped play because of a clock malfunction.

The clock was adding instead of subtracting time.

“At least the score’s not going backwards,” quipped Sandpoint first-year coach Tyler Haynes, whose team trailed by two points when the problem was fixed. “I’d be really upset if that was the case.”

Well, as it turned out, it was just a matter of time (no pun intended) before the score became lopsided.

Coeur d’Alene broke into a scoring frenzy about 3 minutes later and Sandpoint never recovered as the Vikings scooted past the Bulldogs 60-39 in a Border League game at Viking Gym.

From the 3:24 mark of the third quarter until 5:17 of the final period, CdA outscored Sandpoint 22-10 for a 53-37 advantage.

Haynes didn’t call one timeout during the stretch. He didn’t even use one of two 20-second timeouts that high school teams have at their disposal this season along with three full 60-second breaks. Sandpoint took its first timeout with 3:49 remaining and the game well decided.

“I don’t like calling timeout. We’ve got to play through that,” Haynes said. “They need to learn to adapt, change, adjust on the floor. That’s how you learn.”

It was CdA’s league opener as the Viks improved to 2-1 overall. Sandpoint slipped to 1-3, 0-2.

CdA coach Larry Bieber called the Viks’ second half their best so far. It looked even better to him after what he called a “pathetic” effort in the first half - especially on defense.

The Viks, who led 25-23 at halftime, were much more active defensively in a halfcourt trap in the second half. Offensively they attacked Sandpoint repeatedly on the backdoor and post-to-post passing.

Although Sandpoint didn’t seem to be bothered by CdA’s trapping pressure in the second half, the Viks’ defensive adjustment at the least created the tempo and intensity to CdA’s liking.

The Viks’ 6-foot-6 post Casey Hoorelbeke scorched the Bulldogs inside in the second half, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points. Teammates David Wood and Jim Rupp added 15 and 10, respectively.

A surprise has been junior Kyle Chambers, promoted to varsity when three-year starter Lukas O’Dowd had emergency hernia surgery the night before CdA’s opener. Chambers was moved up from junior varsity so CdA would have 10 players for practices.

Chambers, who has earned playing time for his all-out hustle, may have earned a permanent varsity uniform after Friday. He scored eight points, six during CdA’s decisive run.

Despite the second-half blowout, Bieber was impressed with Sandpoint.

“They have a lot more talent than I thought they’d have,” Bieber said. “They’re going to get some people when they start playing together.”

It was Sandpoint’s third straight loss since a season-opening win. But Haynes saw improvement Friday after losses to Lakeland (60-39) and Cheney (62-37).

“They’re still learning a brand-new program,” Haynes said. “Every day the kids are getting a better concept of what needs to be done.”

Coeur d’Alene 60, Sandpoint 39

Sandpoint 14 9 10 6 - 39

Coeur d’Alene 15 10 22 13 - 60

SANDPOINT - Nieman 13, Bowman 6, Watson 9, Menard 0, Gehring 4, Kleinert 7, Rust 0.

COEUR d’ALENE - Fetzer 0, Je. Rupp 0, Witten 0, Ji. Rupp 10, Wood 15, Mellick 2, DeArmond 7, Hoorelbeke 18, Sigler 0, Chambers 8.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo