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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lewiston ‘reverses’ LC, gains regional title game

Mike Saunders Correspondent

Timing is everything, and Lewiston proved it Friday night against Lake City in the opening round of the 5A Region I boys basketball tournament at Coeur d’Alene High School.

The Bengals, swept by the T-Wolves in the regular season, played possibly their best game of the season, getting 17 points from junior guard Ridge Fuentes and 14 from senior wing Steven Heitzman, in a 50-35 victory to earn a spot in Friday’s regional championship game.

Lewiston (14-6), the No. 3 seed, awaits the winner of tonight’s contest between No. 1 Coeur d’Alene (18-2) and No. 4 Post Falls (8-12) scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip at CHS. No. 2 Lake City (16-5) faces tonight’s loser Friday in a loser-out affair at the home of the higher seed.

Lewiston coach Dave Cornelia, who has endured his share of lows this season, described the night’s high.

“Other than a stretch at the end of the first half, that’s as good of basketball as we’ve played all year – on both ends,” said Cornelia.

“What we’ve done is earn ourselves at least two more games.”

The Bengals, thanks in large part to the 3-point shooting of junior guard Ridge Fuentes, went out to a 13-2 lead, capped by the third of three Fuentes 3s at the 3:33 mark of the first quarter.

But the T-Wolves battled right back, cutting the deficit to three at 15-12 with a 10-2 run that ended with Jason Wheelock’s look-what-I-found 3-pointer at the buzzer ending the first period.

After a back-and-forth second quarter, Lake had to feel like it had some momentum heading into the locker room tied at 23.

The Bengals, however, started the second half in much the same way they did the first, with Ridge hitting two more 3-pointers in a 13-4 run that stretched the lead to nine at 36-27.

LC got as close as four when Nick Fromm muscled one from in down low to make it 37-33 two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Lewiston, benefiting from hard-nosed play in the blocks and a few lucky bounces as well, cruised the rest of the way.

Lake City coach Jim Thacker said his team worked hard, but caught few breaks against the red-hot Bengals.

“We didn’t come out in the first quarter very good and got down 10-1,” Thacker said. “In the second half, it was the same thing – they take it to us right out of the gate and then we’re on our heels and trying to catch up.

“You just can’t do that against a quality team like Lewiston, and that was the difference.”

Aaron Corsi scored a game-high 29 points on 12-of-17 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds to lead St. Maries past Timberlake 75-47 in a 3A District I tournament game at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene. Josh Masterson added 11 points for the Lumberjacks (10-11), who advance to play top-seeded Kellogg today. Levi Powers had 19 points and seven boards to lead the Tigers (0-21), who were eliminated.

Mike Martin had 23 points, seven assists and five steals to lead Clark Fork past Lakeside (Plummer) 59-55 in a North Star League game in Clark Fork. Jared Broggi added 15 points and 15 rebounds for the Wampus Cats (14-4, 8-1). Jeremiah Brunelle scored 26 points and Merle Bighead added 18 to lead the Knights (12-5, 6-4).