Free Throws Spur Scotties To Playoff Win

NEA

Most basketball coaches agree that free throws win games.

The No. 3-seed Freeman Scotties sank 18 of 25 free throws and went on to upset the No. 2-seed Lakeside Eagles 44-39 in a Northeast A second-round playoff game Saturday night at Mead High School.

With the win, the Scotties stay in the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. They will face No. 1-seed Chewelah, a 71-57 winner over Medical Lake, for the No. 1 seed to state. The Eagles will move to the losers bracket and meet Medical Lake.

In girls games, No. 1-seed Lakeside and No. 3-seed Newport will meet in the winners’ bracket and No. 2-seed Colfax will face No. 4 Deer Park in a loser-out game. All boys and girls games are Friday at Mead.

Lakeside dropped Deer Park 45-25. Newport beat Colfax 45-43.

Saturday night, the 18 free throws accounted for 41 percent of Freeman’s points. Garen Friberg led the attack, nailing 11 of 13 foul shots, all of them in the first half.

Friberg finished with 19 points, 17 in the first half, and 14 rebounds, 10 in the first half.

“I felt in the groove,” Friberg said. “It was just one of those days when I felt like I couldn’t miss.”

Freeman’s defense more than made up for what Friberg couldn’t do while holding Eagles scoring leaders George Petticrew and Ben Spiger in check.

Petticrew managed only three points in the first quarter and finished with nine. Spiger had 10 points, but none in the fourth quarter.

“We’re getting a reputation for defense,” Freeman coach Mike Thacker said. “We like to sag and help and pressure the ball.”

Freeman took the lead at 14-13 on two free throws by Friberg with 6:33 left in the first half and pushed it to 23-17 by halftime. But Lakeside regained the lead at 29-28 on a Spiger basket with 35 seconds left in the second quarter.

The Scotties quickly regained the lead on a layup by Nick Schuerman with 2 seconds left in the period and never trailed again.

Freeman 44, Lakeside 39

Lakeside 11 6 12 10 - 39

Freeman 10 13 7 14 - 44

LAKESIDE Nelson 10, Petticrew 9, Feider 1, Brakel 2, Day 6, Coe 0, Spiger 10, Miller 1.

FREEMAN Aa.Hill 0, Miller 0, An.Hill 7, Reed 6, Sheffield 3, Friberg 19, Schmidt 4, Schuerman 5.

Chewelah 71, Medical Lake 57

The Cougars (18-2) went on a 15-4 spree in the first 3:56 of the fourth quarter to open a 65-48 lead and never looked back while cruising past the Cardinals (13-9).

Jeremy Landram led Chewelah with 29 points, 12 in the fourth quarter. Greg Belzer added 24.

Medical Lake 15 12 17 13 - 57

Chewelah 18 15 17 21 - 71

MEDICAL LAKE Jackson 4, Bailey 7, Huston 14, Simmons 10, Blum 0, Johnson 0, Campbell 5, Bahr 3, B.Moore 14.

CHEWELAH Je.Landram 29, Meserve 0, Murbach 5, Skok 0, Boone 9, Belzer 24, Rogers 1, Rainer 3.

Girls

Newport 45, Colfax 43

The Grizzlies (17-5) took their first lead at 20-18 and then built it to as many as 10 before holding off the Bulldogs (18-3).

Colfax closed to 44-43 with 21 seconds left, but Newport’s Michele Carrara banked in the front end of a one-and-one with :12 left.

Colfax 13 10 6 14 - 43

Newport 11 14 12 8 - 45

COLFAX - Gigray 2, Harder 4, Hall 11, Widman 0, Tribbett 2, Hansen 3, S.Pittman 15, Thiele 6.

NEWPORT Casey 7, Schulz 8, Almond 4, Sauer 9, Sherman 0, Frandrup 4, Vallieres 4, Carrara 9.

Lakeside 45, Deer Park 25

The Eagles (20-1) broke the game open with a 12-1 run in the third quarter and held the Stags (12-10) without a field goal in the fourth quarter until just 51 seconds were left.

Deer Park 4 5 5 11 - 25

Lakeside 10 10 14 11 - 45

DEER PARK Ostrom 0, Fielder 0, Watson 3, Oswalt 2, Davis 0, Sims 0, Nedved 0, Longhelm 0, Stone 11, Scott 0, Gest 2, O’Brien 7.

LAKESIDE (NINE MILE) - Grubbs 0, Hatch 2, Heebink 1, B.Jolley 22, L.Jolley 4, Long 0, Petticrew 2, Rowse 12, Waddell 2.

, DataTimes