T-Wolves Go Inside To Oust Wv From Top

There is more than one way to put the basketball in the hoop.

Lake City’s way was more effective than West Valley’s on Tuesday.

The Timberwolves pulled an inside job to hand visiting West Valley its first loss, 77-68, in Border League boys action.

The victory was LC’s 19th straight at home. In the last five days, the Timberwolves (3-2, 2-1) have knocked off Cheney and West Valley, two teams expected to contend for the Border League crown.

“We have improved a great deal from the opening weekend to now,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “That’s a great sign.”

LC’s improvement wasn’t evident in the opening minutes against West Valley (4-1, 3-1), which prefers the perimeter game to Lake City’s jam-it-inside approach.

West Valley’s Lance Pecht struck for three 3-pointers in the first 3 minutes, forcing a quick timeout from Winger.

“Rule No. 1 was, `Don’t leave Pecht alone,”’ Winger said. “We acted like he had the plague.”

LC made a defensive switch, putting 5-foot-11 guard Matt Souza on the 6-4 Pecht. Pecht would finish with 24 points, but eight came in the final 4 minutes after the Timberwolves had built a double-digit lead.

LC constructed its lead by working the ball into forwards Nick Pilon and Matt Stern.

Pilon had eight field goals, nearly all coming on post-up moves. Stern had six of his 10 points in the third quarter as LC expanded a 28-27 lead to 51-39.

“We knew they were more influenced by their inside compared to our perimeter game,” West Valley coach Jamie Nilles said. “They didn’t miss a lot of shots in there. We felt it was important not to leave (Matt) Dlouhy and Souza open on the outside.”

Point guard Conor Hammons kept Lake City’s offense running smoothly. He broke West Valley’s pressure and he consistently fed Pilon and Stern for easy buckets.

All five LC starters reached double figures. Pilon and Hammons, who hit 8 of 10 free throws in a foul-plagued fourth quarter, each had 18 points. Dlouhy overcame a sluggish first half to score 11 points and he made a high-flying swat as a West Valley player drove for an attempted layup.

Souza and Stern each added 10 points.

After Pecht’s early 3s, West Valley’s offense slowed until early in the fourth quarter. By then, LC was on top 58-43. The teams combined for 55 points in a marathon final quarter, 29 coming on free throws.

“I thought from 4 minutes into the game until the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter, we played awfully well,” Winger said. “We did a heck of a job defensively for a while, holding them to 39 points” through three quarters.

West Valley made just 7 of 25 3-point attempts.

“We maybe took the first shot, instead of the best shot,” Nilles said.

Colville (3-0) is the Border League’s lone unbeaten, but Nilles expects every team will have blemishes before too long.

“It’ll probably come down to the last week,” he said. “There will probably be several teams with three or four losses.”

LC 77, West Valley 68

West Valley 18 9 12 29 - 68

Lake City 13 15 23 26 - 77

West Valley (4-1, 3-1) - Allen 4 0-0 8, Gazaway 1 0-2 3, Gerrells 0 0-0 0, Gordon 0 9-10 9, Harris 2 2-2 7, McIntyre 4 8-11 17, Ohman 0 0-0 0, Pecht 9 2-6 24. Totals 20 21-31 68.

Lake City (3-2, 2-1) - Wilson 0 2-2 2, Souza 4 0-0 10, Longwell 1 0-0 3, Dlouhy 4 3-6 11, Hammons 3 12-14 18, Stern 3 4-7 10, Pilon 8 2-3 18, Jacobson 2 1-2 5. Totals 25 24-34 77.

3-point goals-Gazaway, McIntyre, Pecht 4, Harris, Souza 2, Longwell. Total fouls-West Valley 22, Lake City 20. Fouled out- Souza, Stern. Technicals-none.