Johnson, Stockton carry Bulldogs past Gorillas

SPOKANE VALLEY — Robbie Johnson and Alex Stockton combined to score all 18 fourth quarter points, helping Sandpoint edge Davenport 48-45 in the final seconds on Wednesday in the opener of the three day West Valley Tournament.

The Bulldogs, who don’t have a transition game and prefer to utilize their height advantage in a half court offense, struggled to find good looks for much of the game. Johnson, a senior three-sport athlete, took things over down the stretch, creating offense by driving to the hoop and scoring 10 of his game-high 20 points in the final quarter.

Stockton scored all eight of his points in the final quarter, including some big second chance points down the stretch, and his free throws with five seconds left sealed the game.

T.J. Davis drained two 3-pointers among his eight points for the Bulldogs, who have nearly doubled last year’s win total by running their record on the year to 5-2.

Davenport (3-4) plays in the 2B Northeast league in Washington, which is akin to a 1A Division I team in Idaho, and showed some surprising grit for a school with roughly a quarter of Sandpoint’s enrollment.

The Bulldogs will face 2A Deer Park of the Great Northern League today at 5 p.m. as they continue to build momentum and prepare for the considerable jump up in competition when the all-important league games start on Jan. 13.

Sandpoint 7 11 14 18 — 48

Davenport 12 9 13 11 — 45

SANDPOINT — Vernon 4, Dalthorp 2, Niemela 0, Davis 8, Jones 0, Johnson 20, Pettit 6, Stockton 8.