Sandpoint made point to improve
With just one starter back from a team that qualified for state last season for the first time in 27 years, the Sandpoint High boys basketball team was picked to finish last in the seven-team Inland Empire League.
The Bulldogs finished next to last, losing seven straight league games to conclude the regular season. Then they opened the Region I tournament with a loss.
Even before the season started, Bulldogs coach Tyler Haynes conceded that his team would struggle at times. He based that largely on the fact that he had to replace four starters and key support positions with new players to varsity.
Still, this is what Haynes had to say in a preseason story in this newspaper: “I think we’ll be pleased with the overall season.”
That statement would stand as a grand understatement at this point. Sandpoint (11-13) opens play for a second straight year in the State 4A tourney today at Albertson College in Caldwell when the Bulldogs take on District VI champ Madison (19-5) at 5:15 p.m. PST. The game can be heard live in the Sandpoint area on KSPT (1400-AM).
The fact the Bulldogs are returning to state almost ranks as high as their accomplishment last year in finally ending the drought – at least in Haynes’ mind.
“Without a doubt this has been as satisfying as last year,” Haynes said. “I can’t say which is more impressive. Last year we had all the expectations. We were picked to win league and we got to state. This year the expectations weren’t as high.”
So how did the Bulldogs turn things around? Haynes gives all the credit to his three senior starters, the “Big Three” as he calls them – Brian Shultz, Chase Lowther and Michael Brewer.
“They showed a bunch of younger players how to compete,” Haynes said.
And how not to quit, as it turns out.
Haynes said his team had one of two options in the midst of its losing streak.
“They could have either quit or they could have partially quit and then decided to pull up their bootstraps and go to work,” Haynes said.
The Bulldogs did neither. They chose, as Haynes puts it, “Plan C.”
“They never quit and just continued to work hard,” Haynes said. “I never once had to give them the ‘rah-rah, pick-it-up speech.’ We always felt we could be this good of a team. They amaze me because they never quit.”
Sandpoint won three consecutive win-or-you’re-done games, and the Bulldogs did it in impressive fashion. They handled Lakeland 79-56 and followed with a convincing 54-39 win at Post Falls before rallying from a 13-point deficit late in the third quarter to knock off Bishop Kelly 62-58 in a play-in game Saturday.
Shultz, Lowther and Brewer have combined to average nearly 40 points a game. Schultz scores a team-leading 15.8, Lowther 12.5 and Brewer 11.4, and Lowther also chips in 5.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists. After the trio, it’s been contributions by committee, Haynes said.
“It took 20 games for my role players to step up,” Haynes said. “For a long time it was three on five offensively. Now we’re playing as a team. All they’re doing (the role players) is playing well. They’re not doing anything spectacular. But there’s a reason we’ve won three straight loser-out games.”
Haynes said it’s easy to explain why he never lost sight of the big picture, even in the middle of the season-ending losing streak.
“My kids kept me optimistic,” he said.
•Region I champ Moscow (15-7) takes on District IV runner-up Burley (12-11) at 12:15.
The Bears may play the toughest man-to-man defense of any team in the tourney. If they win, they will likely have a semifinal matchup against defending state champ and heavily favored Skyview (22-1).