PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Lake City wins at home of Trail Blazers

PORTLAND, Ore. — It was well worth that early wakeup call for Lake City. 

And the challenge that came with it. 

Junior James Carlson had 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists for the Timberwolves, who beat Annie Wright of Tacoma, Wash., 54-43 in the Court of Dreams Showcase on Friday at the Rose Garden, home of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers.

“Coming off a late night and driving all day, it’s a good win,” said Lake City coach James Anderson, whose team rallied to win 64-59 at Central Valley High in Spokane Valley on Thursday. “We’ll take it.” 

Lake City departed Coeur d’Alene at 5:30 on Friday morning and arrived in Portland at noon. 

“Once we got there, they let us shoot around a little bit,” Anderson said. “It was a cool experience to be down on the floor and experience playing in an arena like that a lot of these guys will not get again. To play on an NBA floor against a really good team was amazing.”

Seniors Jace Plummer and Josh Watson scored 11 points each for Lake City. 

“We told them you can take the challenge or be the kid on winter break at home playing video games,” Anderson said. “It was just impressive to see our guys get off the bus and get going like that.” 

Freshman James Thomas, son of former University of Washington star Isaiah Thomas, scored 14 points for Annie Wright (5-1).  

“He can score at all three levels,” Anderson said. “And he gets to the free-throw line a lot. He’s really poised for a freshman.” 

Next up for Lake City is the Holiday Classic Dec. 26-30 in San Diego. The T-Wolves are scheduled to open Dec. 26 at 7 p.m. vs. Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks, Calif., at Torrey Pines High.  

Lake City    17     12     17     8     —     54  

Annie Wright     11     10     13     10     —     43  

LAKE CITY — Oxenrider 0, Winey 0, Plummer 11, Frazier 0, Carlson 13, Everson 1, Watson 11, Bowman 6, Hill 0, Anderson 8, Smith 0, Johnston 2, Pearson 2, Irgens 0.  

ANNIE WRIGHT — Wiley 4, Anderson 5, Martinez 7, Thomas 14, Paulin 10, Guadnola 0, Holliday 1, Carter 2. 

Mater Dei (Calif.) 87 

Coeur d’Alene 61 

LAS VEGAS — In a high-profile matchup for Coeur d’Alene, Mater Dei of Santa Ana., Calif., had the Vikings outnumbered, as far as Division I recruits go. 

Richie Ramirez, a 6-foot-3 junior guard who has a reported eight D-I offers, poured in 39 points as the Monarchs downed Coeur d’Alene 87-61 in the Spalding Division on the first day of the Tarkanian Classic at Coronado High. 

“I don’t remember him hitting the rim, ever,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss said. 

Luke Barnett, a 6-4 guard who has signed with Kansas, hit six 3-pointers and added 33 points for Mater Dei (7-4). 

“He was hitting Steph Curry-type bombs,” Leiss said. “We challenged our boys to play hard and not back down. We had a blast, if you can get beat by 25 and call it a blast.” 

And Leiss said he was told Mater Dei left another kid home that was headed to Florida State. 

Coeur d’Alene (3-3) answered with its own Division I signee, Caden Symons (Evansville), who hit three 3s, made 13 of 15 free throws, and finished with 32 points. 

“He guarded Barnett in the first half, and he gave Barnett all he can handle for about 10 minutes," Leiss said. “He wanted to accept the challenge, and he wanted to guard Barnett.” 

Leiss said the Vikings hung within 9-10 points late in the second half, then missed four driving layups and the Monarchs pulled away. 

“We took our kids down to this tournament because we wanted to see good players, and learn to defend good players,” Leiss said. 

“I liked the way we competed and didn’t back down,” he added. “We weren’t there to get their autograph.” 

At the Tark, games are played with two 16-minute halves. 

Davis Whittaker added 11 points for Coeur d’Alene, which plays either Alta (Sandy, Utah) or Southwind (Memphis) today at 2 p.m. in the consolation bracket. 

Mater Dei 37    50    —    87 

Coeur d’Alene     29    32    —    61 

MATER DEI — Castano 0, Quinn 3, Scott 3, Ramirez 39, Wurmlinger 0, Barnett 33, Smith 4, Burns 0, Van Niekerk 3. 

COEUR d’ALENE — McCall 2, Fagan 5, Braga 6, Stern 0, Wright 2, Whittaker 11, Symons 32, Priebe 3. 

St. Maries 71 

Liberty 56 

ROCKFORD, Wash. — Senior JJ Yearout scored a career-high 31 points as the Lumberjacks beat the Lancers of Spangle, Wash., on the first day of the Greg Larson Memorial Tournament at Freeman High. 

“The beauty of it was, he was not shooting the ball 30 times,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said of Yearout, who was 13 of 21 from the field, including 3 of 8 from 3-point range. “My assistant coach said it was a quiet 31.” 

Senior Xavier Sloper scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half for St. Maries (3-1).  

Jack Barta had five assists and five rebounds for the Lumberjacks, and Isaiah Gustaffe and Marcus Speakman had five rebounds each. 

Drew Piersol scored 15 points, Donald Holwegener 13 for Liberty (3-3). 

St. Maries plays tourney host Freeman today at 5:15 to conclude play in the event, which had predetermined matchups. 

St. Maries     18    25    21    7    —    71 

Liberty     8    22    12    14    —    56 

ST. MARIES — Harold 2, Dickison 0, Pugh 0, J. Barta 6, Yearout 31, Gustaffe 4, B. Barta 0, Riberich 8, Chatigny 2, Speakman 2, Sloper 16, Blackwell 0. 

LIBERTY — Holwegener 13, Sinclair 2, Hodl 6, Johnson 8, Braun 1, Piersol 15, Cook 4, Sexton 3, Myers 4. 

N.I. Christian 59 

Pullman Christian 49 

POST FALLS — Senior Jack Johnston scored 15 points to lead the Royals past the Eagles in a Mountain Christian League game at The Courts at Real Life. 

Senior Noah Swartz hit four 3-pointers and scored 13 points for North Idaho Christian (5-2, 3-2 MCL), which travels to Country Christian of Pasco, Wash., today. 

Judah Fitzgerald scored 14 points for Pullman Christian. 

Pullman Christian    15    5    17    12    —    49 

N.I. Christian        14    17    18    10    —    59 

PULLMAN CHRISTIAN — N. Fotofili 2, Hammond 5, Fitzgerald 14, Gleason 10, Brown 7, Johnson 9, S. Fotofili 0, Rajasekaran 0, Mader 0. 

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Trevena 9, Morast 8, Johnston 15, Swartz 13, Finney 0, Ruiz 4, Sakae 0, Zeke 0.