Wv Does It Again To Ev

Border League boys

Of all the losses East Valley has suffered at the hands of West Valley in basketball - and there have been plenty - Friday night’s 65-64 loss at East Valley was the unkindest cut of all.

The Knights had rallied from a 14-point deficit to lead by as many as 15 early in the fourth quarter, only to lose on Ryan Browning’s layin with 2 seconds left in the game.

“I feel bad for Rich (King, EV’s coach),” said WV coach Joe Feist. “I thought he did a great job of preparation and deserved a win.”

Not that the Eagles, who have only lost once to EV in Feist’s 12 years as head coach, didn’t.

They survived a frigid shooting spell that lasted the better part of two quarters to squander a 19-4 start and trailed 51-36 a minute into the final period.

Then Brad Groh caught fire for 15 of his game-high 24 points, including a game-tying 3-point shot with 16 seconds left.

EV, which made just 11 of 23 free-throw tries, accommodated the comeback by missing six attempts in the game’s final 1:44.

The last came on the second of two by Jesse Quirk after he gave the Knights a 64-63 lead with 9 seconds left.

WV got the rebound and outletted the ball to point guard Kris Sly.

EV coaches thought Sly might have charged in an earlier collision. But he found a streaking Browning with a long pass for the winning layin.

“I was going to pass to Brad at first,” said Sly. “I saw Browning cutting underneath and just threw the ball to him.”

“Good decision,” offered his coach.

The basket improved WV to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the Border League. The hard-luck Knights, who have also lost by a point in overtime this year, dropped to 1-9 and 0-6.

“Actually, I’ll take a one-point comeback for a loss anytime, rather than losing by 18,” said King. “This is the proudest I’ve been. They played up nice and big.”

Sophomores Andrew Burgess, who finished with 20 points, including four 3s, and Blake Horgan, who was a demon inside for 14 points, fueled EV’s victory try. Together they had 21 of EV’s 31 rebounds.

Browning’s fourth-quarter heroics came after teammate Ryan Spivey turned an ankle and was lost to WV.

“I thought EV played well and didn’t do anything to lose the game,” said Feist. “We just hit a couple of big shots.”

W. Valley 65, E. Valley 64

West Valley 19 15 2 29 - 65

East Valley 12 19 17 16 - 64

WEST VALLEY - Sly 9, Deno 4, Browning 8, Groh 24, Gregg 4, Spivey 12, Sorenson 2, Hilsabeck 2.

EAST VALLEY - Henderson 5, Sitton 9, Quirk 12, Burgess 20, Sterling 2, Storey 0, Pooley 0, Horgan 16.

CdA 62, Lake City 54

Lukas O’Dowd scored 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Vikings (7-3, 5-2) past the Timberwolves (5-5, 4-4).

After Coeur d’Alene built an early double-digit lead, LC climbed within two points at 36-34 late in the third period and then again to open the fourth. But the Vikings quickly went ahead by five and the Timberwolves could not sustain another rally.

Coeur d’Alene 16 12 10 24 - 62

Lake City 9 11 14 20 - 54

COEUR D’ALENE - Je. Rupp 12, Chambers 0, Ji. Rupp 14, Wood 11, Mellick 0, DeArmond 5, Sigler 3, O’Dowd 17.

LAKE CITY - Hern 19, Bramlet 6, Cheeley 13, Reiswig 0, Lenz 2, Barlow 0, Schuh 2, Nipp 12, Stroh 0, Thiringer 0.

Lewiston 60, Sandpoint 43

Lewiston made just 1 of 14 shots from the field in a low-scoring first quarter. But the Bengals (8-3, 5-2) bounced back with a 15-of-31 effort in the second half to defeat the Bulldogs (4-7, 2-6).

Sandpoint 7 12 12 12 - 43

Lewiston 2 17 18 23 - 60

SANDPOINT - Nieman 11, Bowman 2, Watson 7, Menard 2, Gehring 1, Singleton 3, Kleinert 15, Rust 2.

LEWISTON - Egland 9, Pierce 1, Holmes 2, Couch 9, Maurer 0, Eck 6, Klamper 5, Wolf 4, Reineke 2, Johnson 22.

Post Falls 69, Clarkston 60

Despite a fourth-quarter comeback, the Bantams (1-5, 1-5) lost to the Trojans at Clarkston.

Chad Quesnell scored 12 of his 30 points in the third quarter for Post Falls.

Post Falls 16 11 19 23 - 69

Clarkston 11 12 18 19 - 60

POST FALLS - Klaudt 2, Meeks 6, Quesnell 30, Christiansen 2, Fehling 4, Therrian 0, Miller 7, Leary 6, McArthur 2, Thornley 10.CLARKSTON - Norland 7, Smith 9, Blankinship 11, Fuchs 0, Harrington 8, Cummings 4, Cridlebaugh 5, Hayes 9, Hilty 5.

, DataTimes