Vikings make title game
NAMPA, Idaho – Surely, there is room in the Coeur d’Alene High School trophy case for more state championship hardware.
Trying to match what the girls did two weeks ago, the Coeur d’Alene boys advanced to the State 5A championship game with a hard-fought 65-57 win over Eagle in the semifinals Friday at the Idaho Center.
The No. 1-ranked Vikings (22-2) take on second-ranked Vallivue (22-3) tonight. The game begins at 7 PST and can be seen live on a Web cast by IdahoSports.com or heard on KVNI (1080-AM).
Vallivue defeated CdA 69-56 for fourth last year.
Lewiston stayed alive for a trophy, knocking off Timberline 54-46. The Bengals (16-8) will take on Madison (16-10) for fourth.
Highland (21-3) faces Eagle (19-6) in the third-place game.
Coeur d’Alene 65, Eagle 57: It’s the first time since 2002 that a North Idaho team is playing in the final. It’s also the first time CdA is playing for the title since 1998 when the Vikings won under then-coach Larry Bieber.
The Vikings reminded their coach, Kent Leiss, what he predicted would happen after their last loss – that CdA would win its final 13 games. The Vikings are one win away.
CdA had to survive some chaotic moments in the final 5 minutes – frenetic spurts that the Vikings often impose on opponents.
A driving basket by senior guard Nate Clinton gave CdA a 54-45 lead with 5:27 to go.
But the Vikings committed four turnovers against the Mustangs’ trapping pressure (seven in the period), and Eagle took advantage.
A 3-pointer by Dallas Yorgason allowed Eagle to creep within 56-55 with 2:17 remaining.
CdA didn’t cave in. Senior wing Johnny Carlson got open underneath and took a nice pass from senior post Brad Mitchell. Carlson’s basket put CdA ahead 58-55 with 1:46 to go.
Another Yorgason basket cut the lead to 58-57. But the Vikings made 5 of 8 free throws in the final 1:12 and sophomore Devon Austin scored a layup in transition as CdA scored the game’s final seven points to thwart Eagle’s frantic rally.
“It’s big for the program,” Leiss said. “I told these guys after the (Fight for the) Fish game – tongue in cheek, but I was serious to them – that we were going to win 13 in a row. I would tell them every day. They believed me. They told me in there (the locker room) we’ve got one to go.”
Leiss was more than mildly concerned, though, when the Mustangs made a late charge. So, too, was Clinton.
“I think it was one of those things where we weren’t sure if we should keep pressing it and scoring or just hold it,” Clinton said. “We didn’t know and we coughed it (up) and they capitalized on those turnovers. It was just chaos pretty much. But we made our free throws down the stretch and put them away.”
Part of CdA’s problem was it hasn’t been trapped by a team with such taller players.
“They’re big, so when they trap you just can’t see anything,” Vikings senior guard Andrew Prohaska said. “We just kind of got a little tentative and didn’t try to look to score. We were just trying to preserve the lead.”
For a second straight game, Austin came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points. Clinton, who finished the first half missing five consecutive shots, hit his first 3-pointer in the third quarter on his way to scoring 17. Prohaska chipped in 11 to go with four steals, three assists and three rebounds.
The shorter Vikings outrebounded Eagle 32-26. Senior forward Jon Latorre led with six.
Eagle coach Tom Seifert said his team couldn’t counter CdA’s quickness.
“There are some teams that have two or three as quick, but not a group of five or seven or eight kids,” Seifert said. “Holy cow. They come off the bench and their jets are going. We have quick kids here, but not in that number.”
Lewiston 54, Timberline 46: The Wolves’ athletic 6-foot-5 B.J. Shearry dunked over the Bengals’ 6-8 Peter Gregg, pulling Timberline within 46-43 with 2:56 to go.
That’s as close as Timberline would get as the Bengals finished strongly.
Steven Heitzman led the balanced Bengals with 11 points as nine of 10 players scored. He also had five rebounds and two assists.