This One Got Away From Lc T-Wolves Fall When Shots Don’T

Fishermen are notorious for talking about the one that got away.

Lake City High coach Jim Winger will be talking about the one that slipped off the hook Thursday at the boys State A-1 basketball tournament for years to come.

And he won’t have to embellish his tale one iota. The videotape of the game - punctuated with the painful ending - will support Winger’s account.

Defending state champion Pocatello, which trailed at the end of each of the first three quarters, built a lead when it mattered most as the Indians held off Lake City 60-53 in first-round action at the Idaho Center. Lake City (20-4) will meet Skyview of Nampa (20-6) in a loser-out game today at 12:45 p.m. PST. The Timberwolves beat visiting Skyview 50-48 in LC’s season opener.

Skyline of Idaho Falls knocked off Skyview 47-39.

In other openers, Borah handled Madison 49-40 and Timberline upset Highland 50-44.

In the semifinals, Pocatello (24-3) will take on Skyline (12-13) and Borah (18-9) will meet Timberline (13-15).

In the other loser-out game, Madison (14-12) will go against Highland (14-11).

Pocatello 60, Lake City 53

Unlike last year’s opener between the teams, LC didn’t fall behind 19-2. The Timberwolves played well immediately. This time LC had a good shot at victory.

But as the Timberwolves found out, sometimes the length between winning and losing is a wide margin even if it is within arm’s reach.

“I’m extremely disappointed that we didn’t execute and finish the game,” Winger said. “Not to take anything away from (Pocatello), but I don’t think it’s anything they did. It’s from our lack of finishing.”

LC sophomore Matt Dlouhy made a layup in traffic off a precise pass from point guard Jake Lenz on a fast break to put the T-Wolves ahead 44-41 with 6:02 remaining.

From that point on, though, Pocatello outscored LC 19-9 to put itself in position for a repeat.

The Indians started their hot finish by doing what LC had done well for three quarters: convert back-to-back 3-pointers. Throw in two free throws and Pocatello’s 8-0 spurt turned into a 49-44 lead with 4:17 left.

Pocatello led 53-47 and had possession when it took a timeout with 1:15 remaining. But LC stole the ball at midcourt and Kevin Quinn was fouled attempting a 3-pointer. He made all three foul shots to cut the deficit to 53-50 with 1:04 on the clock.

Indians guard Casey Oliver slipped through LC’s half-court trap and found big-bodied, 6-foot-5 post Brandon Mennear wide-open in the low post for a basket that all but locked up the win at 55-50 with 37 seconds left. Pocatello’s Ben Brown made 5 of 6 foul shots in the final 24 seconds.

LC made 7 of 20 3-point shots in the first half to open a 30-25 lead before Pocatello made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to trail 30-28 at halftime.

Although the T-Wolves had plenty of open shots in the second half, their 3-point shooting was well off the mark. LC made just 2 of 13 long-range shots.

Interestingly, LC’s Daryl Wilder, who made four 3-pointers, opened the second half by making a 3-pointer and Quinn hit a meaningless bomb with 2 seconds left. In between, the T-Wolves missed 11.

“We knew they were a good 3-ball shooting team,” said Mennear, who pounded inside to tie two other teammates for game scoring honors with 18 points.

Mennear said the Indians were much more active in defending LC’s perimeter game in the second half.

“Everybody was helping each other through screens - and talking and communicating,” Mennear said. Pocatello coach Greg Evans called his team’s play in the fourth quarter the best of the season.

“No question about it,” Evans said. “We were so disciplined defensively. We knocked down 9 of 10 free throws and I’ll tell you what, their 3-balls went away in the second half and that was the key.”

Evans thought his team’s defense forced LC to alter some of its shots. Winger disagreed.

“I think that’s nonsense,” Winger said. “We were wide-open the whole night. We knew coming in that if we shot the ball we’d win the game. We shot the ball well from everywhere on the floor until the last 6 minutes. Then we threw it away and had some defensive mistakes we hadn’t made the whole game.

“It’s a crying shame because we were rolling the whole game and then we flat disappeared.”

Winger isn’t sure which team will show up today - the one that wants to still earn a trophy or the one that wants to go home early.

“I told them if they want to bring home a trophy it’s up to (them),” Winger said. “I can’t diagram anything up or give any Knute Rockne speeches.”

“We don’t want to go home like this; we want to win a couple of games,” Lenz said.

Pocatello 60, LC 53

Lake City 15 15 10 13 - 53

Pocatello 14 14 9 23 - 60

Lake City - Longwell 0 0-0 0, Quinn 3 5-5 13, Dlouhy 3 1-2 9, Lenz 3 1-2 8, Hammons 2 2-3 6, Chisholm 0 0-0 0, Wilder 4 2-2 14, Anderson 0 1-2 1, Carper 0 0-0 0, Dennis 0 2-2 2. Totals 15 14-18 53.

Pocatello - Niece 0 0-0 0, Oliver 1 0-0 2, Beckstead 0 0-0 0, Brown 4 8-10 18, Pearson 0 0-0 0, Hales 0 0-0 0, Mennear 6 6-8 18, Hagler 6 6-8 18, Chadwick 1 0-0 2, Peterson 0 2-3 2. Totals 17 22-30 60.

3-point goals - Wilder 4, Quinn 2, Dlouhy 2, Lenz, Brown 2, Hagler 2. Total fouls - Lake City 24, Pocatello 18. Fouled out - Dennis. Technicals - none.