Lake City cashes in for regional home opener

Lake City did what it needed to do and got some help from Moscow Friday night.

The Timberwolves knocked off visiting Inland Empire League champion Post Falls 66-54 and Moscow defeated Coeur d’Alene 48-42, giving LC the No. 2 seed – and, more important, a home game against CdA (8-12, 4-8 IEL) – in the opening loser-out round of the 5A Region I boys basketball tournament on Tuesday.

The winner will advance to play No. 1 Lewiston (10-8, 7-5), a 66-60 winner Friday over Lakeland.

In 4A Region I openers Tuesday, No. 4 Lakeland (8-12, 3-9) visits No. 1 Post Falls (13-7, 9-3), and No. 3 Sandpoint (12-8, 7-5) travels to No. 2 Moscow (15-5, 7-5), which earned the higher seed in a tiebreaker with the Bulldogs. The 4A openers are part of a double-elimination format.

Sophomore point guard Ty Stoddard, with 17 points, and junior post Jarom Taylor, with 16 points and eight rebounds, led the way for Lake City (11-9, 5-7).

Taylor talked about the win before looking ahead.

“We knew that we needed to come get it, and we knew that all we needed was to put in the effort,” said Taylor, crediting the packed LCHS “Den” of student fans as a difference-maker in his team’s intensity during the game. “It’s a big win because we also needed some momentum going into regionals against Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday.

“We’re going to make a state run, I’ll guarantee that.”

PF led by as many as eight twice in the first half and took a 31-26 lead into the locker room.

But thanks in part to cold shooting and in part to tough LC defense, the Trojans shot 14 percent (2 of 14) in a third quarter that began with a 16-0 run that put LC ahead 42-31.

The Trojans were able to get back in it, though, and cut the lead to two at 48-46 when senior Scott Stockwell hit a jumper from the free-throw line at the 4:25 mark of the fourth quarter.

Lake City, however, was able to hit 16 of 20 – Stoddard knocking down 11 of 14 in the final 1:20 – from the foul line down the stretch and ended up pulling away for good.

Timberwolves coach Kris Knowles, who hasn’t always received the intensity he’s wanted from his team, got all he could ask for and more.

“Our third-quarter defensive effort is as well as we’ve done all year,” Knowles said. “We did a good job of getting out on their shooters, and obviously that’s a big part of what they do.”

PF coach Dave Stockwell said there wasn’t much his team could do with what appeared to be a lid on the basket in the second half.

“We didn’t just come out a little bit cold, we came out a lot cold,” Stockwell said of the fateful third quarter. “We really didn’t shoot well the whole game – and that’s a huge part of our game.”

The Trojans, who committed only six turnovers in the contest to LC’s 13, ended up shooting just 33 percent (20 of 59) from the field – 21 percent (7 of 32) from behind the arc – in game.

PF senior wing KC Billetz matched the game high with 17 points, including five 3-pointers.

Moscow 48, Coeur d’Alene 42: The Bears made 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to seal the win at home. Jake Lefors’ steal at midcourt and subsequent free throws iced it for Moscow. Lefors scored six of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter and teammate Brad Herrenbruck added 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. CdA got 14 points and nine rebounds from Jake Wolfe. … Lewiston 66, Lakeland 60: The Bengals held off the visiting Hawks.

Non-league

Kellogg presses to win

Kellogg pressed visiting Wallace for a 73-24. The Wildcats (11-8) got balanced scoring, led by Jacob Kagarise’s 10 points. Kevin Priest contributed eight rebounds for Kellogg.