Lakeland pulls past Sandpoint on senior night
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Sandpoint senior Alex Stockton makes a layup during Thursday night’s game. He finished with seven points, five rebounds and two blocks.
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Senior point guard Bruin Jones and his family are honored before tipoff against Lakeland.
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Senior forward Alex Stockton and his extended family stand at center court during Sandpoint's senior night festivities.
(Photo by KYLE CAJERO) Sandpoint senior guard Bruin Jones prepares to cross up Lakeland's Cole Strietzel on Thursday night.
SANDPOINT — Jerseys tore. Whistles shrilled. Noses bled. Knees bent in ways they weren’t supposed to bend.
It wasn’t pretty, but Lakeland (8-10, 2-2 IEL) used a high-scoring second quarter and forced 16 first-half Sandpoint turnovers in a 69-49 win on the Bulldogs’ senior night.
“We have to make better decisions with the basketball,” Sandpoint head coach Wade Engelson said. “We have to avoid making the 70-foot bounce pass into traffic. We have to focus making the good pass, rather than the great pass. That’s what great teams do: They make several good passes versus trying to thread it through four guys.”
Although the 16 turnovers were the Bulldogs’ (7-11, 0-4 IEL) undoing, both teams struggled to find their rhythms in the first quarter. Both teams shot 4-11 from the field and both teams shot 0-5 combined to start the game.
Despite the rocky start, Sandpoint kept pace with the Hawks by getting the ball ti forwards Alex Stockton and Brandon Casey. Three of the Bulldogs’ first four field goals were off assists from Bruin Jones and Kobe Banks.
“When we executed our game-plan, we got really good looks,” Engelson said. “Brandon Casey had his best game of the year. He a lot of good looks, battled on the boards, came off the court all bloodied up and came back a few minutes later. He really competed.”
The second quarter became ugly rather quickly. Lakeland opened on an 11-0 run to double up Sandpoint, but the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run in 1:24 to cut the Hawks’ lead to six with 1:47 to play.
In the midst of trading runs, Lakeland guard Jeret Taylor planted his knee awkwardly and fell on a fast-break layup attempt that stopped play momentarily.
Although he left the game momentarily, the physicality did not. In a game that saw three players foul out, both teams took 48 free throws.
Sandpoint implemented its high-pressure, full court man-to-man defense early in the third quarter; although they trimmed Lakeland’s lead to eight points, the Hawks slowed down on defense to grind out the win.
“They took the air out of the ball,” Engelson said. “They forced us to come out and guard, and because we were behind, we had to take some risks. But since they are well coached, they exposed us when we did that.”
Lakeland guard Ben Zubaly led all scorers with 23 points. Sandpoint junior Ryan Roos recorded his fourth 20-point outing of the season while adding fivesteals and rebounds apiece.
Both teams meet in the first round of the 4A IEL district tournament on Monday at North Idaho College.
Lakeland 11 24 19 15 — 69
Sandpoint 11 13 15 10 — 49
LAKELAND — Zubaly 23, Taylor 14, J. Haaland 5, Am. Munyer 7, Ab. Munyer 0, N. Haaland 10, Streitzel 2, Waddington 0, Derrick 0, Seay 8, Henry 0,
SANDPOINT — Jones 0, Banks 7, Roos 20, Casey 8, Stockton 7, Niemela 3, Treadaway 0, Bailey 0, VanDenBerg 4.