CdA overcomes Lakeland
It started as a shooting contest between the Coeur d’Alene and Lakeland boys basketball teams Thursday.
So it goes to figure that the team that played defense first would win.
Coeur d’Alene limited Lakeland to 20 second-half points, half of what the Hawks scored in the first half, as the Vikings turned around an earlier loss with a key 73-60 win in an Inland Empire League game at Rathdrum.
The victory gives CdA (8-9 overall, 4-5 IEL) a little breathing room over rival Lake City (9-8, 3-6) in the battle for postseason seeding. Sandpoint (10-8, 5-5) downed visiting LC 49-39.
In the other IEL game, league leader Post Falls (11-6, 8-2) pulled off a big road victory at Lewiston (8-7, 5-4), 67-52.
Lakeland (8-10, 3-7) opened a 32-23 lead early in the second quarter, but the Hawks could neither sustain their offense nor find any defense thereafter.
CdA outscored Lakeland 21-8 the final 5:29 of the first half to take a 44-40 lead into halftime.
The Vikings mixed up their defenses the final two quarters, jumping from man to zone and sprinkling in a new wrinkle – a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap – that bottled up the Hawks.
“Our last six quarters we haven’t guarded anybody,” CdA coach Kent Leiss said. “So I was proud of our second half because we came out and held them to 20 points. That was the key.”
Leiss also praised sophomore guard Nate Bligh for his defense of Lakeland guard Ryan Gallia. He finished with a game-high 20 points, but had just eight in the second half and missed his final five shots, all 3-pointers.
Hawk post Ben Ward scored 15 points in the first half, but went scoreless in the second half.
Lakeland coach Trent Derrick twice called timeout in the third quarter hoping to stop runs by CdA. And both times, the Hawks committed turnovers on the ensuing possession.
The Hawks, who beat CdA 67-62 earlier last month, pulled within 57-49 when Gallia hit his final 3-pointer with 3:14 to go in the third quarter, but CdA used an 8-2 spurt to take a 65-51 lead into the final period.
CdA shot well throughout, scoring several times off simple drives from the perimeter by one and all. The Viks made 27 of 44 shots from the field (61 percent), including 7 of 14 3-pointers.
Seven of eight Viks scored in as balanced an attack as possible. Bligh scored 14 of his team-high 16 in the first half by making all four of his shots. Thomas Hughes had 15 and Joe Wolfe and Matt Palmer chipped in 14 each.
CdA has scored 73 and 70 points in its last two games.
“Coming into the season I was wondering who was going to score,” Leiss said. “Offensively we’re coming. If we can get our kids who come off the bench to continue to get better so we can play them a little bit more and build some depth it’ll make us better.”
CdA returns to action Saturday when it goes to Post Falls. Lakeland is off until Wednesday when it is at LC.
Post Falls 67, Lewiston 52: Brandon Haas scored 19 points, hitting 6 of 12 from the floor, and added nine rebounds as the league-leading Trojans (11-6, 8-2) dropped the host Bengals (8-7, 5-4) into a tie for second place with idle Moscow. K.C. Billetz shot 6 of 11 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line for the Trojans, who have won 10 of 11. … Sandpoint 49, Lake City 39: Ben Mitchell scored eight of his 10 points in the third quarter as the Bulldogs (10-8, 5-5) held off the visiting Timberwolves (9-8, 3-6). Sandpoint shot 9 of 31 from the floor in the first half while the Timberwolves were 4 of 22. Ben Widmyer scored 25 for LC, which defeated Sandpoint 64-58 one month ago.
North Star League
Tigers avenge defeat
Cory Pehan totaled 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots to lead Mullan (6-9, 4-4) to a 53-22 win over visiting Kootenai (3-12, 3-5). Jesse James scored 22 points for the Tigers, who entered the third quarter with a one-point lead. Kootenai defeated Mullan 49-41 last week.
Wrestling
Pins spark Spartans
Senior Ryan Miller, ranked No. 2 in the state at 145 pounds, pinned Kyle Kromer in the second period to help Priest River (2-1 Intermountain League) to a 63-18 win over visiting Kellogg (1-2). Richie Morales (135), Sean Williams (140), Ray Hinshaw (152), Mike Ramsey (171) and Matt Thompkins (215) added pins for the Spartans. … Bonners Ferry 54, Timberlake 18: Ken Koehler (160), Travis Stolley (171), Don Dinning (189) and Ben Turner (215) had consecutive pins to carry the visiting Badgers (2-0) past the Tigers at Spirit Lake. Harry Hays (112) and Mike Barnhouse (135) had pins for Timberlake (0-4).