Viebrock, Hawks on the rebound

Sitting at 0-6 in the Inland Empire League, everyone had pretty much written off the Lakeland High boys basketball team.

After a rough-and-tumble win over Sandpoint last week, however, reports of the Hawks’ demise may have been greatly exaggerated.

Senior Phillip Viebrock, Lakeland’s top rebounder and second-leading scorer, said lessons learned during the slow league start are finally starting to show up on the court.

Combine the overwhelming desire to turn things around with the recent return of standout Ryan Gallia from injury, and you have the recipe for a possible late-season push.

The Hawks, it seems, are salty.

“When Ryan broke his shooting wrist, we kind of got off track a little bit,” Viebrock said. “But he’s starting to get back to full speed now, and hopefully we can pick it up a little bit for the (4A Region I) tournament.

“It’s a lot easier to be positive after the win over Sandpoint; everything seems to be flowing a little better for us – we know we can win, and we all have that mindset.”

Viebrock points to field-goal percentage as his team’s Achilles’ heel, but he remains optimistic about turning that around, too.

“We’ve been playing hard enough and now we just have to put the ball in the hoop – we’ve just been cold,” Viebrock said. “When we were playing Sandpoint, we were shooting good.

“It hasn’t been falling for us, but I know it will.”

Hawks fans who remember some of the wild-and-wooly 3A District 1 tournaments know full well that anything can happen come postseason – a fact that isn’t lost on Viebrock.

“From the beginning of the year, we’ve had it in our minds that we can go to state and win,” he said. “To do that, we have to get past some pretty tough teams.

“We know we can beat Sandpoint, and Moscow’s pretty tough, but Post Falls is probably the team to beat – they’ve got some pretty big guys up front.”

Viebrock has been playing hoops since the first grade and counts grandparents Olive and Hank as his biggest inspirations.

“All of my coaches have been such a big help with everything,” said Viebrock, who has played with Gallia since the knee-high-to-a-grasshopper days when Gallia’s dad put together a team for the boys.

“But my grandparents have always been there for me,” he added. “My grandpa used to play basketball, and he taught me a lot of things – he would always take the time to go out and shoot with me on the hoop at his house.

“And my grandma is just great – she has always been so encouraging to me.”

Viebrock, who has received interest from some junior colleges, including Walla Walla, said he will go to college no matter what, but envisions himself playing basketball somewhere next year.

“I can’t really explain it,” he said, “but I just love the game.”