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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lewiston blocks LC from state

Mike Saunders Correspondent

Nobody is going to accuse this year’s Lewiston basketball team of being an offensive juggernaut.

But consistent improvement late in the season, combined with rock-solid defense, brought the Bengals something much more important than scoring accolades Saturday. The Bengals earned their seventh straight trip to the state tournament with a 38-37 victory over Lake City at the 5A Region I tournament.

Lewiston (15-7) will meet District III runner-up Vallivue at 7 p.m. PST Thursday in the final game of opening-day action at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

After a tough setback at Coeur d’Alene in Friday night’s regional championship, Bengals senior wing Steven Heitzman described the emotional roller coaster.

“It’s kind of a blur right now, you know,” said Heitzman, who finished with just four points but was all over the court all night, collecting four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. “We were hoping to win last night and go to state, but we’re going to state tonight. … Whatever way you have to do it, we just got together and pulled it off.”

The loser-out, winner-to-state contest featured eight ties and seven lead changes. Unfortunately for the T-Wolves, none of those happened during a fourth quarter in which neither team seemed willing, or able, to administer the coup de grace.

Not helping LC’s cause was the foul trouble of 6-foot-6 senior standout Nick Fromm, who missed much of the third quarter and fouled out with 2:35 left in the fourth.

Twice, though, LC pulled to within one in the final period, the second coming with 23 seconds left when Trent Bridges drilled a clutch 3-pointer from the left wing to make the score 38-37.

That 3-pointer, however, was LC’s lone bucket from beyond the arc in the game. After Lewiston’s Justin Podrabsky and Ridge Fuentes each missed a pair of double-bonus foul shots in the waning seconds, Bridges, with defensive pressure in his face, missed one final 3 at the end.

LC coach Jim Thacker lamented his team’s lack of offensive firepower, caused in large part to a couple of key injuries, and pointed to his team’s 14-for-22 free-throw shooting.

“I feel bad for my seniors, especially – they put a lot of hard work in,” Thacker said.

“But they played hard, and we got back in it … and we actually had a couple of looks there at the end.”

•Darrick Holmquist scored 13 points and the Wallace Miners clinched a berth in the State 1A playoffs with a 47-38 victory over the Lakeside Knights in 1A District 1 play at Kellogg High School.

Marcus Matile added 11 points and Jared Bilaski 10 for Wallace.

Merlin Weaslehead had 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists for Lakeside.

•Moscow earned a State 4A berth with a 61-39 win over visiting Lakeland.