Tucker sparks Bulldogs in win over Lakeland

SANDPOINT — The task is daunting for Sandpoint if it hopes to earn a berth in the 4A state basketball tournament this season: Travel south to Moscow and beat the Bears, who won the first two meetings between the 4A North rivals, two consecutive times — starting tonight.

While it appears a tall task, Sandpoint has proven to be streaky, if nothing else this season. When clicking, the Bulldogs (7-14) have proven they can play with anyone in the Inland Empire League for stretches.

They’ll need two solid games, both against No.1 seed Moscow at the Bear Den, to win the 4A Region 1 basketball tournament and secure the 4A North’s lone berth at state.

“We can’t look at the big picture, it’s too distracting,” said Bulldogs head coach Tyler Haynes, whose team must beat Moscow twice in the true double-elimination format. “We need to look at (tonight), need to play well, and I think we can.”

Sandpoint played its best half of the season Saturday night in a loser-out home win over Lakeland. After a tough first half, the Bulldogs exploded for 25 third quarter points, making 10-14 shots from the field, en route to a 52-45 win.

Junior Skyler Tucker, making his varsity debut after being called up from the JV team for the playoffs, scored 10 second half points, including two three point plays. Haynes plans to continue giving Tucker minutes, hoping he can provide another scoring option.

“We felt we needed a scorer and (Skyler) had a good JV season, developing that go-to guy mentality,” said Haynes of Tucker. “He came in looking to score and took some pressure off (Stefan) Buratto.”

The Bulldogs were also stellar from the free throw line, making 23 of 25 attempts on the night, by far their best performance of the year. Haynes was thrilled with how his team responded in the second half on Saturday, handling the pressure of keeping the season alive.

“When you face adversity, like a loser-out, you never know what to expect,” said Haynes, admitting he’s had teams in the past that didn’t respond well to the pressure. “They hung together, played hard and played to win.”

Defense may very well determine the outcome of the game tonight, particularly how well the Bulldogs defend Mac Stannard, the Bears’ most versatile player. The Bears will look to keep the game in the 50s, preferring a tractor pull instead of a drag race.

Sandpoint will need to shoot the ball well from the perimeter against Moscow’s sagging man-to-man defense, and must push the pace and get some easy buckets in transition. If Sandpoint wins, they’ll play Moscow again on Thursday for the regional championship.

Tip-off is at 7 p.m.