COEUR d’ALENE — It’s been an up-and-down season for the Lake City High boys basketball team, and Friday’s 5A Inland Empire League opener was no exception.

Trailing by five at halftime, Lake City erupted for 48 second-half points and ran away from the Lewiston Bengals 75-57.

“We’re an on/off switch,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “We don’t have a middle. When we play well, the second half was the ‘on’ and the first half was the ‘off’. I just don’t know how to even explain how we can go from one end of the spectrum to the other. We’ve had two games where we did that the whole game, put ourselves in a tough spot. Really, the last five or six games we’ve played really well, and the light switch has been on.

“The key for us is if we have energy and we’re flying around on defense, everything else seems to follow. The second half was the best we’ve played all year, without question.”

Down 32-27 at the half, the Timberwolves switched to a zone defense and stalled Lewiston’s freewheeling offense. Forcing turnovers and runouts, Lake City (6-5) outscored the Bengals (6-5) 23-7 in the quarter, then piled on 25 more points in the fourth quarter. The T-Wolves, who had eight turnovers in the first half, had just four after intermission.

“We just wanted to try something different, to see if we could wake up a little bit, and it worked,” Winger said. “We played 10 times better, and it kind of put them into a walk; it took them totally out of their rhythm. We started feeding off our defense, one thing led to another, and we almost scored 50 points in the second half.”

Hunter Schaffer, a 5-11 senior guard, scored 22 of his 27 points in the second half for Lake City. He scored 14 in the third quarter, including the last nine points of the quarter to boost the Timberwolves’ lead to 50-39 after three. With Lake City up by two, Schaffer cut to the basket and scored a layup off a feed from Kyle Manzardo. He then hit a 3-pointer, then turned back-to-back steals into baskets.

“At halftime, I think he took a deep breath, and went out and had a little fun, and played the way he can play,” Winger said of Schaffer. “He can flat-out shoot it, and he’s a big leader for us. We feed off him for sure.”

James Carlson, Lake City’s top scorer, tallied 12 of his 22 points in the second half despite sitting half of the second half in foul trouble. He went to the bench after picking up his third foul with 5 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. His teammates picked up the slack for him and by the time he returned a little more than 2 minutes into the fourth, the T-Wolves had increased their lead to 58-45.

Lake City shot 62.5 percent (25 of 40) from the field, including 7 of 14 from 3-point range. Schaffer was 4 of 7 from behind the arc. Nic McCartin added 15 points, and Carlson also had nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

Lewiston opened the game on a 7-0 run, then used another 7-0 run late in the first half to forge its halftime lead. But a dry third quarter cost the Bengals, with a mostly new varsity lineup after graduating nine seniors off last year’s Region 1 championship squad that placed third at state.

“We didn’t weather a couple storms,” Lewiston coach Jayson Ulrich said. “We had a couple early turnovers, and it just compounded on us. They’ve got some veteran kids that knocked down some big shots, and we couldn’t match it.”

Cody McKenzie led Lewiston with 15 points, Donaven Santana added 13, Kyle Van Boeyen 12.

Braeden Wilson, one of the few returnees from last year, did not play. The 6-5 senior forward suffered a torn ACL in April. He returned to action recently, but in his fourth game back, Tuesday against Lakeland, he tweaked his knee, and the Bengals are awaiting further word from doctors on the injury.

“These guys just need a little more experience at this level, and we’re getting there,” Ulrich said. “We just haven’t put together that complete game yet.”

Lake City travels to Eastmont of East Wenatchee, Wash., today at 5.

Lewiston 13 19 7 18 — 57

Lake City 14 13 23 25 — 75

LEWISTON — McKenzie 15, Chapman 0, Wallace 0, Grainger 2, Ruddell 10, Spencer 5, Santana 13, Bradley 0, Forsman 0, Van Boeyen 12.

LAKE CITY — Sensel 0, McCartin 15, Manzardo 7, Carlson 22, Schaffer 27, Kiesbuy 3, Pollow 1, Spellman 0.