Lakeside Hits Reverse Cascade Ends Knights’ Bid For A-4 Repeat

The Lakeside High boys basketball team’s defense of its State A-4 championship lasted roughly two quarters.

Just before halftime, Cascade erased all but three points of an 11-point deficit, and the Ramblers rode the momentum swing to a 67-62 upset in the first round of the 16-team tourney Wednesday evening at Vallivue High School.

Earlier, in a less artistic but equally close finish, Rockland held off Clark Fork 41-37 just down the road at brand-new Caldwell High School.

In a pair of loser-out games this afternoon, Clark Fork (14-7) will take on Deary (14-9) at 12:45 PST and Lakeside (17-5) will try to regroup against Notus (19-6) at 2:15.

In other openers, Ketchum Community upset Deary 49-37; second-ranked Hagerman blitzed Council 59-36; Mackay topped Carey 66-58; Wilder raced past Murtaugh 72-58; No. 1-ranked Troy downed Notus 57-49 in overtime; and Greenleaf Friends defeated Camas County 53-39.

Cascade 67, Lakeside 62

Twice in the first half it appeared the Knights were on the verge of blowing out the Ramblers.

Ben Gajkowski took a no-look pass from Buck Allen for an easy basket in the key and Sam Lozeau added a free throw seconds later to give Lakeside its biggest lead at 28-17 with 1:30 left in the second quarter.

But the Ramblers scored eight straight points to end the half, and the exclamation point to the spurt came when Jake Wilson swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer from 5 feet behind the midcourt stripe.

“That got us fired up,” Cascade coach Jim Simpson said.

After intermission, Cascade extended the run to 13 straight points for 30-28 lead. Although there was plenty of time left, the surge showed the Knights that the Ramblers weren’t going to roll over.

Or get blown out like they did in a district championship loss last Friday to Wilder (90-49).

If anything that loss inspired Cascade, which felt as if Wilder ran up the score.

“That’s as good a game as we’ve played in at state in a long time,” Simpson said. “(Lakeside coach Greg Stutzman’s) teams have dominated us in the past. I felt like there were a couple of times where they could have blown us out. I thought we showed a lot of poise against their pressure.”

Stutzman and Simpson coached together years ago as assistants at Borah High. Stutzman was 2-0 against Simpson going into the game, including a second-round victory on the Knights’ road to the state title last year.

Shooting woes and three key turnovers in the final 3:44 stopped Lakeside’s comeback attempt.

Lakeside shot 24 of 62, and missed at least a dozen layups or short shots in the key. Cascade was much warmer, making 21 of 44.

Another key statistic: Cascade scored 21 points off turnovers to Lakeside’s 11.

“That last shot in the (half) and the combination of us missing a lot of easy ones hurt,” Stutzman said. “The kids played as hard as they could and they’ve got to accept what happens.”

Cascade guard Stan Aschenbrenner hurt Lakeside all over the court, finishing with a game-high 21 points. Wilson had 19 and Tom Cimbalik added 14.

Lakeside placed four players in double figures, led by Ken Pluff’s 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Cascade 10 15 22 20 - 67

Lakeside 14 14 16 18 - 62

CASCADE - Scott 5, Chopko 0, Aschenbrenner 21, Wilson 19, Guest 0, Cimbalik 14, Murphy 0, Heath 8.

LAKESIDE - Kolar 0, Niebuhr 0, Lozeau 15, McFadden 2, Allen 12, Pluff 19, Gajkowski 4, Morris 10.

Rockland 41, Clark Fork 37

The Wampus Cats played their worst offensive game of the year. Still, they had plenty of opportunities to win.

Clark Fork trailed 39-33 when leading scorer Nate Stutzke hit a 3-pointer with 1:49 remaining.

But the Wampus Cats wouldn’t make another basket, missing their final five shots, three of which were 3-point attempts.

Missing the mark summed up Clark Fork’s effort. The Stutzke brothers - Nate, a junior, and Brent, a freshman - were a combined 7 of 29. As a team, Clark Fork made 15 of 52 (29 percent).

“It was a lot of open shots, too,” Clark Fork coach Brian Powell said. “The kids were fired up before the game and then they go out and misfire. We didn’t play very well.”

It was the second game in a row Clark Fork, which averaged nearly 65 points per game during the regular season, scored less than 40 points. But Powell thought his team played worse Wednesday than it did Saturday in a 59-39 loss to Lakeside.

Clark Fork pulled within 39-37 with 8.5 seconds remaining when George Klontz made 1 of 2 foul shots. But Rockland’s Dana May made both ends of a one-and-one with 3 seconds left. A 3-point attempt by Brent Stevens hit hard off the glass at the buzzer.

The Wampus Cats committed a respectable 12 turnovers, but the mistakes were magnified in the low-scoring game. , “We made them by hesitating, by being too tentative,” Powell said. “We’re a young team so it’s a good experience. And I want the kids to look at it that way too. Hopefully we’ll play a little smarter and a little more poised (today).”

Nate Stutzke finished with a team-high nine points, six below his average.

Rockland 13 8 9 11 - 41

Clark Fork 11 9 10 7 - 37

ROCKLAND - Thomas 2, E. Permann 4, Ash 0, May 14, McHargue 0, Ralphs 8, L. Permann 1, Fillmore 12.

CLARK FORK - Haston 7, B. Stutzke 7, Stevens 5, Beers 6, N. Stutzke 9, Higgins 0, Klontz 3.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WEDNESDAY’S RESULTS Ketchum County 49, Deary 37 Rockland 41, Clark Fork 37 Mackay 66, Carey 58 Wilder 72, Murtaugh 58 Hagerman 59, Council 36 Cascade 67, Lakeside 62 Troy 57, Notus 49 Greenleaf Friends 53, Camas County 39