Third-quarter blues sink Bengals in loss to Lake City

The Lewiston Bengals outpaced visiting Lake City of Coeur d’Alene in three of four quarters in boys basketball action Thursday at Lewiston High School.

Unfortunately for the home favorites, it was the Timberwolves’ lone period in charge that ultimately determined the game’s outcome. Lake City prevailed 72-65, dealing Lewiston its third defeat of the season.

Strong start

An Idaho Class 6A school, Lake City (15-4, 6-1 5A/6A Inland Empire League) numbers five different players standing 6-foot-5 or taller among its roster, while the 5A Lewiston varsity’s tallest are Royce Fisher and Mason Way, each measuring 6-3.

Outmatched on the inside, the Bengals did much of their work from distance as they have done all season, totaling 13-for-31 from 3-point range to account for more than half their overall score for the night.

“I thought that our kids competed really, really hard and played really, really hard,” Lewiston coach Brooks Malm said. “That’s a really good team. ... They’re the second-best team in the state according to MaxPreps.com, and the size hurt us a little bit.”

Through a fast-paced opening half, Lewiston had success moving the ball around until it found an open shooter with a high level of efficiency, going 14-of-30 from the field including 8-of-17 from beyond the arc. A zoning Jordan Walker added an exclamation point score in the closing seconds of both the first and second quarters to put his team up 21-17 and 38-28, respectively.

Timberwolves bite back

The inside work of the Timberwolves’ big man Jordan Carlson was almost all that prevented the game from turning into a runaway early on; the 6-7 post put up more than half his team’s pre-intermission total with 15 points.

The Bengals came out of halftime looking to double-team Carlson in close, but Lake City moved its re-energized attack to the outside and got a major boost from a red-hot Cason Miller, who swished a hat-trick of 3-pointers in close succession.

Meanwhile, Lewiston went cold, struggling to keep the ball and shooting 3-for-9 overall including 0-for-5 from 3 in the attempts it did manage in the third.

“We let a couple guys get loose,” Malm said. “Their size down low caused us some issues, and that caused us to have some rotations, and they threw it out on the backside and they were able to knock in some shots.”

Lake City scored the first 13 points of the second half in a stretch of a little over two minutes of play, and ultimately doubled its score and vaulted all the way from a double-digit deficit to a double-digit lead in the space of one frame, heading into the fourth up 56-44.

Lewiston’s last stand

The final quarter represented a return to the dynamic of the first and second — competitive, with the Bengals the slightly more productive team — but it was not enough in the end to undo the damage.

On the opening possession, Fisher pulled up to drill a 3-pointer that brought things back within single digits. Lewiston would draw as tight as five points at 65-60 off another Fisher 3 with about two-and-a-half minutes to play, only for Miller to quickly answer with his own deep trey.

As Lewiston took a timeout while trailing 69-60 with 1:33 remaining in regulation, the school band broke out in a performance of Eye of the Tiger from its perch in the balcony seating, perhaps hoping to spur the late surge that the Bengals needed. The team frantically tried to comply, but did not quite find the clutch baskets needed to turn it into a one-possession game, while the Timberwolves took their opportunities to stall and draw fouls for insurance free throws.

“As much as they beat us, the clock beat us,” Malm said. “We didn’t quit competing; we ran out of time. That’s how I feel. I don’t feel like we ever lost the game — I just feel like we ran out of time to win the game.”

Lewiston is now 16-3 on the season. The Bengals have gone 5-2 against 5A and 6A Inland Empire League opponents including 5-0 against fellow 5A IEL teams.

Odds and ends

Fisher led all scorers with 23 points, shooting 9-for-16 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line. Walker put up another 20 with the help of a 7-for-11 field-goal performance that included five made 3s.

Lake City finished with five total double-digit scorers: Carlson at 21 points, Miller with 15, Reese Strawn with 12 and Josh Watson and Jackson Bowman at 11 apiece.

Malm added that he was thankful for the “great atmosphere” in the gym on Thursday, and that community support has been building. The Lewiston fan section was largely decked out in patriotic red, white and blue attire in keeping with a school theme for the day, and dozens of home spectators remained standing throughout the game.

“I’m really proud of our guys,” Malm said. “The best quality about this team is the character in the room. There’s no such thing as moral victory for us; we’re going to look at the film and see what we can get better at.”

LAKE CITY (15-4)

Shane Parker 0 0-0 0, Paxton Winey 0 0-0 0, Reese Strawn 5 0-1 12, Cason Miller 4 4-5 16, Josh Watson 5 1-4 11, Carter Kloos 1 0-0 2, Jackson Bowman 5 0-0 11, Jordan Carlson 9 1-2 21. Totals 27 7-11 72.

LEWISTON (16-3)

Dray Torpey 3 0-0 8, Royce Fisher 9 2-2 23, Drew Alldredge 1 0-0 3, Jordan Walker 7 1-3 20, Brady Rudolph 2 1-2 6, Blaze Hepburn 0 0-0 0, Parker Bogar 2 0-0 5. Totals 24 4-7 65.

Lake City 17 11 28 16—72

Lewiston 21 17 6 21—65

3-point goals — Miller 4, Strawn 2, Bowman, Walker 5, Fisher 3, Torpey 2, Alldredge, Rudolph, Way.

Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or cwendt@lmtribune.com.