PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Lake City's Plummer shines ... Lefty sinks five 3-pointers, scores 17 as Timberwolves fend off Coeur d'Alene

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

COEUR d’ALENE — In a game with stars on either side, sometimes it’s the “other guys” who end up making the difference. 

Thursday night was Jace Plummer’s night. 

The lefty shooting senior hit 5 of 6 3-pointers and led Lake City with 17 points as the 6A Inland Empire League-leading Timberwolves fended off the Coeur d’Alene Vikings 75-63 on Thursday night at Viking Court. 

“I was feeling good, and I just kept shooting it,” Plummer said. “I’ve just got to look for my shot. If it’s there, I’ll shoot it. Tonight, it was going down. I was looking for (my shot) more than ever. They forgot about me, and I made a few, and I just kept making a few more.” 

With the game tied at 17 after one quarter, Plummer hit two 3s in the second quarter as Lake City (10-6, 3-0 6A IEL) outscored Coeur d’Alene (5-10, 0-3) 25-12 in the quarter, and never let the Vikings get closer than nine points in the second half. 

“Jace can really shoot the ball,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “If he gets one, he gets his confidence going. Super proud of him, in this setting, to step up and be ready to go. He’s done it all year, honestly, in different situations. It’s nice to bring shooting in off the bench, it’s nice to have shooting around the big guys.” 

“That second quarter, they shot the ball too well,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss said of Lake City. “And they shoot better than us.” 

Junior Jordan Carlson, who is attracting Division I recruiting interest, hit 4 of 6 3s and added 15 points and eight rebounds for Lake City. Josh Watson, who recently committed to North Idaho College, had 11 points and eight boards.  

Caden Symons, the Evansville signee who recently became Coeur d’Alene’s all-time leading scorer, tallied 33 points for the Vikings, including 12 of 20 from the free-throw line.  

Symons now has 1,331 career points. 

Kyle Wombolt scored 1,235 points in two seasons at Coeur d’Alene (1986-87), after playing his first two seasons at Kellogg. 

“Caden’s super smart; obviously a ton of experience,” Anderson said. “He’s smart at ways to get to the free-throw line. Our guys didn’t do a great job keeping their hands back all the way to the end, and gave him a chance to get to the free-throw line. And he made some hard 3s; not a lot you can do about those.” 

With Lake City’s focusing on Symons, others were left open and Symons found them. Tanner Stern added 11 points for Coeur d’Alene, and Rylan Braga hit three 3s and scored 10 points. 

“I thought we made drastic improvement from the Fight for the Fish game,” said Leiss, whose Vikings lost 73-55 at Lake City on Jan. 9. “Tonight was much better. We did as good a job as we can expect to do on Carlson, and held Watson to 11. If you’d have told me before the game we’re going to hold those two guys to 26, I’d have a thought we’d be right there with a chance to win.  

“But Jace Plummer had a career night, and in my opinion, when I look at Lake City’s offense, that’s the difference right there — Jace Plummer’s contribution.” 

“They’re a much-improved team,” Anderson said of the Vikings, “and if they get their other guys to step up, they become a pretty dangerous team.” 

Lake City hit five of its 3s in the second quarter, with Carlson also sinking two. 

Jackson Bowman, the primary defender on Symons, added 10 points for Lake City. Paxton Winey finished with eight points and four assists. 

Lake City finished 12 of 19 from 3-point range. Symons made six 3s for the Vikings, who were 10 for 24 from deep. 

Sophomore Andy Irgens added six points off the bench for the T-Wolves. 

“Maybe his best game of the year,” Anderson said of Irgens. “Starting to getting more comfortable as a young kid.” 

Coeur d’Alene, in third place in the three-team 6A IEL, plays host to Post Falls (10-5, 1-1) on Saturday in league play. 

Lake City returns to action Wednesday at home against Lakeland. 

Lake City     17    25    15    18    —    75 

Coeur d’Alene     17    12    19    15    —    63 

LAKE CITY — Williams 1, Winey 8, Plummer 17, Carlson 15, Watson 11, Bowman 10, Anderson 5, Pearson 0, Irgens 6. 

COEUR d’ALENE — McCall 4, Fagan 2, Braga 10, Stern 11, Murrell 0, Whittaker 0, Symons 33, Priebe 3. 

Bonners Ferry 69 

Kellogg 54 

BONNERS FERRY — Junior Peyton Hinthorn scored a game-high 20 points for the Badgers in a nonleague win over the Wildcats at Bonners Ferry High. 

Senior Draeden Taylor and senior Cayden Honnerlaw scored 12 points each for Kellogg (6-7), which faces Grangeville in a Central Idaho League game on Saturday. 

“It was a disappointing effort by us defensively tonight,” Kellogg coach Mike Martin said. “We didn’t get into our stuff and we didn’t match their intensity and effort early, and it put us in a hole early tonight.” 

Senior Sulay Abubakari scored 16 points for Bonners Ferry (7-7), which plays at Lakeside on Feb. 3. 

Kellogg        10    13    11    20    —    54 

Bonners Ferry        20    13    21    15    —    69 

KELLOGG — Coburn 2, Taylor 12, A. Lewis 0, P. Lewis 11, Honnerlaw 12, Cheney 10, Vindasius 0, Kimstayton 0. 

BONNERS FERRY — Schrock 1, Scarborough 0, Hinthorn 20, Allred 4, Abubakari 16, Thomson  4, Cartwright-Kissee 12.  

Kootenai 42 

Mullan 41 

MULLAN — Senior Riley Ausman scored a team-high 17 points for the Warriors in a North Star League win over the Tigers at the Mullan Pavilion. 

Ausman also had nine rebounds and two blocked shots and junior Brennan Derry had 15 points and three steals for Kootenai (2-7, 1-0 NSL), which hosts Coeur du Christ tonight. 

Colten Imes scored 20 points for Mullan (1-6, 0-2), which hosts Genesis Prep on Tuesday. 

Kootenai    5    15    10    12    —    42 

Mullan        16    5    9    11    —    41 

KOOTENAI — Bierman 0, Derry 15, Braz 0, Ausman 17, Edwards 8, Gentry 2, Moore 0, Myers 0. 

MULLAN — Imes 20, Sala 10, Bosson 5, Calvert 0, Ullrich 3, Wilson 3. 

Genesis Prep 44 

Kootenai Classical JV 25 

POST FALLS — Senior Benjamin Cosner scored 14 points for the Jaguars in a win over the Kodiaks JV at The Courts at Real Life. 

Freshman Matthew Green scored 13 points for Genesis Prep (2-9), which travels to Upper Columbia Academy on Saturday. 

Christian Toews scored 11 points for Kootenai Classical JV of Post Falls. 

Kootenai Classical    3    7    7    8    —    25 

Genesis Prep        13    10    6    15    —    44 

KOOTENAI CLASSICAL JV — Barnhart 0, Rice 0, Adams 2, Toews 11, Conaty 5, Ridolph 3, Oleynik 3, Janney 0, Low 0, Landon 8. 

GENESIS PREP — Harris 6, Green 13, Arambula 0, W. Hemas 0, M. Hemas 0, Cosner 14, Siahaya 0, Van Meeteren 4, Walsh 5, Martin 0. 

N.I. Christian 51 

Pullman Christian 28 

PULLMAN, Wash. — Junior James Morast scored 15 points for the Royals in a Mountain Christian League win over the Eagles at Pullman Christian School. 

Senior Jack Johnston scored 14 points for North Idaho Christian (11-5, 7-3 MCL), which faces Spokane Classical Christian tonight at the First Church of the Nazarene in Spokane. 

Judah Fitzgerald scored 18 points for Pullman Christian. 

N.I. Christian    11    10    13    17    —    51 

Pullman Christian    11    4    7    6    —    28 

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Holte 2, Trevena 12, Morast 15, Johnston 14, Swartz 6, Malinauskas 2, Sakae 0.  

PULLMAN CHRISTIAN — Hammond 5, Fitzgerald 18, Gleason 2, Brown 0, Johnson 3. 

Christian Center 72 

Immaculate Conception 38 

LIBERTY LAKE — Cyrus Coppinger scored 28 points for the Lions of Hayden in a nonleague win over the Cristeros of Post Falls at the HUB Sports Center. 

Luke McWhorter scored 13 points for Christian Center (14-2), which travels to The Oaks of Spokane tonight. 

Michael Wilhelm scored 14 points for Immaculate Conception (1-12). 

Im. Conception        7    12    11    8    —    38 

Christian Center    20    16    26    10    —    72 

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION — Wilhelm 14, Schmitt 4, Jones 9, Demeyer 7, Abernathey 0, Kuplack 0, Lloyd 4. 

CHRISTIAN CENTER — Miller 5, Secrest 4, Kellmer 2, Vara 5, Coppinger 28, McWhorter 13, Colten 8, Quimby 7. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Caden Symons (24) of Coeur d'Alene goes up for a shot as Jordan Carlson, left, and Josh Watson (11) of Lake City defend on Thursday night at Coeur d'Alene High.