Lakeside outruns Clark Fork in uptempo affair
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Clark Fork sophomore guard Cameron Garcia drives to the basket during the first quarter of the Wampus Cats’ 74-40 home loss against Lakeside on Friday night.
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Clark Fork freshman guard Cole Reuter is stopped by Lakeside’s Talon Tooteeth during Friday night’s game.
CLARK FORK — Lakeside rode its pressure defense and transition basketball to a 74-40 win over North Star League foe Clark Fork on Friday night.
“They just outran us up and down the court, Clark Fork head coach Heath Beason said. “In regards to fast breaks, we didn’t get back on defense fast enough.”
The Lakeside Knights scored six points in 19 seconds — four of which were off picking off the inbounds pass in their press — which set the tone for the rest of the night.
Kenyon Spotted Horse benefited the most from the Knights’ fast-break style; the sophomore scored a game-high 29 points on an efficient 12-16 shooting. His teammates had no trouble finding him, as the Knights had an 8:6 assist-to-turnover ratio on the game.
At times, Lakeside’s pace and pressure fared well for Clark Fork sophomore guard Cameron Garcia, who scored most of his team-high 16 points in transition. Garcia also led the Wampus Cats with four assists.
But Clark Fork had to counter the Knights’ fast pace and deep bench with only seven players — not to mention fatigue from playing two league games earlier this week.
“If they needed a break, it wasn’t going to happen,” Beason said. “We had to stay in there and fight it out. We only had seven players — one of which was injured — so we tried our best to rotate everyone in there. Unfortunately we did get a little bit tired at the end, but our guys played strong, hung in there and fought to the end.”
The Wampus Cats found most of their success in their half-court sets. Senior forward Josh Constantin made a killing in the midrange en route to a 15 point, 13 rebound double-double. His three blocks were also a team-high.
“Going into playing Genesis Prep will be a big challenge for us after playing Lakeside,” Beason said. “But I’ve seen improvement over the last three weeks. Everyone is starting to trust each other and work together.”
Clark Fork will travel to Lakeside for the rematch for the NSL regular-season finale on Feb. 12.
Lakeside also got production from sophomore Darren Higgins’s 10 point, seven block and six rebound stat-line. Jayson Hall nearly missed a double-double with his 14 point, eight rebound effort.
Clark Fork (1-10, 0-7 NSL) hosts Genesis Prep on Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m., while Lakeside (11-5, 5-3 NSL) hosts North Idaho Christian on Feb. 5.
Lakeside 27 15 24 8 — 74
Clark Fork 8 11 13 8 — 40
LAKESIDE — Howard 0, Higgins 10, Hall 14, Twoteeth 12, Spotted Horse 29, White 7, T. Ambro 2, J. Abuan 0, S. Abuan 2.
CLARK FORK — SanRoman 3, Garcia 16, Heisel 2, Constantin 15, Abbott 4, Reuter 0, Holborn 0.