Lc Knocks ‘Em Down Hoover Especially Accurate In 67-53 Win Over Vikings

Scott Hoover hadn’t exactly been missing in action. But he’s no dummy, either.

The Lake City High School boys basketball player, who carries a 4.0 grade-point average, knew he had been playing anything but spectacular before Friday.

Hoover wiped away the “anything but” part and was nothing short of spectacular as the Timberwolves put a 67-53 cuffing on crosstown rival Coeur d’Alene in an Inland Empire League game played before a near-capacity crowd of 2,600 at Lake City.

It was a timely performance by Hoover for one obvious reason: The T-Wolves played without leading scorer Jon Chatfield (24.3 points per game), who suffered a stress fracture in his foot in practice this week and will be lost for at least two weeks.

Hoover, who went into the game averaging 12.5 ppg, scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. He had 18 points and nine rebounds in the first half as LC opened a 40-26 halftime lead.

“All year I’ve been asking myself, ‘Gee, when am I going to start stepping it up?”’ the 6-foot-5 senior said. “I finally did. I’m just glad I could help out, because Jon was gone.”

Hoover thought he’d have a special night as he went through warmups.

“I was the loosest I’ve ever been this game,” Hoover said. “I was going through warmups just smiling and my shot was falling. I was just excited to play in front of so many people.”

Hoover and the Timberwolves did just about everything right. The Vikings were the exact opposite.

All the baskets and nice passes that set up many of LC’s baskets aside, LC won with a mixture of man-to-man and zone defenses.

LC allowed few baskets inside the key and invited the Viks to shoot beyond the 3-point arc.

“I told them they should be darn proud of themselves,” said LC coach Jim Winger, whose team, ranked second in the state, raised its record 10-3 overall and 3-0 in league. “The kids picked it up a notch emotion-wise. We played pretty darn good defense. We contained the ball.”

Hoover hit the first of three 3-point bombs midway through the first quarter that ignited a 10-0 run.

LC used another 10-0 spurt, capped by a Hoover trey, to open a 30-15 advantage with 4:56 left in the second period, an onslaught from which CdA never recovered.

The Timberwolves enjoyed a double-digit lead most of the second half. A driving basket by CdA’s Ben Davis cut LC’s lead to 61-52.

Winger said his players were motivated by comments made by CdA coach Larry Bieber in a pregame story. Bieber was quoted as saying the T-Wolves weren’t “special” and that the Viks would “cream ‘em” if LC played like it did earlier in the week in a 56-46 win over Sandpoint.

Bieber didn’t deny making the comments, but he said he thought he was speaking off the record.

Bieber had nothing but praise afterward. He said the Viks had prepared all week to defend Chatfield and had to scrap their game plan at the last minute.

“They’re legitimate, they’re second in state,” Bieber said. “They’re very solid and well coached. And I have to take back those words, that they’re nothing special.”

CdA, led by Ben Davis’ 17 points, slipped to 6-6 and 0-2. The Viks will try to bounce back tonight when they entertain Post Falls.

LC is off until next Friday when Lewiston visits.

Lake City 67, Coeur d’Alene 53

Coeur d’Alene 15 11 12 15 - 53

Lake City 20 20 13 14 - 67

COEUR D’ALENE J. Davis 10, Corbeill 6, B. Davis 17, Goodwin 0, O’Dowd 8, Hoorelbeke 2, Lowry 0, Hermstad 6, Lee 2, Kovatch 0, Milionis 2.

LAKE CITY Hoover 27, Thompson 7, Keefer 6, Beadell 11, Asper 8, Camtigue 8, Bryan 0, Everson 0.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo