COEUR d’ALENE — After watching his team go a ghastly 0 for 8 from the free-throw line in the first half, as well as seeing some other unseemly play, veteran Lake City boys basketball coach Jim Winger reverted to the Jim Winger of his younger days at halftime.

“For this day and age, I kind of challenged them,” Winger said. “I don’t do that as much as I used to. Some of the things we did at the beginning of the game ... we needed to play like we’d been out there before.”

Trailing by two points at halftime, Lake City took the lead late in the third quarter. The Timberwolves defended a slim lead throughout the fourth quarter and, helped by Kenny Louie-McGee’s 31 points, held off the Coeur d’Alene Vikings 66-60 in the boys Fight for the Fish spirit game Friday night at Lake City.

In the girls game, Nina Carlson had 17 points and Lauren Rewers had 16 points and nine blocked shots as Lake City wore Coeur d’Alene down with its size in a 55-37 victory.

“That’s our M.O.,” Lake City girls coach Bryan Kelly said. “We have to identify our mismatches, and take advantage of them.”

An estimated 2,600 watched the 19th annual spirit games between the city rivals.

The games counted in the 5A Inland Empire League standings. Lake City’s boys (10-2, 1-1 5A IEL), winless in league last year, snapped a seven-game losing streak in league play, while Coeur d’Alene dropped to 4-6, 1-2.

Lake City’s girls improved to 13-3, 2-1 and Coeur d’Alene dipped to 5-8, 0-4.

Lake City won the Fish, given to the school judged to have shown the most spirit, for the seventh straight time.

On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene’s boys and girls are home vs. Lakeland, and Lake City’s boys and girls are home vs. Lewiston in rescheduled games.

• BOYS

Lake City 66, Coeur d’Alene 30: Louie-McGee, a 5-11 senior guard, scored 22 of his 31 points in the second half, 15 in the fourth quarter to help the Timberwolves hold off the Vikings. He scored 10 of Lake City’s last 11 points, including the T-Wolves’ final six.

“He can shoot it; he does all the time in practice,” Winger said. “I figured sooner or later he was going to put something together like that. Perfect moment.”

Louie-McGee was 12 of 25 from the field, including 3 for 9 from 3-point range. Many of his points came on jumpers in the lane, despite being tightly guarded by the Vikings.

“He’s a tough player,” said Coeur d’Alene coach Tony Hanna, who thought about putting a player with more length on him, but feared that might hurt the Vikings on Lake City’s offensive glass. “Sometimes you’ve just got to tip your hat; he hit some tough shots.”

James Carlson added 14 points and three blocked shots for Lake City, and Kodie Kolden had 10 points and handled Coeur d’Alene’s pressure about as well as Winger could have hoped.

Joey Naccarato had 22 points and 15 rebounds for Coeur d’Alene, and Colson Yankoff added 17 points and eight boards.

Lake City committed 14 turnovers in the first half, but only three after intermission.

Lake City led by as much as eight points twice in the fourth quarter, and still led 58-51 when Louie-McGee banged down a 3 from the right baseline with just over 2 minutes to play.

Coeur d’Alene, which punished Lake City on the offensive glass, pulled within 60-58 on two free throws by Sam Matheson, who finished with 11 points, with 43.4 seconds remaining. The Vikings then stole the inbounds pass on the press, but missed an open jumper. Naccarato’s driving layup with 15.5 seconds left pulled Cd’A within 62-60. But Louie-McGee sank two free throws, and after the Vikings missed a 3, Kyle Manzardo rebounds and fed ahead to Louie-McGee for the clinching layup with 2 seconds to go.

“I figured we’d get beat on the boards,” Winger said, “but if we could get to loose balls, we can put up some points.”

After three quarters, Lake City was 3 of 14 from the free-throw line. But the Timberwolves somehow found the mark from the line in the fourth quarter, sinking 11 of 16 to finish 14 of 30 from the line.

Lake City shot 24 of 49 from the field. Coeur d’Alene was just 18 of 58 from the floor, 18 of 29 from the line.

“They did a pretty good job of handling our pressure,” Hanna said. “We kept fighting, but they hit some big shots.”

Coeur d’Alene 8 16 13 23 — 60

Lake City 15 7 17 27 — 66

COEUR d’ALENE — Delbridge 2, Kofmehl 3, Johnson 0, Matheson 11, Yankoff 17, Bronson 0, Beggerly 2, Naccarato 22, I. Edwards 3, K. Edwards 0.

LAKE CITY — Louie-McGee 31, Kolden 10, Womelduff 0, Butler 3, McCartin 0, Manzardo 4, Carlson 14, Schaffer 1, Neville 3, Pollow 0.

• GIRLS

Lake City 55, Coeur d’Alene 37: A 3-pointer by Taryn Horvath, who hit three in the game for Coeur d’Alene and finished with nine points, tied the game at 18 with some 3 minutes left in the first half.

But Lake City closed the half on a 9-0 run — Rewers hit a basket, Chloe Teets scored from the right baseline, Carlson sank a 3, then fed a cutting Bridget Rieken for a layup — to lead 27-18 at the break.

Coeur d’Alene came no closer than seven in the second half.

Carlson scored 11 of her points in the first half.

Teets, the point guard, finished with 11 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals, and Rieken had 8 points and 13 rebounds.

“It’s nice to have them back,” Kelly said of Teets and Rieken, who missed last week’s home league loss to Post Falls while participating in a club soccer tournament in Phoenix.

Kayla Fagan scored 11 points for Coeur d’Alene, which battled all night, but shot just 11 of 43 against the taller T-Wolves.

“They’re big; that’s a big team,” Coeur d’Alene coach Scott Stockwell said. “And they put a smackdown on us after that run. And we couldn’t respond, couldn’t get over the hump, couldn’t make baskets.”

“We can get out and pressure, and when you have 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 behind you, you’re in good shape,” Kelly said.

Coeur d’Alene 10 8 10 9 — 37

Lake City 14 13 12 16 — 55

COEUR d’ALENE — Minerath 0, Morton 0, Horvath 9, Fagan 11, Horning 6, Kane 6, Louden 4, Hollibaugh 1.

LAKE CITY — Barber 0, Carlson 17, Rieken 8, Teets 11, Rewers 16, Halliday 0, Simpson 3.