Lakeside Boys Fall In Title Game Top-Ranked Nampa Christian Uses Late Surge To Win A-4 Championship

Nampa Christian became the lone No. 1-ranked team in the four state high school boys basketball tournaments to capture a championship.

The Trojans had to fight off an unlikely but worthy challenger Saturday afternoon in the Lakeside Knights, though, as Nampa Christian pulled away in the final minutes, 45-36, in the State A-4 championship game at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.

It was the lowest offensive production for both teams in the tournament. Perhaps it was largely because neither team had played in the cavernous Holt Arena.

Another reason was both teams played respectable defense. Poor shooting and good defense was particularly noticeable in the second quarter.

Lakeside was hoping to become just the second North Star League team in 31 years to win a state title. Mullan took state in 1965, just the second year of the A-4 division.

The Knights of Plummer end the season at 21-5, quite a turnaround in coach Greg Stutzman’s four years. In his first season, Lakeside was 0-21 and 2-20 the second year.

In the game for third place, Highland-Craigmont (20-7) topped Carey (20-9) 72-66, while Shoshone (23-5) edged Oakley (23-4) 58-56 in the consolation game.

Nampa Christian 45, Lakeside 36

Nampa Christian led 15-11 after the first period. But with 3 minutes remaining before halftime, just one basket had been scored in the second quarter - and that was by the Trojans (25-1).

Baskets by Sam Matheson and Lyle Meshell pulled Lakeside within two points at 17-15. Following a Nampa Christian 3-pointer, Glen Lambert made two free throws. The Trojans led 20-17 at halftime.

A putback by Lambert early in the third quarter gave Lakeside its first and only lead of the second half at 24-22. The Trojans then used a 10-2 run to take a 32-24 lead with 2:19 left in the period.

A breakaway layup in the closing seconds by Matt Riste put the Trojans ahead 34-27 going into the fourth quarter.

Dan Montague’s lone basket pulled Lakeside within one at 34-33 with 5:40 remaining. But that’s as close as the Knights would get as Nampa Christian scored 11 of the final 14 points. The Trojans made 7 of 12 from the free-throw line during their final spurt.

As Stutzman stood near midcourt trying to collect his thoughts and choke back tears before handing out runner-up medals to his players, a fan across the floor yelled, “That’s all right coach, we’ll be back.”

To a player, the underclassman-dominated Knights expressed the same sentiment. Lakeside graduates just three of its 12 players, and much talent returns.

At the start of the season, nobody would have picked the Knights to end up playing for the state crown.

“We thought we had a chance in the fourth quarter, but we never got the big run that we usually have,” said Lambert, a junior guard, who led the Knights with eight points. “You got to hand it to them, they handled our press.

“I’m proud, but I’m kind of disappointed because I knew we could have beaten them. They just outplayed us. We’ll be back next year.”

Point guard James Twoteeth, also a junior guard, said he was satisfied with second.

“I didn’t even think we’d make it to this tournament (at the start of the year),” Twoteeth said. “We’ll be back. Hopefully we’ll be champions.”

Added Stutzman: “We surprised ourselves by getting into the finals. We played very well defensively, Nampa Christian just scored more points than us. I don’t know if there’s disappointment; it was great to be here.”

Nampa Christian 45, Lakeside 36

Nampa Christian 15 5 14 11 - 45

Lakeside 11 6 10 9 - 36

NAMPA CHRISTIAN Fillmore 1, Riste 14, Kern 7, Shervik 0, Kimball 3, Jones 10, Tietsort 9, McDonald 0.

LAKESIDE Twoteeth 7, Nelson 6, Pluff 0, Montague 5, Wolfe 0, Lambert 8, Matheson 6, Allen 0, Meshell 0.

Highland-Craigmont 72, Carey 66

In the third-place game, Highland-Craigmont got 16 points from Bovey and 15 each from senior forward Quentin Thomason and senior guards Nathan Renner and Shane Zenner.

Shoshone 58, Oakley 56

In the consolation game, Shoshone trailed Oakley by 15 points in the second quarter and was still down 33-23 at the half. But the Indians hit 5 of 6 3-point field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, including two each from Josh Uhrig and Scott McClure, to take the lead at 53-52.

A-3

Malad 58, Potlatch 53

Senior guard Bryson Vaughan scored 30 points to lead Malad (25-1) past Potlatch (20-5) for its fourth A-3 boys basketball championship, and its third in five years.

Grangeville 71, Teton 54

Junior center Matt Hill scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Grangeville (19-8) beat Teton (25-2) for third place.

Declo 64, Soda Springs 59

Sophomore guard Mike Christensen led four Hornets in double figures with 18 points as Declo (18-7) beat Soda Springs (17-11) for the consolation title.

, DataTimes