Vikings Conquer Pressure Balanced Attack Was A Huge Key In Coeur D’Alene’s Drive For A State Title

Pressure.

It was the biggest question mark entering the season for the Coeur d’Alene High boys basketball team.

Pressure.

Many thought it would be CdA’s undoing.

Coeur d’Alene is susceptible to full-court pressure.

That was said early and often by CdA’s critics this season.

And the Vikings had their moments during the season when they caused the blood pressure of coach Larry Bieber to rise. They had those spurts at the State A-1 tournament, too.

That’s just it, though. They were confined to moments. CdA fielded the most balanced team at state - in the purest sense.

They had a point guard in Jim Rupp who could get his team into its offense. And he was a double threat as a perimeter scorer.

Inside, the combination of posts Casey Hoorelbeke and Lukas O’Dowd was practically impossible to defend. Their backup, Kurt Sigler, provided invaluable minutes off the bench. Wings David Wood and Kevin DeArmond did the things that can’t be measured in statistics alone.

The day after

The Vikings didn’t have to wait long to know how they felt Sunday about winning the state crown.

They had dinner after the game at an Italian restaurant in Nampa, then boarded their leased bus and headed home.

They were about an hour out of Boise when Saturday turned to Sunday.

Bieber hoped the emotion of the state title would sink in as the Viks got closer to home - and, he hoped, not any sooner.

Unless it was in his dreams. “I’ll be sawing logs in a couple of hours,” Bieber said just before leaving the Idaho Center.

What a climb

During postgame ceremonies, Bieber thanked a number of people.

One of those who deserved recognition was two-year assistant John Astorquia.

Astorquia was a head coach at Twin Falls High for 14 years. He took four teams to state, and his 1983 team lost to Meridian in the title game. Meridian was coached at that time by CdA High grad Don Haynes, who later coached at CdA.

“We couldn’t have gotten here without him,” Bieber told the remaining crowd of 5,000 at the Idaho Center.

From worst to …

When Bieber was reminded of how far his program had come in four years, he said it best and first.

“The worst in the history of Coeur d’Alene basketball (3-18). It’s been well-documented,” he said of his first season when his seniors were freshmen.

The three wins at state moved his career record above .500, at 48-45. His second season - when post Lukas O’Dowd was a starter as a sophomore after playing on varsity as a freshman - the Viks were 8-13. Last year, CdA finished 15-10, just falling short of earning a state berth.

The 1997-98 season and 22-4 record will rank as one of the best in school history. It’s CdA’s seventh state championship and sixth outright (CdA shared the “North” title in 1944 and won the “North” title in 1945 during World War II).

It also ended a 25-year state title drought.

Some people thought it would be another decade or so before a CdA school would win a state title when the one-school town expanded to two four years ago.

Coaches only

Just after Bieber had passed out the medals to his players, the Viks gathered at midcourt for a team picture.

When the film is developed, it’ll show in the back row, from left to right, Wood between Bieber and Astorquia with his arms around their shoulders.

Cliche or not, Wood was an extra “coach” for the Viks. He directed traffic on the floor and the bench.

“The other day we were stepping on the elevator at the hotel and Coach (Astorquia) and I got on and Woody steps on and said ‘coaches only,”’ Bieber said. “So nobody else got on. We consider him a coach.”

Quotebook

Bieber on Sigler and the bench: “I can’t remember (him) ever having a bad game. He always came in and was solid. Even the other kids on the bench. They pushed (the starters) in practice.”

Bieber on winning and losing: “They don’t point fingers - that’s the thing I love about this team. When we win, we win as a team. When we lose, we lose as a team. It’s not ‘it’s your fault or it’s your fault.’ We had great team chemistry.”

Bieber on overcoming adversity and the early and midseason injuries to O’Dowd and Hoorelbeke: “What that did was make us stronger. We played 16 games without them playing together. That’s a lot of games in a 20-game season.”

O’Dowd on the team focus: “We had lots of goals and we met them. It’s like what coach Bieber always says, ‘Obstacles are the things you see when you take your eye off the target.’ We kept our eyes on the target.”

Wood on the state field: “There were so many great teams down here. The three that we played were tremendous teams. I wish we could have played all of them.”

Rupp on his behind-the-back pass to Hoorelbeke for the last-second shot and the win: “It was just instinct. I’m just so happy right now I’m choked up.”

, DataTimes