CdA edges Lake City in IEL opener

The Coeur d’Alene and Lake City boys basketball teams each had countless opportunities to wrest control in their 5A Inland Empire League opener Thursday.

In the end, the Vikings’ steadier hands and better defense when things got tight were just enough, as Coeur d’Alene held off the visiting Timberwolves 50-49 in overtime.

Brody Lundblad made 1 of 2 foul shots with 14 seconds left for the winning margin.

The Timberwolves had a chance to tie it or even take the lead with three seconds to go but missed both free throws, and Joey Naccarato secured the final rebound for CdA.

It was nothing short of a miracle that LC had a chance to go to overtime. Joe Pasquale hit a 50-footer at the buzzer to knot the score at 44, forcing overtime. Moments earlier, Pasquale missed an open 3-pointer.

“For the first league game of the year it was extremely intense,” CdA coach Kurt Lundblad said. “We know any time we play Lake City in any sport, it doesn’t matter who is supposed to win or who is supposed to lose it’s always a battle. I thought it was a great basketball game.”

For three quarters, the Timberwolves did what they needed to do to give themselves a chance by slowing the game’s pace.

That went out the window, though, in the fourth quarter. The T-Wolves, who had committed just eight turnovers in the first 24 minutes, had eight in the fourth and three more in OT.

“Some of those are on Coeur d’Alene’s part for good defense but a great portion of those were with nobody even on us,” LC coach Jim Winger said. “It’s pretty hard to win an IEL game against your rival on the road turning the ball over like we turned it over. We had every opportunity to win that game. The full story is turnovers. Then we missed a lot of free throws again. But it’s just turnovers.”

Once the teams settled into the game, neither had more than a 5-point lead.

The teams battled through foul trouble in the first half before going into halftime tied at 24.

Pasquale opened the third period hitting a 3-pointer and a jumper to give LC (5-5) its biggest lead, 31-26.

The teams traded baskets early in the fourth. Colby Daniels got a steal and a breakaway layup to put the Viks (8-3) ahead 44-41 with 1:17 to go before Pasquale’s dramatic tying shot.

Brody Lundblad led CdA with 14 points and Daniels had 12.

For LC, Nick Hancock had a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds and Pasquale added 15 points and six rebounds.

“I thought there were a few opportunties where we could have put the game away and that 3-pointer from halfcourt wouldn’t have mattered,” coach Lundblad said. “I wanted to transiton more (but) they’re big and I feel like we’re a little more athletic than they are. Jim and that whole staff do a great job of controlling tempo.”

LC played without point guard Jerry Louie-McGee, who broke his knee cap sledding.