Lake City Knocks Out Post Falls, Makes State Timberwolves Leave No Doubt, Reward Winger With 74-48 Rout
Victory was quick and decisive for the Lake City High School boys basketball team Saturday in the A-1 Region I title game.
Defeat, likewise, was painfully speedy for Post Falls, which watched the top-seeded Timberwolves blow open what was a two-point game at halftime for a telling 74-48 state-qualifying victory at Booth Hall.
Lake City (18-4 overall), which finished co-ranked No. 1 with defending state champion Centennial in the final poll this week, advances to state Feb. 29-March 2 at Idaho State University in Pocatello.
For LC coach Jim Winger, it was his third straight regional title (two at LC, one in his final season at Coeur d’Alene). It’s the fourth straight trip to state for the fourth-year coach.
Post Falls (11-9) must battle through the long back road if it plans to make a return trip to state. The Trojans will meet Lewiston (7-14) in a loser-out game Tuesday at Booth Hall.
The winner advances to a playoff for a state berth Saturday against the fourth-place finisher from District III (Boise area) at Grangeville High School.
Lewiston ended Sandpoint’s (8-15) season in a preliminary game, 61-23.
Lake City 74, Post Falls 48
Winger said his T-Wolves have been a second-half team all season. They certainly lived up to that reputation against the Trojans.
“We were extremely methodical in the first half; it was just a very, very poor first half,” Winger said. “Then we were the exact opposite in the second half.”
The Timberwolves upped the tempo first with solid defense.
And the defense fed the offense.
“I could tell at halftime they were ready to come out and get going,” Winger said. “We really challenged them at halftime.”
A driving basket by Jon Chatfield extended LC’s lead to double digits for the first time at 48-37 with 3:30 left in the third quarter. Chatfield followed 45 seconds later with a slam dunk that seemed to load more fuel in the T-Wolves’ gas tank. Two baskets moments later by Mike Asper helped LC build a 55-37 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Post Falls never got any closer in the fourth quarter.
“We played a super good first half,” Post Falls coach Scott Moore said. “Then we got a little tentative and found ourselves down 10 points. They’re a good ballclub, but I think (the second half) was more what we did than they did.”
Chatfield scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the decisive third quarter. LC made all 11 of its shots from 2-point range in the second half.
A transfer from Kootenai, Chatfield will be making his first trip to a state tournament.
And he offers a prediction: “We’re going to win it. This was my first (regional) championship game. None of my other teams ever made it to a district tournament. I can just imagine how state is going to be. If we don’t win, we’re going to be disappointed.”
Winger was upset that the regional title game, between teams from Kootenai County, had to be played in Lewiston.
“That was beyond stupidity,” Winger said. “Our league has to wake up and give the players the best atmosphere and format possible to prepare them for state. This backward format we use makes about as much sense as me running the Boston Marathon,” the 6-foot-3, 240-plus-pound coach said.
Lake City 74, Post Falls 48
Lake City 17 13 25 19 - 74
Post Falls 15 13 9 11 - 48
LAKE CITY Chatfield 25, Thompson 7, Keefer 11, Hoover 12, Asper 9, Beadell 7, Camantigue 0, Bryan 0, Everson 0, Walker 0, Bemis 2. POST FALLS Bechel 0, Alexander 8, Quesnell 9, McLean 6, Hollenbeck 5, Campbell 2, O’Briant 6, Lee 7, Shepherd 0, Juhlin 4.
Lewiston 61, Sandpoint 23
Believe it or not, the eliminaton game was close. For a while.
But the Bengals, playing one of their better offensive games in some time, pulled away from the cold-shooting Bulldogs in the second half.
In fact, it was Sandpoint’s worst offensive game of the season. The Bulldogs made 7 of 39 shots from the field for the game, 3 of 19 in the second half when Lewiston built on an 11-point halftime lead.
Perhaps it was the frustration of the season when Sandpoint assistant coach Dan Vanek was called for a technical wth 5:34 remaining in the game and Lewiston well in control at 42-19. It certainly couldn’t have been one of those fire-up-the-team technicals, because the game was over by then.
Ten Bengals scored in a balanced effort. Clayton Steele led with 11 points and Jim Farris had 10.
The first half was best suited for insomniacs. Lewiston took a 22-11 lead at halftime after the Bengals led 7-5 after a difficult-to-watch first quarter.
Jim Farris’ 3-pointer put Lewiston ahead 16-9 with 4 minutes before intermission. Sandpoint’s final scoring of the half came when David Boren made both ends of an one-and-one situation at the 3:31 mark.
And despite four straight turnovers, Lewiston managed a 6-0 spurt to pad its lead at the half.
Sandpoint 5 6 4 8 - 23
Lewiston 7 15 14 15 - 61
SANDPOINT Jeffres 8, Nieman 1, Bowman 0, Eller 2, Herrington 5, Palmer 2, Kleinert 0, Boren 5, Knowles 0, Boeck 0. LEWISTON Charlo 0, Perez 3, Frei 6, Farris 10, Steele 11, Albright 6, Williams 4, Egland 4, Lorentz 2, Feider 7, Sullivan 0, White 0, Perce 8, Fraser 0.
, DataTimes