Bobcats befuddle Bulldogs
CALDWELL, Idaho – Sandpoint took Plan A and Plan B away from Madison on Thursday at Albertson College in the first round of the State 4A boys basketball tournament.
Plan C, though, was the Bobcats’ best.
The Bobcats drilled four consecutive 3-pointers in the third quarter to blow open a close game, moving into today’s semifinals with a 62-46 win.
Sandpoint (11-14) dropped into the consolation bracket and will play Century (16-8) at 2 p.m. PST today at Albertson.
Sandpoint coach Tyler Haynes said he geared his defense to stop Madison’s penetration, which is the Bobcats’ No. 1 option against both man-to-man and zone defenses.
“We did a great job of stopping their penetration,” Haynes said. “… They executed Plan C so well. They did a great job of going to their third option.”
Sandpoint’s offense struggled all night. The Bulldogs put together a couple of scoring spurts and took the lead in each of the first two quarters, but couldn’t find consistency, shooting 26.2 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs trailed just 29-24 at halftime and Michael Brewer’s driving layup made it 35-32 with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
Madison coach Bill Hawkins called a timeout to halt a 7-0 Sandpoint run.
“The thing we talked about was we needed to get better ball movement and a little bit better body movement, because we weren’t getting any of that kind of stuff,” Hawkins said. “We really were standing around. That makes your shots fall a little bit better if you’re getting good movement.”
After each team missed a shot, Judd Johnson scored inside to give Madison a five-point led.
That’s when long shots started falling.
Matt Hansen, a center who scored 14 points off the bench, hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Twenty-three seconds later, and standing in the same spot, Hansen hit again.
Sheldon Nielsen drained a 3-pointer from the other wing on the next possession. After Sandpoint answered with a banked 3-pointer, Johnson connected on a 3 from the corner.
The string of 3-pointers keyed a 14-3 run that put the Bobcats on top 49-35.
“I kept us in the zone too long,” Haynes said. “After two 3s, I probably should have gotten us out of it. Our kids were running the defense that we asked them to run to perfection.”
The Bulldogs pulled within eight points a couple of times, but letdowns on the defensive glass and poor offensive execution derailed their comeback attempts.
Brian Shultz led Sandpoint with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Brewer added 12 points.
Moscow 57, Burley 48: The Bears played stellar first-half defense, then held on in the second to move into the quarterfinals with a win over the Bobcats.
The Bears (16-7) jumped to a 13-point lead and held Burley to 20 percent field-goal shooting before the half. Burley outshot Moscow 46-37 percent in the second half, but the Bears used an 11-0 advantage on second-chance points to keep Burley in check.
Cody Line scored 16, and Anthony Williams and Brad Herrenbruck chipped in 11 points each for Moscow. Herrenbruck also pulled down 12 rebounds.