Lake City, Cda Boys Set To Battle

Several reasons come to mind as to why it should be standing room only at Lake City High School for the first Inland Empire League game Friday night between the crosstown boys basketball rivals.

And if no other reason was listed, the fact that the game involves rivals would suffice. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:45.

But here are a few other reasons why the Lake City-Coeur d’Alene contest should be the entertainment stop Friday:

It is the only game in town. The North Idaho College men’s basketball team, for example, is at College of Southern Idaho. All other Kootenai County teams are off.

The game could be a preview of future tugs of war. LC (9-3 overall, 2-0 in league) is favored to win the league and CdA (0-1, 6-5) could pose the stiffest challenge. Could there be another matchup beyond the return league game at CdA? How about an all-CdA showdown in the state-qualifying regional title game?

Of the sports competed between the schools, boys basketball boasts the most intense rivalry.

The teams split league games last year, as CdA won the first game 73-58 at Viking Gym before LC rebounded at home to crush the Viks 78-28.

Though it’s early in league, both coaches are putting a lot of significance on the outcome.

“The winner will have the inside track for the league championship,” said CdA coach Larry Bieber, whose team plays its league home opener Saturday against Post Falls (0-1, 5-5). “It’s an important weekend for us.”

LC coach Jim Winger called his team’s play in opening league victories ugly. He puts much of the blame for his team’s ragged play on poor shooting.

“Sometimes emotional games, rivalry games, can bring you out of a shooting slump,” Winger said. “That’s what we’re hoping for. We’re certainly not going to change anything. I guess if we can win without shooting well that’s a helluva good sign.”

The game features some interesting matchups. LC’s 6-foot-3 post Chad Beadell always guards an opponent’s biggest player. That means Beadell draws the difficult task of defending talented Viks sophomore Luke O’Dowd, who at 6-6 leads CdA in scoring with 13.3 points per game.

CdA’s toughest matchup will be defending the league’s leading scorer, Jon Chatfield (24.3 ppg).

“We’ve got to try to figure out some schemes to stop (Chatfield),” Bieber said. “But you can’t do that and forget about their other players either. The way I look at it we’re a lot harder to prepare for than they are. Hopefully they’ll have to make the adjustments.”

Said Winger: “Coeur d’Alene is a good team. They have the potential, talent-wise, to be a very good team.”

In another league game Friday, Sandpoint (0-1, 5-8) travels to Lewiston (1-0, 4-7).

Girls

The Sandpoint-Lake City rematch tonight at LC is a must-win for the Timberwolves if they hope to defend their league championship. League-leading Sandpoint is 4-0, 12-2, while LC is 4-1, 10-5.

In the first league game at Sandpoint, the Bulldogs defeated LC 53-46. LC coach Dave Stockwell called the loss one of his team’s worst games of the season.

No matter which team wins tonight, both Sandpoint and LC have road games remaining at Lewiston (3-2, 9-6). Sandpoint and LC most likely can’t win a league championship outright without victories at Lewiston.

Sandpoint will complete its toughest week of league games Saturday when it travels to Lewiston.

In another league game tonight with postseason significance, Post Falls (1-4, 8-7) entertains Coeur d’Alene (0-5, 4-12). Post Falls can secure no worse than the No. 4 seed and a host berth in a loser-out seeding game against CdA, which appears destined for last place with games remaining against LC and Sandpoint.

, DataTimes