Sandpoint Pulls Off Upset In A-1

Sandpoint High basketball player Jevon Watson couldn’t put out the fire that gutted his bedroom Wednesday.

But, on Thursday, he doused Moscow High with several huge buckets down the stretch as the No. 3-seed Bulldogs hung on for a 47-44 upset victory of Moscow at Bear Den in the A-1 Region I boys basketball tournament.

Watson scored seven points in the final 5 minutes and blocked a shot to help set up Sandpoint with a match-up today at No. 1-seed Lake City. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. Moscow, the No. 2 seed, will play the winner of tonight’s Lewiston-Post Falls game at Moscow Saturday at 7 p.m.

After Sandpoint’s Devon Rinaldi hit 1 of 2 free throws with 10 seconds left, the Bears had a chance to tie with a 3-pointer, but Chris Walker’s desperation attempt bounced off the rim as time expired.

“That clock went way too slow there at the end,” Sandpoint coach Kurt Lundblad said.

“They obviously didn’t get the shot they wanted. It’s unfortunate a team has to lose this game.”

Moscow had some open looks at the basket late in the game, but passed them up.

“We just got frantic instead of keeping our composure,” Moscow coach Don Dudley said.

“We were getting 15- to 17-foot jump shots. You have to make those to win the game.”

After a cold-shooting first half, Watson, a senior forward, delivered in the fourth period. He did this despite the electrical fire that engulfed his Sandpoint bedroom and all of his belongings.

“My shots weren’t falling. I just kept going up with it,” said Watson, who scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half. “I know if you keep playing hard, you can make up for an off night. We just had a lot to prove to ourselves. We knew we could do it and finally we pulled through.”

The third time proved to be a charm for Sandpoint, which hadn’t defeated Moscow in two tries this year.

“The last two times, they shot really well,” Lundblad said. “We played with a little more confidence.”

Paul Nieman helped erase Moscow’s 19-12 first-half lead with four quick points in 30 seconds.

Sandpoint 47, Moscow 44

Sandpoint 10 17 8 12 47

Moscow 13 10 10 11 44

Sandpoint (14-8) - Nieman 5 2-5 12, Menard 1 0-0 2, Rinaldi 4 2-3 10, Watson 5 1-1 12, Singleton 0 0-0 0, Mills 0 3-4 3, Aumick 1 0-0 2, Malone 1 0-0 2, Palmer 2 0-1 4. Totals 19 8-14 47. Moscow (13-9) - Williams 3 0-0 7, Gilmore 2 0-0 4, Johnson 2 0-1 4, Busch 1 2-2 4, Shupe 4 0-0 8, Garrett 0 0-0 0, Walker 2 0-0 5, Comstock 0 1-2 1, Lee 0 0-0 0, Burton 5 1-1 11. Totals 19 4-6 44. 3-point goals - Watson, Williams, Walker. Total fouls - Sandpoint 12, Moscow 19. Fouled out - Comstock. Technicals - none.