Carlson, tough defense fuel Lake City in opener

SPOKANE VALLEY — James Carlson scored 10 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter, leading the Lake City Timberwolves past the East Valley Knights 57-39 in the nonleague opener for both schools on Tuesday night.

“We guarded the ball really well tonight and kept the ball in front of us,” Lake City assistant coach Kelly Reed said. “The pressure we applied on defense was the key to the game tonight. Offensively, we shared the ball well and got a lot of easy looks and executed really well.”

Hunter Schaffer scored 12 points and Kyle Manzardo added 11 for Lake City, which travels to West Valley on Saturday.

Lake City 11 14 21 11 — 57

East Valley 5 9 9 16 — 39

LAKE CITY — Street 0, Sensel 0, Irvin 0, McCartin 8, Manzardo 11, Carlson 23, Schaffer 12, Kiesbuy 3, Hanson 0, Pollow 0, Spellman 0.

EAST VALLEY — Zurfluh 7, Hargrave 8, Rasmussen 0, Sior 4, Brown 5, Johnston 5, Holmes 2, Mallet 3, Gesik 5.

Lewiston 64

Timberlake 53

LEWISTON — A cold stretch in the third quarter was the difference for the visiting 3A Tigers, who battled the 5A Bengals before falling in the season opener at Booth Hall.

Jacob James scored 13 points, Jordan Hardy 11 for Timberlake.

“For a first game, we played well,” Timberlake coach Michael Scott said. “We shot the ball well, and we just had a dry stretch in the third quarter where they got up on us by 10 or so, then we had to foul.”

Kyle Van Boeyen scored a game-high 24 points for Lewiston.

“He’s a load,” Scott said. “We didn’t have any answer for him. He’s strong underneath.”

Donaven Santana added 16 for the Bengals, who are without one of their few returnees from last year’s Region 1 champions, Braeden Wilson, expected back after Christmas as he recovers from a torn ACL.

Timberlake travels to Sandpoint on Thursday.

Timberlake 11 18 11 15 — 53

Lewiston 18 15 20 11 — 64

TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 11, Wilfong 7, Cramer 8, Meijerink 5, Counts 2, Kluss 5, James 13, Gardom 0, Kistler 2.

LEWISTON — McKenzie 5, Chapman 1, Wallace 9, Granger 0, Russell 2, Spencer 4, Santana 16, Bradbury 3, Sullivan 0, Forsman 0, Van Boeyen 24.

St. Maries 76

Sandpoint 63

SANDPOINT — Jackson Pritchard hit seven first half 3-pointers en route to a team-high 26 points, and Glover Buell added 21 points to lead the 2A Lumberjacks past the 4A Bulldogs in the nonleague season opener for both teams at Les Rogers Court.

Robbie Johnson scored a game-high 27 points for Sandpoint.

St. Maries plays host to Liberty of Spangle, Wash., on Saturday.

St. Maries 21 21 18 16 — 76

Sandpoint 12 19 17 15 — 63

ST. MARIES — Sampson 4, Duffield 6, Lohman 7, Sands 9, Pritchard 26, Buell 21, Howard 3.

SANDPOINT — Vernon 7, Dalthorp 6, Niemela 4, Plummer 0, Treadaway 0, Jones 5, Johnson 27, VanDenBerg 0, Pettit 1, Casey 0, Stockton 13.

N.I. Christian 73

Lakeside 60

PLUMMER — Cross Pilgrim had 30 points and six assists for the Royals in a nonleague win over the Knights in the season opener for both at Ron Miller Court.

Day Day Higgins scored 22 points for Lakeside, which travels to Garfield-Palouse on Friday.

Garrett White had 22 points and 10 rebounds for North Idaho Christian, which travels to Clark Fork on Thursday.

N.I. Christian 20 23 15 15 — 73

Lakeside 11 11 23 15 — 60

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Kelly 5, Connelly 5, Winde 4, C. Pilgrim 30, Kelly 1, W. Pilgrim 6, White 22.

LAKESIDE — Higgins 22, Twoteeth 5, Sanchez 12, Abuan 3, Hall 2, SpottedHorse 7, White 9.