Coeur d'Alene soars past Sandpoint in the second half

COEUR d'ALENE — Tuesday's 5A-4A Inland Empire League opener at Coeur d'Alene was a tale of two halves for Sandpoint boys basketball.

In the first half, the Bulldogs hung tight with the undefeated Vikings and only trailed by three at the break. But in the second half, Coeur d'Alene caught fire.

The Vikings hit four of their seven 3-pointers in the third quarter and outscored Sandpoint 28-10 to secure a 69-44 victory over the Bulldogs.

"They came out and made some shots," head coach Brian Childs said, "... and they kind of just opened it up from there."

Childs said the Bulldogs couldn't buy a basket all night and Coeur d'Alene made life difficult for them with their pressure.

"We had a hard time scoring tonight ... and getting into our stuff," he said, "and I thought that was a big difference, especially in the second half when we needed it."

Parker Childs led the team with 10 points and Ethan Butler and Jacob Eldridge each had 9. Randy Lane added 7 and Arie VanDenBerg tallied 6.

Prior to the game, a moment of silence was held to remember the late Don Haynes, a 1948 Coeur d’Alene High grad who coached the Vikings from 1988-92 and retired in Sandpoint. Don died this September at the age of 91. His son, Tyler Haynes, coached the Bulldogs for a number of years.

Sandpoint (1-2, 0-1 IEL) hosts Kellogg at 7 p.m. Thursday at Les Rogers Court for its home opener.

Sandpoint 7 13 10 14 — 44

Coeur d’Alene 13 10 28 18 — 69

SANDPOINT — Johansen 0, Allshouse 0, Lee 3, Eldridge 9, VanDenBerg 6, Dunkel 0, Dickinson 0, Childs 10, Lane 7, Kuhn 0, Butler 9.

COEUR d’ALENE — Entzi 6, King 6, Ivankovich 0, C. Larson 9, Farrar 7, Wellsandt 0, Nipp 9, Cope 11, Burgess 14, Orchard 7, G. Larson 0.