Lake City notches third straight
Lake City got its third win in a row for the first time this season Thursday with a 51-45 Inland Empire League boys basketball victory over visiting Sandpoint.
Brad Bemis had 13 points and five rebounds for the Timberwolves (8-9, 6-3) who shot 50 percent from the field and frustrated the Bulldogs (8-10, 3-7) with a mix of man-to-man and 2-3 zone defenses.
Other than watching his team get outrebounded 28-20, first-year Lake City coach Jim Thacker had little to complain about.
“I was pleased with the way my team played tonight,” Thacker said. “We had a little letdown at the end of the third quarter, but for the most part we played pretty solid.
“They hit a couple of big 3s at the end, but otherwise we controlled the game and played pretty good defense – they had 39 points at the end of the (fourth) quarter before they hit those 3s.”
Thacker praised the play of sophomore guard Trent Bridges, brought up from the junior varsity team three games ago.
“We had a nice effort from our bench tonight,” Thacker said. “Trent came in and sparked us – he was responsible for that little 10-point lead we got in the first half.
“He’s really given us a big lift since I brought him up.”
The teams battled back and forth in a close first quarter that ended with Sandpoint up 13-12.
But midway through the second quarter, LC went on a 7-0 run, capped by Cory Kreighbaum’s runout after a Trent Bridges steal and the Timberwolves took a 23-18 lead at the half.
In the third, Lake City led by as many as 12 at 34-22, but the Bulldogs again battled back and got to within six at 43-37 on Chase Lowther’s tough baseline 10-footer.
On the next possession, Lowther missed an open 3-pointer with 2 minutes left that would have cut it to three.
Lake City hit 6 of 8 free throws in the final 1 1/2 minutes – points it needed as Lowther drained a pair of long 3-pointers in the final 17 seconds.
Sandpoint coach Tyler Haynes had a hard time finding fault with his team’s effort and pointed to poor field-goal percentage and staunch Lake City defense as the major keys to the game.
“We’ve played extremely hard the last six games,” said Haynes, whose team shot 20 of 47 from the field. “We’ve been in every game and we have not shot well. Just at times, we’ll have a lapse and it will cost us six points, and it’s a big factor.
“Tonight, we didn’t shoot very well, but you’ve got to give that credit to Lake City – they changed up their defenses and kept us changing offenses and they need to get the credit for that.”
With the 4A regional right around the corner, Haynes sees good signs.
“Right now, we’re just on the hill … we’re just teetering,” Haynes said. “We know we can play with Lewiston, we know we can play with Coeur d’Alene, we know we can play with Lake City.
“We’ve just got to get that shooting percentage in the 40s, but no one is trying harder than my players and they are so wonderful to coach.”
Sandpoint senior post Michael Brewer led all players with 18 points and 10 rebounds.