Hawks bury Bulldogs in district opener

COEUR d’ALENE — Lakeland High coaches had a message for their players before the game — then the Hawks delivered a resounding statement on the court.

Lakeland jumped all over Sandpoint from the beginning on Monday night, burying the Bulldogs 61-33 in the first round of the 4A Region 1 boys basketball tournament at North Idaho College’s Rolly Williams Court.

“I thought defensively we did a nice job switching things up; I don’t think they got into a rhythm,” Lakeland coach Dave Stockwell said. “And it didn’t hurt that (Jeremiah) Gagnon got two quick fouls.”

Lakeland (14-7) will play top-seeded Moscow (8-11) on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at NIC for the regional title and the region’s lone berth to state. Sandpoint finished 8-13.

Lakeland beat Sandpoint by eight and five points during 4A Inland Empire League play, but this game was one-sided from the outset.

The game couldn’t have started much worse for Sandpoint. Jeremiah Gagnon, Sandpoint’s leading scorer at 21 points per game — and 26 over his last five games — picked up two fouls in the first three minutes and spent nearly 10 minutes on the bench in the first half. He was scoreless in the first half, missing his only shot, scored just one basket and finished with six points.

“He’s our only double-figure scorer,” Sandpoint coach Tyler Haynes said. “We were somewhat anemic there (scoring just 13 first-half points). We couldn’t muster any offense.”

Lakeland led 17-9 at the quarter, and helped in part by its zone defense, held Sandpoint scoreless for the first five minutes of the second quarter, building its lead to 24-9 before settling for a 27-13 halftime lead.

“Lakeland deserves all the credit,” Haynes said. “I thought they played as hard and focused a game as you could play. Offense, defense, loose balls … everything. They did a great job of contesting shots and extending to take away our post threat.”

Chase Rodriguez led Sandpoint with eight points.

Sandpoint     9     4    10    10 — 33

Lakeland     17   10   20     14 — 61

SANDPOINT — Timothy 2, Jurenka 3, Rodriguez 8, Spalding 5, Kuzmich 0, Schwartz 7, Edwards 0, Burgstahler 2, Bruener 0, Gagnon 6, Collado 0.

LAKELAND — Ram 12, Nosworthy 7, Cooper 0, Derrick 18, Roth 0, Henry 1, McDevitt 0, Knight 0, Dove 0, Bayley 6, Plunkett 8, Ray 9.