Former Lakeside Star Trying To Get Colleges To Notice

The well-traveled Andrew Twiss is playing his final high school basketball season on a successful team.

Twiss landed in Plummer last year just in time to lead Lakeside to the State A-4 championship. He also was named the classification’s Player of the Year.

To Twiss’ credit, he admitted from the start at Lakeside that his stay would be temporary.

He moved from Vancouver, Wash., where as a sophomore he started at Hudson’s Bay, then a Class AAA school.

So with a state title on his resume, Twiss returned to Vancouver this year and enrolled at Prairie.

He’s not likely to earn player of the year honors or lead Prairie to a state title. But he hopes to accomplish something more important at this point in his career: gain exposure.

Prairie finished fourth in Washington’s State AAA tourney last year, and the school is a heavy favorite to return to state. One of Twiss’ teammates, 6-foot-9 Zach Gourde, signed early with Gonzaga.

The 6-5 Twiss averaged 18 points and nine rebounds to lead Lakeside (22-1) to the top of the small-school heap last year. Had he stayed, the school would have been a lock to repeat.

Through half the regular season at Prairie, Twiss is averaging just less than 15 points and six rebounds. His numbers are down, but he’s playing with some high-caliber athletes.

Twiss has played all five positions at Prairie. Coach Eric Hjort reports Twiss is seeing half his time at - believe it or not - point guard.

It was a position he could only dream about playing at Lakeside. Consider the scene: Twiss, towering by 6 inches over most of his teammates, running the offense.

He certainly had the abilities.

“He’s a very well-rounded player,” Hjort said. “Right now he’s just getting overlooked by the colleges. They don’t really know about him. He can definitely play college basketball.”

Another honor

Sandpoint’s standout wide receiver, Caleb Bowman, was listed among the Tacoma News Tribune newspaper’s “Northwest Nuggets” published Sunday.

It’s the second straight year a North Idaho athlete has received the recognition. Austin Lee of Post Falls, who redshirted at Stanford last fall, was so honored last year.

Bowman’s name appeared with the top college prospects in the Pacific Northwest.

Here’s how the newspaper described Bowman:

“For the second straight year, Stanford successfully recruited a player out of the Idaho Panhandle. Though largely unrecognized in a small, mountain ski town, Bowman developed into an impressive receiver with Pacific-10 Conference speed. He caught 65 passes for 1,220 yards and 19 touchdowns - all school records - as a senior, leading Sandpoint to the A-1 Division II Idaho state championship. He was named the Inland Empire League offensive player of the year. He also is the defending state 100-meter (actually 200) champion. He chose Stanford over California, Nebraska, Colorado and UCLA.”

Another Bulldog to play football

Defensive tackle Stefon Kleinert of Sandpoint has orally committed to play at Portland State University, an NCAA Division I-AA team in the Big Sky Conference.

Kleinert, an all-Inland Empire League and All-North Idaho selection, is the second Bulldog to announce his college intentions. A handful of other players off Sandpoint’s state title team also are being recruited.

Pork products

North Idaho’s lone version of spirit competition in basketball - a takeoff of the spirit contests in Spokane like the Rubber Chicken, Stinky Sneaker and Golden Throne - is the battle for the Prairie Pig between Lakeland and Post Falls.

In the first version last year between the non-league Rathdrum Prairie rivals, a standing-room-only crowd watched Post Falls’ boys and girls win their games but Lakeland take home the spirit trophy at Post Falls.

It’s Lakeland’s turn to host the games, but school officials, anticipating another overflow crowd, moved the games to Lake City High. The games, originally scheduled for Tuesday, will be played Wednesday.

The spirit contest judging will begin at halftime of the first game (featuring the girls at 6 p.m.) and continue at halftime of the boys game.

The winner will take home the traveling pig - a mechanical, battery-operated toy. The pig is painted half-orange and half-green - a mixture of the school’s colors.

Says Post Falls athletic director Sherie Patano: “The rumor is there may be a real pig at the games this year.”

Basketball races

Girls and boys teams are jockeying for postseason seeding positions in the Border League. The games from this weekend through the end of the regular season take on added importance.

A year ago at this time, the Lake City girls had the Inland Empire League title wrapped up along with the accompanying Region I Tournament hosting rights.

LC (16-0 overall, 12-0 in league) has won all eight games against IEL teams, and the Timberwolves officially clinched the region’s top seed Saturday when Lewiston (7-5) defeated Post Falls (8-5).

The Timberwolves’ final four games are against the four Frontier teams. Cheney can still top LC for the Border championship.

That should be decided Tuesday when the Blackhawks (10-3, 8-1) visit LC. Tipoff is at 6 p.m., with the boys to follow.

“We talked about it the other day and our goal is to win the inaugural Border championship,” LC coach Dave Stockwell said. “We may have the (regional) spot wrapped up, but there’s still some things to play for.”

The Border League boys race is getting interesting.

Cheney (11-2, 8-1) is in first place, just ahead of Coeur d’Alene (10-3, 8-2), which defeated the Blackhawks in the first game, and Lewiston (11-3, 8-2).

There’s a logjam in the middle with Post Falls (7-6, 5-4), West Valley (7-6, 5-4) and Lake City (7-6, 4-5). Sandpoint (5-9, 2-8), Clarkston (1-8, 1-7) and East Valley (1-11, 0-8) bring up the end.

Key games this weekend are: West Valley at Coeur d’Alene and Cheney at Post Falls on Friday; and West Valley at Lake City and Lewiston at Cheney on Saturday.

The CdA-Cheney rematch is Jan. 30 at Cheney.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo