Lee hits 24 points for Sandpoint in league opener

The Bulldogs came out composed in the first but the Vikings ran away with it in the end, winning 82-54.

Arie VanDenBerg hit two three-pointers in the first quarter. Parker Childs followed suit with a three-pointer and the Bulldogs trailed 21-14 at the end of the first.

“I thought we got off to a pretty good start,” coach Brian Childs said.

Coeur d’Alene pressed high in their defense and forced a handful of turnovers in the first half. The Vikings went on a scoring spree and racked up 22 points to the Bulldogs nine.

“We got into found trouble and it took some of the guys completely out of their rhythm,” coach Childs said. “We had a hard time getting it back.”

At the end of the first half Sandpoint was trailing 43-23.

Whatever was said in the l locker room at half time worked in favor of the Bulldogs. They scored the first bucket, held onto the ball better and played like they did in the first quarter.

“I thought we competed pretty well in the second half,” Childs said.

Rusty Lee scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and Emrick Jones helped out with five of his nine points for Sandpoint.

“Rusty came out and was really aggressive,” Childs said. “Emrick Jones gave us a nice lift.”

The Bulldogs were down 58-41 at the end of the third quarter.

To finish out the game coach Childs rewarded the efforts of some of the freshman players who had a huge win against Coeur d’Alene last night.

“We wanted to give them some playing experience against a team like Coeur d’Alene,” Childs said.

Final score to round out the night was 82-54 Coeur d’Alene.

Sandpoint 14 9 18 13 — 54

Coeur D’Alene 21 22 15 24 — 82

SANDPOINT — VanDenBerg 7, Lee 24, Dickinson 0, Jones 0, Bopp 0, Pettit 6, Childs 3, Frank 3, Eacret 2, Longanecker 0, Meideros 0, Williams 0.

COEUR D’ALENE — Larson 8, Orchard 8, Cherny 3, Smith 1, Nipp 23, Entzi 10, Rupp 9, McGraw 0, Burgess Jr. 12, Symons 8, Ivankovich 0, DeGraw 0.