PREP BASKETBALL: Lakeland bounced by Sandpoint in first round of regionals

RATHDRUM — For the second time in three years, the Lakeland Hawks saw their season come to a premature end at the hand of the Sandpoint Bulldogs in the first round of the 4A Region 1 tournament.

On Monday night, the third-seeded Bulldogs scored the game’s last nine points to stun the second-seeded Hawks in a loser-out game at Hawk Court.

Sandpoint (10-12) will play at top-seeded Moscow (8-10) in a best-of-3 series for the regional title and the region’s lone berth to the state tournament next week at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian.

All three games are scheduled for Moscow. Game 1 is Wednesday, Game 2 is Friday and Game 3, if necessary, is Saturday.

Two years ago, Sandpoint won at Lakeland in double-overtime in the loser-out game to advance to the regional title series.

Lakeland, which won the regional title from the No. 3 seed last year and went to state, finishes 9-12. 

Junior Emerik Jones of Sandpoint scored the game’s last seven points, and finished with a game-high 21. His 3-pointer from the right wing tied the game at 62 with 1:44 left, and his putback with 1:03 remaining proved to be the game-winning points.

Lakeland missed three shots in the final minute, and a back-side lob in the waning seconds was stolen by Sandpoint to seal the game.

Senior Ben Ryan had 13 points and six rebounds for Lakeland. Sophomore Payton Hillman had 12 points and nine boards, Junior Gabe Harris 10 points and six rebounds, senior Kenton Ferguson five assists.

Lakeland jumped out to a 15-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Sandpoint cut it to 19-17 early in the second quarter, before the Hawks opened it up to 37-28 at the half on a 3 by Hillman at the buzzer.

Sandpoint took a 42-41 lead on two free throws by Logan Roos with 2:37 left in the third quarter.  But Lakeland finished the quarter on a 9-2 run, capped by Hillman’s 3 just before the buzzer.

The Hawks last scored with just under 3 minutes left for a 62-55 lead.

The 6-5 Jones also had seven rebounds and six blocked shots for Sandpoint.

Sandpoint     9     19     16     20    —    64

Lakeland     17     20     13     12    —    62

SANDPOINT — Jones 21, Childs 12, Gion 11, Chamberlain 9, Roos 8, Williams 3, Leisy 0, Leavitt 0. 

LAKELAND — Ryan 13, Hillman 12, Harris 10, Roth 8, Ferguson 8, Hensley 8, Weil 3, Norce 0.

Priest River 54

Kellogg 31

KELLOGG — Kellogg took both meetings from Priest River in Central Idaho League play.

But the postseason proved to be a different animal, and a slow start doomed the fourth-seeded Wildcats in a loss to the fifth-seeded Spartans in the loser-out first-round of the 2A District 1-2 tournament at Andrews Gymnasium.

Kellogg, hit hard by graduation after reaching the third-place game at state last year, finished 7-14.

Priest River (6-13) will play at top-seeded St. Maries (13-7) tonight at 6 in a semifinal game.

“It was the first taste of real postseason basketball for a lot of them,” fourth-year Kellogg coach Mike Martin said, “and we didn’t have our best stuff on the offensive end.”

Kellogg fell behind 14-7 after one quarter and 29-10 at halftime, committing 18 of its 20 turnovers in the final three quarters. 

“It felt like there was a lit on the basket,” Martin said. “We missed a couple bunnies right out of the game, and it set the tone for the rest of the night.”

Kellogg was saddled with foul trouble, and had one starter (senior Blake Coburn) ruled out after trying to play on a fractured foot for weeks.

Senior Reed Whatcott led the Wildcats with 14 points.

“With how wide open the league was, we really wanted to avoid this 4-5 matchup,” Martin said. There was not much of a gap between 1 and 5, and we were playing with fire. I was proud of the guys, how we competed with such a fresh roster. Hopefully it pays dividends down the road, but it doesn't make tonight any easier.”

Sophomore Ian Lamanna led a balanced Priest River attack with 11 points.

“They worked really hard tonight,” Martin said of Priest River. “You could tell they were prepped and locked in with our stuff, and they did a good job executing what they were trying to do from the start. Hats off to them.”

Priest River    14    15    14    11    —    54

Kellogg    7    3    9    12    —    31

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 4, Coleman 9, Staudt 8, Stifel 0, Lamanna 11, Hughes 0, Korff 4, Best 0, Cook 7, Hatten 5, Kreager 6.

KELLOGG — Robinson 0, Whatcott 14, Taylor 0, Blalack 0, Fields 0, Lewis 9, McDonald 6, Garry 0, Cheney 0, Vindasius 0, Honnerlaw 2.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Lakeland senior Tyler Norce drives to the basket against Sandpoint in a first-round game of the 4A Region 1 boys basketball tournament Monday night at Hawk Court in Rathdrum.