SPIRIT LAKE — The Bulldogs took care of Timberlake on Thursday night, securing a 59-45 win in their season opener.

The Sandpoint boys have five sophomores and one freshman on varsity this year and some of their inexperience showed against the Tigers.

"We have a very young team and we played very hard, really got after it," head coach Wade Engelson said, "but being a young team we made a lot of mistakes."

It was a balanced attack for Sandpoint as nine players scored. Senior Darren Bailey led the team with 11 points and Rusty Lee had 10. Colin Roos, Jacob Eldridge and Ethan Butler each scored 8 points and Elijah Larson added 7.

"That’s a good basketball team; they’re going to push some people," Timberlake head coach Mike Menti said about the Bulldogs.

Engelson said it was an entertaining game to watch.

"I liked how our guys competed," he said, "and we're playing a fast, aggressive style of basketball and there's a learning curve right now with that, and while we did some good things, we still have room to grow."

The Bulldogs (1-0) won't get much rest. They play at Lewiston at 7 p.m. tonight.

Sandpoint 12 21 8 18 — 59

Timberlake 5 9 15 16 — 45

SANDPOINT — Roos 8, Frank 1, R. Lee 10, Eldridge 8, VanDenBerg 4, Bailey 11, S. Lee 2, Larson 7, Lane 0, Butler 8.

TIMBERLAKE — Olivieri 3, Riley 16, Taylor Menti 8, Paslay 0, Yetter 13, Millsap 5, Higgins 0, Tanner Menti 0, Simpson 0.