By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

NAMPA — For the first few minutes, the Coeur d’Alene Vikings looked like a team that hadn’t been to state in 12 years.

“One thousand percent,” Viking senior guard Logan Orchard said of state tournament nerves. “We needed about 3 minutes to settle down, and after that timeout, we came out and we were good.”

After seventh-seeded Lake City torched second-seeded Coeur d’Alene from deep early, the Vikings started clamping down on defense, their scorers started scoring, and Coeur d’Alene built a lead en route to a 60-49 victory over their city rivals on Thursday in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

“We won with our defense, which has been our hallmark,” said fourth-year Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams, whose squad was at state for the first time since 2012.

Sophomore Caden Symons scored 18 points, junior Carter Rupp 16 for Coeur d’Alene, which notched its first win at state since 2011, when the Vikings finished third.

Coeur d’Alene (21-3) will play third seed Timberline (21-4) of Boise in a semifinal tonight at 6 PST. A win would put the Vikings in the state title game for the first time since 2008.

Timberline beat sixth seed Eagle 49-32. 

Lake City (16-10) will play Eagle (17-10) today at 1 p.m. PST at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian in a loser-out game.

Coeur d’Alene beat Lake City by 15 and 25 points during Inland Empire League play. But the Timberwolves came out firing — and hitting — in the first quarter. 

Lake City, the reigning state champions who returned just two players who saw significant action last year, hit its first three shots — all 3-pointers, by Reese Strawn, Jordan Carlson and Cason Miller.

Coeur d’Alene, meanwhile, had three turnovers in its first four possessions, and Adams called timeout just 2:09 in.

Lake City finished the first quarter 6 of 9 from deep, capped by another 3 from Carlson, a freshman, for a 20-18 lead after one.

“Lake City can shoot the leather off the ball, and we knew that coming in,” said Orchard, who has signed with NAIA Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. “They came out shooting hot. I think we underestimated them honestly, since we beat them twice … it took us (a bit) to get us locked in defensively.”

After that early flurry, Orchard took over guarding Strawn. The T-Wolves made just 2 of 15 3-pointers over the final three quarters.

Coeur d’Alene took control with a 20-5 second quarter, closing the half on an 18-3 run, then built its lead to 43-27 on a 3 by Rupp midway through the third quarter.

“When you lose to your crosstown rival two times in a row, and you get lucky enough to get them at state, all you want to do is come out and hit them in the mouth, which we did offensively for the first half of the first quarter,” said Strawn, a junior and key reserve on last year’s undefeated title team. “That second quarter specifically killed us. We had a couple of sets (early) that were new to try to get me going that they hadn’t seen. But Logan’s a great defender. … it’s hard to get going against a guy like that.”

Strawn scored 11 points in the first quarter, but only six the rest of the way. His three 3s all came in the first quarter.

“I tried my best not to let him get the ball, because he’s good — he can shoot it,” Orchard said.

Symons, the Vikings’ second-leading scorer, had 12 of his points in the first half — six in the first quarter, including his team’s first five. Rupp, the team’s leading scorer, who came into the game with 74 3s on the season, was 4 of 7 from deep.

“Carter is just explosive,” Adams said. “You’ve got to get him shots because he’s got an itchy trigger finger. And he only needs an inch. He hit some big shots, and Caden played great … he actually came out and hit some of the biggest shots to keep it close.”

Orchard finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Kai Wheeler had eight points and 10 boards, and Max Entzi had seven points and seven rebounds off the bench.

“One step out,” Adams said of the Vikings defense after the early going. “Against a good shooting team, let’s get out one step further, make them uncomfortable, force them to put it on the ground. And we took advantage with our big, athletic guards. 

“Logan, you can see what he can do at both ends of the court. Offensively he runs the pace of the game, and when we put him on Reese, Reese is such a scoring machine, but he’s human, and Logan tired him out. Logan is just a relentless defender.”

Carlson finished with 13 points and five rebounds for Lake City. Josh Watson, whose freshman season was cut short by a leg injury, added eight points and eight boards.

Coeur d’Alene, which won its 11th straight game, shot 23 of 44 (52.3%) from the field, while Lake City was 19 of 49 (38.8%).

“We came out and made three 3s right away, but we didn’t take advantage of it by doing the work we needed to do on the other end — and allowed them to get back into it,” said first-year Lake City boys coach James Anderson, who coached the T-Wolf girls the past six seasons. “Coeur d’Alene is really good defensively, really good at the point of attack, defenders are really physical; state tournament games are going to be like that. We struggled to get into the paint. We made the perimeter shots in the first quarter, when those stopped falling in the second quarter, and we can’t get into the paint … credit to them.”

Lake City    20    5    7    17    —    49

Coeur d’Alene    18    20    7    15    —    60

LAKE CITY — Parker 0, Winey 0, Strawn 17, Miller 4, Bowman 0, Watson 8, Kloos 0, Arrieta 5, Hill 0, Williams 2, Meredith 0, Carlson 13. Totals 19-49 3-5 49.

COEUR d’ALENE — Larson 0, Orchard 11, Rupp 16, Enti 7, Sutich 0, Riley 0, Wheeler 8, Zabel 0, Sylte 0, Booth 0, Symons 18. Totals 23-44 8-13 60.

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Lake City senior guard Braydn Arrieta goes up for a layup during Thursday's state 5A boys basketball opener against Coeur d'Alene at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.
  

    JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Nicole Symons and Corey Symons react after a slam dunk by their son, Coeur d'Alene High sophomore Caden Symons, before halftime of Thursday's state 5A boys basketball opening round game against Lake City at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Coeur d'Alene beat Lake City 60-49 to advance to the semifinal round against Timberline High of Boise today at 4 p.m. PST. Lake City will play a loser-out game today against Eagle at 2 p.m. at Rocky Mountain High in Meridian.