Bengals prove too much for Vikings again

LEWISTON – In all likelihood, Booth Hall will not be missed by anyone on the Coeur d’Alene boys basketball squad.

Coeur d’Alene coach Kurt Lundblad was tossed by officials the last time the Vikings’ trekked to the Lewiston High gym, losing by 24 points amid a parade of technical fouls assessed against his team.

A return trip to Nez Perce County was required if the Vikings wanted to punch an early ticket to State.

Lundblad coached the entire way through this time, but his Vikings (18-5) still left flustered and disappointed falling 57-45 to the Bengals (11-7).

Coeur d’Alene hosts Post Falls at 7 p.m. on Thursday right for the right to play in a regional play-in game.

“I played for Coeur d’Alene high school and it was hard to win at Booth Hall back in the 80’s when I played here,” Lundblad said. “When you travel as far as that is, it’s just tough.”

The Vikings struggled to contain Lewiston standout Trystan Bradley, who used his 6-foot-7 wingspan to frustrate the Vikings and continually earn trips to the free-throw line.

Riley Way shot Coeur d’Alene out of its 2-3 zone with two quick 3-point baskets in the first quarter, meaning less help down low against Bradley.

The Lewiston junior did it again with back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter, allowing the Bengals to pull away from a 22-22 halftime gridlock.

“We didn’t come out as focused as we did at the beginning of the game, but overall we just didn’t execute,” Coeur d’Alene junior Joey Naccarato said. “We didn’t keep them off the glass, which is what lost us the game.”

Despite Brody Lundblad and Naccarato’s best efforts, Coeur d’Alene couldn’t string enough plays together to cut the lead back down to one possession.

Brody Lundblad hit a straight away trey with four seconds left in the third quarter to pull the Vikings back to within single digits and Naccarato scored nine fourth-quarter points – once pulling the Vikings within five – to keep the game in doubt through most of the fourth quarter.

And then it came back down rebounding.

Naccarato drained a 3 to cut the Lewiston lead to eight with 87 seconds remaining, quickly followed by a foul to send Bradley to the line. Lewiston’s lanky junior rebounded his own miss, allowing the Bengals to burn clock and steal momentum back.