No upper hand for T-Wolves
MARK NELKE | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 15 years, 2 months AGO
Mark Nelke covers high school and North Idaho College sports, University of Idaho football and other local/regional sports as a writer, photographer, paginator and editor at the Coeur d’Alene Press. He has been at The Press since 1998 and sports editor since 2002. Before that, Mark was the one-man sports staff for 16 years at the Bonner County Daily Bee in Sandpoint. Earlier, he was sports editor for student newspapers at Spokane Falls Community College and Eastern Washington University. Mark enjoys the NCAA men's basketball tournament and wiener dogs — and not necessarily in that order. | March 4, 2010 8:00 PM
NAMPA - As much as Lake City struggled in the first half, the Timberwolves still managed to put themselves in a position to catch up to the Borah Lions in the second half Thursday night at the Idaho Center.
But every time Lake City had a chance to finally pull even, either a shot wouldn't fall or Borah would hit a basket to keep the Timberwolves at bay.
The result - the Timberwolves came up short against Borah of Boise, 52-46 in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament.
"I'm disappointed we lost, certainly," Lake City coach Jim Winger said. "I just think we started off a little slow, a little timid. That was not our regular in-sync, get-after-it defense. We were a little on our heels and dug ourselves a hole."
Lake City (13-10) will play Rocky Mountain (15-10), a second-year school in Meridian, today at 2 p.m. PST in a loser-out game. Rocky Mountain lost to top-ranked Eagle (23-1) 76-58 earlier Thursday.
Lake City shot 8 for 24 in the first half - several close-in shots popping in and out - and fell behind by as much as 30-17 late in the first half.
J.J. Stoddard's 3-point play just before the half pulled Lake City within 10, then the comeback began in earnest in the second half.
Lake City pulled within 35-32 on a 3-pointer by Chris Wheelock, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Borah opened up a nine-point lead, and still led by seven after three quarters, then tried to run time off the clock the entire fourth quarter.
Wheelock sank back-to-back jumpers in the lane to bring the T-Wolves within 43-40 with 5:17 left.
A nice hustle play by Wes Beusan forced a Borah turnover with less than four minutes left. But Lake City then turned the ball over and Craig Spjute took the ball in for a layup and a five-point lead.
Wheelock hit another 3, and Mark Smyly hit a 3 with 1:42 left to pull Lake City within 48-46.
After a timeout, Borah (15-11) ran nearly a minute off the clock, then Ben Tucakovic cut down the lane, took a pass and scored on a layup to make it 50-46 Borah with 45 seconds left.
Lake City missed three straight 3-pointers, and Spjute sealed the win for Borah with two free throws with 4.1 seconds left.
"It just took us too long to get going; we came out slow," Wheelock said.
Stoddard finished with 11 points, Smyly had nine points and eight rebounds, and Beusan had nine points for Lake City, which shot 18 of 47 (38.3 percent) from the floor, including 5 for 21 (23.8 percent) for the game.
Spjute, a 6-foot-4 wing who led the 5A Southern Idaho Conference in scoring at 22.7 per game, finished with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting. He scored 14 in the first half, and Winger credited Lake City's overplaying defense on him in the second half as one key in the T-Wolves' comeback.
Tucakovic, a 6-6 sophomore, added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Lions. Borah shot 19 of 39 from the field, including 5 of 17 from 3-point range.
Spjute scored eight of his points in a 12-0 first-half run that hiked Borah's lead from 18-17 to 30-17.
"The second half was our real selves," Winger said. "We had a couple shots at it, but a couple didn't go in. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with them. I think we started playing defense the second half the way we played it all year."
Lake City, back at state for the first time since 2002, will look to bounce back today, and play for a trophy on Saturday.
"We don't want to go two and out; we want to have a little more pride than that," Wheelock said.
Borah 13 17 13 9 - 52
Lake City 8 12 16 10 - 46
BORAH - Wooley 3, Buzzini 0, Corpus 2, McCutchen 0, Tucakovic 14, Szuch 4, Lloid 0, Jones 6, Spjute 23. Totals 19-39 9-13 52.
LAKE CITY - Beusan 9, Smith 0, Wheelock 13, Smyly 9, Philp 2, Stoddard 11, Hartz 2. Totals 18-47 5-7 46.
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