Vikings Wake Up, Put Lewiston To Sleep

Larry Bieber should probably erase the first 3 quarters of the videotape of Tuesday night’s Coeur d’Alene High School boys basketball game.

Lewiston coach Dick Richel will likely throw the tape away.

Coeur d’Alene used defense and well-executed offense in transition in the final 4 minutes to capture its first Inland Empire League victory and snap a four-game losing streak in a 63-59 win over the Bengals.

Both teams didn’t give the crowd of less than 200 at Viking Gym much reason to stay for the second half. In fact, those arriving late may have thought the junior varsity game was still in progress when the Viks led 6-4 with 2:10 left in the first period.

The only positive thing that can be said about the first half is it took just less than 30 minutes to be played. The score was 19-19 after two periods.

Just before the start of the third quarter, Richel quipped to Bieber near the scorer’s table, “We’ve just set basketball back a century.”

“We really did,” Bieber added.

CdA improved to 7-9 overall, 1-4 in league. Lewiston fell to 5-10, 2-3. And the Bengals’ road woes continued as they fell to 0-7.

The Viks’ 6-foot-6 sophomore Luke O’Dowd dominated in the second half, especially during CdA’s run that broke open what had been a seesaw contest.

O’Dowd scored 16 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. He had 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and three dunks.

His first dunk came as the buzzer sounded ending the third quarter. O’Dowd took a pass in stride from Josh Davis at midcourt, and the ensuing slam woke up the crowd. The basket gave CdA a 35-34 lead going into the fourth quarter.

O’Dowd’s second and third dunks came 39 seconds apart. The final slam was set up by Luke Lee’s terrific pass in traffic as CdA led 51-47 with 3:37 left. Layups by Ryan Corbeill and Ben Davis off steals extended the Viks’ lead to 55-47.

Then Josh Davis made 7 of 9 free throws in the final 2:04 as the Bengals were forced to foul. Davis’ final two foul shots gave CdA its biggest lead, at 63-53, with 21 seconds left.

Two 3-pointers by Lewiston accounted for the final scoring.

Bieber said a chat with O’Dowd after school Tuesday apparently got the player untracked.

“He said, ‘Coach, what am I doing wrong?’ I said ‘You’re not focusing.’ He did that tonight. He’s going to be a good player. He’s not there yet, but he’s going to be a good player.”

Said Richel: “I thought O’Dowd dominated (6-8 Lewiston post Ben) Feider in every phase of the game. He frustrated Ben to the point he wasn’t a factor on either end.”

Bieber kept the win in perspective.

“It’s not huge, but it gets us back on track,” he said. “This was a must-win for us - let’s just put it that way - because we’ve got to get momentum going going into (regional). We’re a better team than 1-4.”

Richel thought his team let a win on the road slip away. Lewiston opened league at home with a 71-68 win over CdA.

“I’m really disappointed with the way we reacted to adversity, particularly in the fourth quarter,” Richel said.

Clayton Steele kept Lewiston close by hitting three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. He finished with a team-high 23 points, including 16 in the second half.

Coeur d’Alene 63, Lewiston 59

Lewiston 6 13 15 23 - 59

Coeur d’Alene 11 8 16 28 - 63

LEWISTON Charlo 0, Perez 3, Frei 4, Farris 8, Steele 23, Sullivan 0, Frasier 0, Albright 4, Williams 0, Egland 4, Lorentz 0, Feider 13.

COEUR d’ALENE J. Davis 13, Corbeill 4, Lee 6, B. Davis 5, Hermstad 6, Kovatch 2, O’Dowd 22, Hoorelbeke 5.

, DataTimes