Upset-minded Bulldogs ready for challenge

SANDPOINT — It will be a tall task Friday night for Sandpoint boys basketball.

Lakeland comes to town with an 11-1 record and a reputation for beating teams by a wide margin this season. Most recently, the Hawks took down Timberlake by 33 points.

“I think they have their best team that I’ve seen since I’ve been in Idaho,” Sandpoint head coach Wade Engelson said.

Lakeland’s dominance has been impressive and their length and athleticism make them one of the toughest teams to play in the state on any given night. But games aren’t played on paper, they’re played on the court and the Bulldogs will have an opportunity to knock the Hawks off their pedestal and show they are capable of competing for a league title.

Due to the stakes, Engelson isn’t worried about his team coming out slow.

“Our guys are always ready,” he said. “They’re not intimidated by anybody, they’re competitors, they put in the hard work and we’re going to go out there and get after it.”

Senior Kobe Banks can hardly wait for tipoff. Last year’s loss to Lakeland in Battle for the Paddle is still fresh in the back of his mind and he wants to wipe away that pain.

“Everyone’s hyped, everyone’s getting excited,” he said. “In practice we’re starting to go harder and everyone’s starting to get on it, I love it. The whole school’s excited, everyone’s talking about it.”

And just like they have all season, the Bulldogs younger players will need to step up if they hope to upset the Hawks.

Banks said the play of the freshmen and sophomores on the team especially on defense has been instrumental to their success this year.

Engelson said he isn’t worried about the younger players being overwhelmed by the moment because he has six seniors that have played in this rivalry game before.

One of those seniors, Christian Niemela, knows how different this game is from the rest they compete in.

“Walking into that environment is absolutely insane,” he said.

With a raucous crowd screaming the entire game, communication on the court will certainly be difficult if not impossible.

To combat this, Engelson said he will be using hand signals to relay plays to his team instead of trying to scream over thousands of students. And if for someone reason his players don’t see his hand signals, coach is confident that the seniors on the team can read the defense and make their own play calls based on what they see.

In such an intense rivalry game, emotions can sometimes get the best of athletes but Banks, Niemela and the rest of the seniors have made sure their teammates who haven’t played against Lakeland before aren’t nervous.

“I always tell them it’s just a basketball game is something you guys love to do every day it shouldn’t really matter who the competition is,” he said.

Just like every team, Lakeland has its weaknesses and Sandpoint plans on attacking those and not allowing the Hawks to dictate how the game will be played.

“Our goal is always to have the other team play to our strengths,” Engelson said.

The Bulldogs have fully embraced the underdog role and hope it will work to their advantage.

“I definitely like that mentality,” Niemela said, “because it makes the other team think they’re just going to have an easy win ... I think our team responds to that very well.”

Regardless of who ends up winning the game, it will come down to the final minutes as the Bulldogs have earned the reputation of making fans cling to the edge of their seats in nearly every game they’ve played this season.

“It’s going to be a huge challenge because of how good Lakeland is but our guys are up for the challenge and I say let’s play the game and see how it comes out,” Engelson said.

“I’ll take our guys every day of the week I love our guys,” he said.

Tipoff for the game is set for 8 p.m. tonight.