Vikings storm past Bulldogs, complete season sweep

COEUR d'ALENE — Coeur d'Alene handed Sandpoint boys basketball its fifth straight loss on Thursday night, beating the Bulldogs 55-40.

Just like the first game between these two teams on Jan. 21 at Les Rogers Court, things got physical. But the Bulldogs couldn't keep up with the Vikings this time thanks in part to some early foul trouble.

"I think Coeur d'Alene had a game plan to be very physical and be hands on," interim head coach Mike Roos said, "and they got into us and kind of controlled the boards, and we're just ready to play. We didn't match the energy that was on that court tonight."

Sandpoint came out of the gates slow on Thursday and Coeur d'Alene capitalized, jumping out to a 10-2 lead midway through the first quarter.

Parker Pettit scored the first five points for the Bulldogs and the team trailed 16-8 after eight minutes of action.

For the second straight game, Sandpoint struggled in the first quarter and Mike said his team needs to get out of that habit.

"We need to fix that if we're going to compete with some of these teams," he said. "We have to have a fast start and a steady game plan all game because we'll have some highlights in there, but then we'll take a step back at times, so we just need to keep moving forward."

SHS found some rhythm offensively in the second quarter, but was unable to cut into the Vikings' advantage. CDA took a 31-22 lead into the halftime.

In the second quarter, Colin Roos had a highlight reel play. Off a Coeur d'Alene turnover, the sophomore got the ball at half court all alone, drove down the lane and threw down a thunderous dunk.

Mike said his son had a semi-dunk against Lakeland on Jan. 28, but this was Colin's first career jam.

"He was pumped for that, so we got that out of the way and I'm happy for him," he said.

Things didn't get much better for the Bulldogs in the second half. The Vikings' lead swelled to as many as 20 points and Sandpoint had no answer. Coeur d'Alene carried a 51-32 advantage into the fourth quarter.

The Bulldog defense stepped up in the final quarter and held CDA to four points, but SHS just couldn't hit the shots to make a run at the Vikings down the stretch and CDA completed the season sweep.

Turnovers were a problem for Sandpoint all night. They finished with 24.

Mike said the Bulldogs got the looks they wanted offensively, but just couldn't knock them down.

"What we're doing is working," he said, "but we just got to do a better job on the execution part and the finishing."

Randy Lane scored a team-high 14 points and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers.

"He did really well," Mike said about Lane. "He played with confidence and he shot the ball well ... and he put a good performance in tonight. We just needed a couple more guys to help him out. We do that, we're in the game."

Pettit finished with six points, four rebounds and three assists and Darren Bailey added five points. Stone Lee had a team-high five rebounds.

Sandpoint (4-11) will look to get back on track and end its losing streak when they head to Kellogg at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Bulldogs are 4-0 against 3A schools this season.

"I kind of feel like a broken record at times," Mike said, "but we just need to put four quarters together and if we do, we're going to get a win."

Sandpoint 8 14 10 8 — 40

Coeur d'Alene 16 15 20 4 — 55

SANDPOINT — Roos 4, Pettit 6, Frank 0, R. Lee 3, Eldridge 0, VanDenBerg 3, Bailey 5, S. Lee 3, Lane 14, Butler 2.

COEUR d'ALENE — Bengston 2, King 6, Prka 5, Burgess 2, Larson 2, Ivankovich 2, Entzi 3, Cope 21, Smith 5, McLaughlin 7.