COEUR d'ALENE - They played very well in the first half, then struggled mightily to score in the second half.

But the Lake City Timberwolves found a way to scratch out just enough baskets and free throws down the stretch to topple the Coeur d'Alene Vikings 48-46 in the Fight for the Fish boys basketball spirit game Friday night at Lake City High.

Senior post Nick Hancock totaled 19 points and six rebounds for Lake City (8-5, 2-1 5A Inland Empire League), which built a 33-22 halftime lead, then managed 15 points and 18 turnovers in the final 20 minutes of the game as Coeur d'Alene (9-5, 1-2) picked up the defensive pressure.

"There was certainly good news and bad news in the game," Lake City coach Jim Winger said. "Sooner or later, we've got to settle down and understand we have to do little things, like bring up the ball up the floor and enter the ball ... In this environment, there's a little bit of an excuse, but still, it isn't a legitimate excuse. That part of the game was extremely, extremely disappointing. The beginning of the game, the first half, is how well we can play."

Earlier, in the girls game, sophomore post Lauren Rewers dominated inside with nine points, nine blocked shots and seven rebounds as Lake City (14-4, 2-2 5A IEL) pounded Coeur d'Alene (9-8, 0-4) 56-30.

An estimated 2,700 attended. Lake City High won the spirit competition, and retained the fish.

Lake City 48, Coeur d'Alene 46, OT: Facing a zone from Coeur d'Alene, Lake City made all four of its 3-pointers in the first half, three by Joe Pasquale, and finished the half on a 13-4 run to lead by 11 at the break.

Coeur d'Alene switched to a man-to-man defense, and Lake City struggled to run much against it. The Timberwolves scored two points and committed 11 turnovers in the third quarter, but still led 35-29.

Points remained at a premium in the fourth. Coeur d'Alene took the lead for the first time since early in the game on Brody Lundblad's steal and basket to put the Vikings ahead 39-38 with 2:40 remaining.

Hancock answered with a basket moments later, and Colby Daniels' free throw for Coeur d'Alene tied it at 40 with 1:56 left. Lake City had the ball the rest of the way, missing a jumper in the waning seconds to lead to overtime.

In the extra 4-minute period, Quinn Mitchell scored on a putback for Lake City, and Hancock's two free throws made it 44-40 with 2:23 left. The T-Wolves never trailed after that, making four free throws in the final minute to hold on.

Joe Naccarato's putback with 11 seconds left pulled Coeur d'Alene within 48-46. Lake City missed two free throws with 8.9 seconds left. Coeur d'Alene rushed the ball up the floor into the frontcourt, and with the cheering from both sides at a deafening level - of course, it sounded like that most of the game - the Vikings did not get off a shot before the buzzer sounded.

Lake City won despite scoring just three baskets in the second half and overtime.

"We just had two basic things - reverse the ball and don't get beat on the dribble," Winger said of his team's strategy. "I thought we did an excellent job of that (on defense)."

He said Lake City came out and did some "scatterbrain" stuff in the second half, and Coeur d'Alene made the T-Wolves pay defensively.

"And they're good at that," Winger said of the Vikings. "They're real physical athletes; they raise hell with you, and if you're not going to run it right, you're going to run into problems."

Lundblad and Daniels finished with 11 points each for Coeur d'Alene, and Naccarato had 10 points and seven rebounds. Tony Naccarato had nine points and 11 rebounds before fouling out midway through overtime.

Coeur d'Alene was 16 of 52 from the field, 11 of 20 from the line. The Vikings were 2 of 6 from the line in overtime.

"In the first half we didn't function very well on either end of the floor," Coeur d'Alene coach Kurt Lundblad said. "I thought in the second half we played better defensively, and dug in a little bit harder, and a little bit smarter ... right now, especially offensively, we're just dysfunctional. It's tough to win games when you're shooting it as poorly as we're shooting it right now, and we're not making free throws, we're not making open looks from 3, we're not making shots in the paint. We've got to clean some of that up and be far more efficient on the offensive end."

Pasquale finished with 12 points for Lake City, and Mitchell added eight points and eight rebounds.

"It (the win) means we have that potential, and we're going to keep getting better and better," said Hancock, who transferred from Coeur d'Alene to Lake City following his sophomore year. "We work on that (eliminating sloppy turnovers), we're going to be unstoppable."

Next Friday, Coeur d'Alene plays host to Lewiston, and Lake City travels to Post Falls.

Coeur d'Alene 12 10 7 11 6 - 46

Lake City 16 17 2 5 8 - 48

COEUR d'ALENE - J. Naccarato 10, Lundblad 11, Daniels 11, Schuon 1, Sparks 4, T. Naccarato 9, Lynn 0.

LAKE CITY - Goggin 4, Dotson 3, Hunter 0, Hughes 2, Pasquale 12, Colwell 0, Mitchell 8, Hancock 19.

Lake City 56, Coeur d'Alene 30: After a pair of double-digit losses at home in league play over the past eight days, the Timberwolves bounced back with an impressive performance in beating the Vikings for the third time in three tries this season.

"That's as well as we've played all season," Kelly said. "I've been challenging them all week, the last couple of weeks, to bring energy - what's the one thing you can do for the team to make it better."

With Rewers, the answer was, take your pick - scoring, rebounding or blocking shots.

"Having Lauren playing with some fire like that, she's tough to stop," Kelly said "She had that fire tonight, and she was great tonight."

Lake City held Coeur d'Alene to 4-of-25 shooting from the field in the first half in posting a 26-11 halftime lead. The Vikings went nine minutes between baskets, from early in the second quarter to midway through the third.

From the second quarter on, Lake City made a concerted effort to pound the ball inside to Rewers and Keara Simpson, who finished with eight points.

Clarissa Smith added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Timberwolves, and Natalie Wheelock had six points, four assists, five rebounds and a pair of steals.

"Those two posts (Rewers and Simpson) are tough to match up with down low," Kelly said. "And our two seniors, Clarissa and Natalie, really took charge. Just our energy was the difference tonight."

Emily Callahan led Coeur d'Alene with 12 points, and Kayla Fagan grabbed six rebounds.

Next Friday, Coeur d'Alene plays host to Lewiston, and Lake City travels to Post Falls.

Coeur d'Alene 5 6 9 10 -30

Lake City 10 16 16 14 - 56

COEUR d'ALENE - Miller 3, Horvath 0, Callahan 12, Fagan 2, Ellison 6, Rollins 1, Scholwinski 4, Hollibaugh 2.

LAKE CITY - Eborall 4, Dvorak 1, Carlson 2, K. Maryon 2, Wheelock 6, Vershum 0, Smith 10, O. Maryon 4, Rewers 9, P. Barber 0, Ruebke 3, Scott 2, Meier 5, Simpson 8.