Big second half saves Lewiston
The Lake City High boys basketball team opened with its best half of the season Thursday.
Then the Timberwolves concluded with arguably their worst half. The second-ranked Lewiston Bengals had something to say about the final 16 minutes, though.
The visiting Bengals used an assortment of half-court traps to spark themselves as unbeaten Lewiston held off upset-minded Lake City 49-38 in an Inland Empire League game played before a crowd estimated at 600.
The T-Wolves used a 12-2 run to break from a 16-all tie midway in the second quarter before settling for a 28-19 lead at halftime. But Lewiston’s defense forced the majority of LC’s 12 second-half turnovers as the Bengals held the T-Wolves to 10 points in the final two quarters.
“We just can’t put two halves together,” LC coach Jim Thacker said. “Shots that were going down in the first half weren’t going down in the second half.”
It took a basket with 54 seconds remaining for LC to reach 10 points in the half.
“We talked at halftime that we needed to get some offense going,” Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia said. “I thought we were real lethargic on the defensive end giving up back-door cuts. We held them to 10 (points) in the second half, and when we defend that leads to offense.”
Lewiston (14-0 overall, 5-0 league) took a big step toward securing the top seed to the 5A Region I tournament. The Bengals can all but wrap it up Saturday when they play host to Coeur d’Alene (6-7, 1-4).
Behind solid man-to-man defense and deliberate offensive execution, LC put a scare into Lewiston in the first half. The T-Wolves (5-9, 3-3) committed just six turnovers in the opening half and made 11 of 24 shots from the field – good for a team that’s been looking for an offense all season.
LC made just 4 of 17 shots in the second half. That, coupled with the turnovers, spelled doom.
Cornelia applauded LC’s strategy of controlling the tempo.
“Coach Thacker does a good job and he’s going to get the most out of them,” Cornelia said. “It was a good game plan to give his kids a chance to win. But I think our traps and the few presses that we mixed in now and then created some turnovers and got us to the rim. It got us back in the game.”
But Cornelia was concerned late in the third quarter after his team shut out LC for the opening 5 minutes but still trailed. In fact, the T-Wolves took a 32-29 lead into the final quarter.
A rebound basket by Jordan Gregg and two free throws from Chris Butler allowed Lewiston to take the lead for good at 33-32 with 7:05 remaining.
LC also lost track of Lewiston guard Bo Gregg, who scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the second half.
“I told them that’s the best half we’ve played all season (first half), but we didn’t handle the extension of their defense,” Thacker said. “Our fundamentals broke down. It’s frustrating. But hey, they’re a good team. They’ve got all the ingredients.”
Brett Bemis led LC with 10 points and Jarom Taylor had a game-high 10 rebounds.