Bulldogs’ season ends at Lakeland

RATHDRUM — Shorthanded at the beginning of the season, and trailing from the outset Monday night, the Sandpoint Bulldogs refused to go quietly in their 4A Region 1 boys basketball loser-out game at Lakeland.

The third-seeded Bulldogs made repeated runs at the second-seeded Hawks, but 24 turnovers doomed the visitors in a 79-67 loss at Hawk Court that ended Sandpoint’s season.

“It came down to turnovers,” head coach Wade Engelson said. “And Lakeland’s good. And you can’t give a team close to 30 extra possessions, particularly Lakeland.”

Senior Kobe Banks sank four 3-pointers and led Sandpoint with 18 points. He also had eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals.

Senior Ryan Roos added 13 points, and reserves Jacob Eldridge and Will Treadaway both scored 10 points.

Senior guard Ben Zubaly scored a career-high 29 points for Lakeland.

The Hawks jumped out to a 9-2 lead after 2 1/2 minutes, and kept the Bulldogs at arm’s length the rest of the way.

Sandpoint pulled within 23-20 midway through the second quarter on the second of Banks’ three 3s of the quarter. But Lakeland, which hurt Sandpoint on the offensive boards all night, finished with a 10-4 run which included a pair of putbacks, and led 33-24 at the half.

In the third quarter, seemingly every time Sandpoint scored to put a little heat on the Hawks — be it a deep 3 from Banks, a putback by freshman Colin Roos or baskets by Banks and Treadaway — the 5-foot-10 Zubaly answered.

He answered Banks’ 3 with a 3 of his own seconds later, responded two more times with hoops after Sandpoint baskets, then drilled a 3 at the end of the third quarter to send the Hawks into the fourth with a 53-41 lead.

In the fourth quarter, after Banks fed Eldridge for a basket to cut Lakeland’s lead to 66-59 with 3 minutes left, the Hawks came down and missed a 3. But Zubaly — of course! — knifed in and corralled the loose-ball rebound, and moments later scored on a drive, and that was about it.

Sandpoint finishes the season 10-12. The 10 wins were three better than in 2018-19, Engelson’s first season at Sandpoint. And Engelson lost four players for the season due to injuries.

“We made a lot of progress this year,” Engelson said. “We had double-digit wins for the first time in a long time, beat Coeur d’Alene for the first time in many years ... beat Lewiston for the first time in years ... so we had some good wins. Our seniors really led the way, and showed the young guys what it takes to grow a program. We made improvements last year, and we continued to make improvements this year.”

Sandpoint 9 15 17 26 — 67

Lakeland 16 17 20 26 — 79

SANDPOINT — R. Roos 13, Banks 18, Niemela 2, Eldridge 10, VanDenBerg 0, Lee 0, C. Roos 5, Treadaway 10, Casey 9.

LAKELAND — Zubaly 29, Seay 6, Henry 7, Ab. Munyer 6, Am. Munyer 17, Haaland 12, Roth 0, Waddington 0, Saasen 2.