Vikings Secure State Spot Team Concept Celebrated After Region I Win

An emotional Coeur d’Alene High boys basketball coach Larry Bieber held the net in his hands and asked his team a question following its 64-48 win over Lewiston in the A-1 Region I championship game Tuesday.

“What does this mean?” he asked his state-bound team.

“We’re a team,” piped up reserve guard Buddy Fetzer, who has seen limited playing time.

It’s the answer Bieber wanted to hear. The net is tied together, and that’s how he sees the Viks (19-4).

Coeur d’Alene, which worked through the adversity of losing two key starters for stretches of the season, is going to state for the first time in Bieber’s four-year head-coaching career. And it’s the first time the Viks have been to state since 1993-94, the year before Lake City opened.

The Viks’ first-round opponent at state won’t be determined until Saturday. They will meet the survivor of a cross-district playoff March 5 at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

Most of the Viks were freshmen when Bieber took over for Jim Winger, who accepted the headcoaching job at LC.

“They’ve been with me from the start and through all of our summer ball,” Bieber said. “We’ve been looking for this ever since they were freshmen. We’re not there yet, though. We still have three more (games) to go.”

Lewiston (18-6) can still earn a state berth. The Bengals will meet the fourth-place team from District III (Boise area) in a playoff Saturday. The winner advances to state, the loser is finished.

The Viks beat Lewiston for a third time in four games Tuesday with their complete package of an inside/ outside attack.

“They’ve got a balanced team,” Lewiston coach Dick Richel said. “When they take care of the basketball - when they get it to their tempo - that’s a tough team to contend with.”

The loss of starter Jason Eck (14 points per game) made it more difficult for Lewiston to contend with the Viks. Eck dislocated his knee cap for a third time in a year in the Bengals’ win over Lake City in an elimination game Saturday.

Richel calls Eck, a 6-foot-3 junior wing, his team’s most versatile player. “He’s played the most minutes, he’s our second-leading rebounder, first in steals …”

You get the picture. The way the game started, though, it appeared Lewiston wouldn’t miss him.

The Bengals made five straight 3-pointers in the first quarter to build their biggest lead at 19-10 with 2:23 remaining.

But CdA switched from a zone to man-to-man defense, and the Viks slowly took control.

A 3-pointer by Jim Rupp tied the game at 21-21 early in the second quarter, and Rupp followed that with a steal and a layup to give CdA the lead for good. The Viks led by eight late in the second quarter before settling for a 32-27 lead at halftime.

After CdA pushed its lead to double digits in the third quarter Lewiston was never able to recover.

A 12-2 Viks run extended the lead to 64-44 with 2:16 remaining.

Rupp led with 25 points. Lukas O’Dowd had 14 and David Wood added 10. Carson Egland led Lewiston with 18.

“Lewiston was a good team and they tested us,” said Rupp, who hit four 3-pointers. “But we’re going to have to be ready to play some better teams at state.”

Coeur d’Alene 64, Lewiston 48

Lewiston 21 6 7 14 - 48

Coeur d’Alene 18 14 13 19 - 64

LEWISTON - Egland 18, Pierce 9, Holmes 0, Maurer 0, Couch 4, Holder 0, Klamper 0, Wolf 0, Reineke 3, Johnson 14.

COEUR D’ALENE - Je. Rupp 0, Fetzer 0, Chambers 0, Ji. Rupp 25, Wood 10, DeArmond 2, Hoorelbeke 9, Sigler 4, O’Dowd 14.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo