T-Wolves Come Alive In Second Half Defense Awakens Lake City After Lethargic First Half

Lake City High boys basketball coach Jim Winger contemplated asking school officials to give fans their money back at halftime Saturday.

In the end, from the Timberwolves’ perspective, it was worth hanging around.

Defense revived otherwise lethargic Lake City in the second half as the Timberwolves rallied to knock off West Valley 55-47 in a Border League game at LC.

It was a key win for LC in jockeying for postseason seeding. The T-Wolves raised their league record to 6-5, 9-6 overall. West Valley fell to 5-6, 7-8.

LC limited WV to 15 points in the second half and forced the majority of the Eagles’ 10 turnovers. Conversely, the T-Wolves committed no turnovers after six against the Eagles’ effective full-court pressure in the second quarter.

In that second quarter, WV held 11-point leads on three occasions. But LC’s Gabe Hern hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 5 seconds left before halftime to slice WV’s lead to 32-24.

“I think what sparked us - although it didn’t work well because they beat it a few times - was the full-court press,” Winger said. “I think it woke us up. We were in a deep freeze or something (in the first half). We’ve been like that at home for some reason. This probably sounds funny but I think we’ve played better on the road. That was brought up at length at halftime.”

While LC played with more intensity in the second half, the T-Wolves also benefitted from West Valley’s cold shooting.

After hitting 6 of 13 3-pointers in the first half, WV went 0 for 11 the final two quarters (4 of 18 from the field).

“Nobody except Brad (Groh) could make shots,” bemoaned WV coach Joe Feist.

Overall, Feist thought his team played harder than the night before, when the Eagles fell 55-35 to Coeur d’Alene. It was the lowest point total for any of Feist’s teams during his 13-year career.

Saturday, the Eagles had 35 points by the 2:45 mark of the third quarter - when they led 35-28.

But LC pulled within 37-35 by quarter’s end.

LC took its first lead since earlier in the game at 40-39 when Chad Cheeley hit a hanging jumper with 5:29 left.

A jumper from the free-throw line by sophomore Jacob Lenz gave LC the lead for good at 47-45 with 2:08 left. From that point, the T-Wolves made 8 of 10 free throws, including two from Lenz.

Cheeley finished with a team-high 15 points. Justin Nipp added 10. Groh led WV with 17.

“At least we finished well,” Winger said. “We tried every defense in the first half and nothing worked. They were wide-open the entire half. We just weren’t there, and when we’re not there we can really do some odd things.”

Lake City 55, West Valley 47

West Valley 17 15 5 10 - 47

Lake City 10 14 11 20 - 55

WEST VALLEY - Sly 4, Hilsabeck 3, Deno 5, Browning 2, Focht 3, Gregg 9, Spivey 4, Groh 17.

LAKE CITY - Hern 9, Bramlet 1, Cheeley 15, Reiswig 0, Lenz 6, Barlow 5, Schuh 6, Nipp 10, Stroh 2, Thiringer 1.

, DataTimes