No. 2 Seed Rewarded In Regional

It’s a different school year so it must mean yet another change in the A-1 Region I state-qualifying basketball tournament.

After administrators acted on the recommendations of the coaches and made wholesale changes in the format last year - the biggest and best change putting the entire tourney at the sight of the top seed - school officials last spring altered the format to reward the second seed, too.

First-round games will be played at the sites of the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, as they were before changes last year. Administrators believe the first games will draw larger crowds if held separately. It also reduces travel for the second seed.

It became evident a couple weeks ago that two teams (Post Falls and Lewiston) were in the battle for the second seed for next week’s Region I girls tourney.

Things tightened up two weeks ago when Lewiston earned a split in the season series with Post Falls.

Post Falls entered the final week of the regular season believing it could clinch the second seed - and play host to Lewiston in the first round - with a win Friday at West Valley.

If that were the case, it would have been rendered moot Tuesday when Coeur d’Alene upset Lewiston in double overtime.

A reporter pointed out to Trojans coach Chris Johnson on Monday that Post Falls had already captured the second seed. It occurred Friday when Post Falls upset Cheney.

Had Post Falls and Lewiston finished tied in the Border League - they split league games - the Trojans would have earned the second seed because of the tiebreaking criteria involving records against top-placing teams. Both teams were winless against Lake City, but Post Falls managed a win against Cheney while Lewiston lost twice.

The likely scenario in regional is Post Falls will meet Lewiston twice - the second game being a loser-out contest. Unless, of course, CdA’s upset Tuesday is an indication that the Vikings are ready to cause problems at regionals.

No. 5 seed Sandpoint visits No. 4 Coeur d’Alene on Monday in a loser-out game at 7 p.m. That winner takes on No. 1 Lake City on Wednesday while Lewiston is at Post Falls. Both games are at 7.

The tourney moves to Lake City on Friday with a loser-out game and a winners’ bracket game. A loser-out game will be played the next night, at the site of the highest-remaining seed. The regional title game is Feb. 10 at the home of the highest remaining seed.

This is the first season since 1995-96 that North Idaho has a realistic chance of advancing two teams to state. Two years ago, Lake City upset Sandpoint for the regional championship and Sandpoint won the cross-district playoff at Grangeville before placing second at state.

League rewards champ

With two berths to the expanded 16-team boys and girls State A-4 tournaments, North Star League officials voted two months ago to award an automatic berth to the league champs.

The league champs will be seeded into the district championship game to meet the survivor of two loser-out games among the four other teams. The new format eliminates the loser-out game between the fourth- and fifth-place teams.

The district title game will decide the seeding to state.

Lakeside principal Kurt Hoffman proposed the change in a November league meeting. It passed unanimously, he said.

“It just makes sense,” Hoffman said. “You play for 3 months - 20 games, eight league games - it should be worth something,” Hoffman said. “You should be rewarded for playing well all season.

“Now every team is in the district tournament, too. It should be a fun tournament because the other four teams are playing for a state berth.”

Unless they suffer major collapses, the Lakeside girls and boys should win league titles. Lakeside’s girls can clinch the league crown Saturday at home against Falls Christian.

If two teams tie for the league title, a playoff game to settle the tie would be held before the respective district tournaments, Hoffman said.

The girls district will be held Feb. 10-12 at Lakeland High. The boys district will be Feb. 26-28 at Post Falls.

A scoreless quarter

That was no typo. Yes, the Clarkston boys nipped Sandpoint, 29-28, last week.

Clarkston led 22-14 going into the third quarter when Sandpoint came out in a 2-3 zone defense. The Bantams had the ball to start the period.

So Clarkston decided to try to pull Sandpoint out of the zone. Bantam guard Zach Blankinship held the ball for 7 minutes near midcourt before the Bulldogs responded.

Neither team scored. In the final 50 seconds, each team committed two turnovers and a foul. No shots were taken.

“We’re 5-10. You don’t see too many stalls with a record like that,” Sandpoint coach Tyler Haynes said.

Sandpoint rallied in the fourth quarter, putting itself in position to win. But there was more than one Bulldogs fan hacked off at Sandpoint’s lack of action during the staredown.

By the way, Sandpoint’s girls downed Clarkston in a high-scoring contest by contrast, 42-27.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: BORDER REMATCH Part of the logjam at the top of the Border League boys basketball standings should be broken up Friday when Coeur d’Alene and Cheney, tied for first at 10-2, tangle at Cheney. CdA won the first game, 56-49, played Jan. 13 at CdA. Lewiston is a half-game back at 9-2. Lewiston knocked off Cheney 62-52 Saturday. Lewiston defeated visiting CdA 61-50 on Jan. 3, and the teams meet again Feb. 6 at CdA.