STATE 1A DIVISION I BOYS BASKETBALL: Lakeside earns another shot at mighty Lapwai

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

CALDWELL — Junior point guard Brutis SiJohn is normally a facilitator for the Lakeside High boys basketball team.

But on Friday night, the third-seeded Knights needed every one of his 16 points to ward off the second-seeded Grace Grizzlies 53-51 in the semifinals of the state 1A Division I boys basketball tournament Friday night at Vallivue High.

“He’s more than capable,” Lakeside coach James Twoteeth said. “He has games like that. (But) he likes to run our team, run our offense.”

Lakeside (17-3) advances to the state title game for the first time since moving up from 1A Division II two years ago, and will get a rematch with the juggernaut which is Lapwai (26-0), winners of 62 straight games, today at 10:30 a.m. PST at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

In early January, Lakeside lost 89-76 at Lapwai. Only two teams have lost by less to the Wildcats this year — Baker (Ore.) and 5A Lewiston.

“It feels great,” Twoteeth said. “It’s crazy, because we never thought we’d be there. Everybody down south, they’re counting us out … they really don’t know how good our group is.

“(But) we know; I just told them that in the locker room; you guys know how good you are; the community knows how good you are. So just go out and prove it.”

“We had a chip on our shoulder going into state,” SiJohn said.

With Lakeside trying to close out Grace (21-5) down the stretch, SiJohn struggled from the free-throw line, missing four of his first five from the line. With 5.9 seconds left, he hit the second of two to put Lakeside up by three.

“I was just mad that I kept missing them,” SiJohn said. “It was really scary at the end.”

Grace inbounded to senior Ty Gilbert, who led all scorers with 17 points. He drove the ball up the sideline, in front of the benches, then cut toward the middle and got off what he thought was a 3-pointer just before the buzzer.

The Knights fouled him, and Grace had visions of three free throws for the tie. But the officials ruled he had stepped on the 3-point line before he shot, and he was awarded two free throws with 0.4 seconds left. He sank the first one. In trying to deliberately miss the second one and chase after it, he was called for lane violation.

“They said he stepped on the line,” Grace coach Rory Lloyd said. “I thought he was behind the line … we knew a 2 wasn’t going to do us any good. I guess I’ll go back and watch it on film.”

Freshman Tyson Charley added 13 points for Lakeside, and Vander Brown, the team’s lone senior, added 8. Junior Blaze Callahan had seven points off the bench.

In 2020, in its last season in 1A Division II, Lakeside won its second state title, and first since 1997, when Twoteeth was a player. After moving up, the Knights placed third at state in 2021, then lost in a state play-in game last year.

The Knights say they’re confident taking on Lapwai again. On Friday, before Lapwai took the floor for its semifinal, Wildcat fans rooted for Lakeside. Lapwai then went out and beat fourth-seeded Castleford 64-43, and will be playing for its 13th state title today.

“We’re ready for Lapwai; I think Lapwai’s going to be ready for us,” Twoteeth said. “We’re two native communities, both have Native American reservations. To have two native (communities) in the finals, that’s awesome. It’s weird; we know pretty much all of them, and they know all of us, from powwows and all that stuff. We have relatives between the reservations. We’re kind of a close community; we’re kind of rooting for each other. It’s going to be awesome.”

Lakeside 14 13 11 15 — 53

Grace 10 10 14 17 — 51

LAKESIDE — Brown 8, SiJohn 16, Callahan 7, Hall 4, Hendrickx 5, Charley 13. Totals 19-38 14-21 53.

GRACE — Mickelson 10, Gilbert 17, K. Clegg 1, Reeves 7, Lloyd 0, Anderson 4, J. Clegg 2, Draper 10. Totals 18-45 9-12 51.