Karson Maze, Brady Thornton pace Mead over Coeur d’Alene at CV Holiday Tournament

With most of the larger schools participating in out-of-town holiday tournaments this week, the Central Valley boys tourney – in just its second year – provides an opportunity for a few big schools to get some high-level reps in before league play starts in the new year.

A young Mead team took full advantage of it Thursday night.

Freshman Karson Maze scored 21 points, sophomore Brady Thornton added 13 – nine in the Panthers’ 27-point fourth quarter – and Mead erased a double-digit halftime deficit and knocked off Coeur d’Alene 65-60 at Central Valley High on Thursday.

“My teammates just kept trusting me and I ended up knocking (shots) down down the stretch,” Thornton said. “But they kept finding me. And we just kept moving the ball and trusting each other.”

Coeur d’Alene led 38-25 at halftime, but the Panthers (6-3) applied defensive pressure after the break and limited the Vikings to five points in the third quarter.

“We’ve been playing great defensively all year,” Thornton said. “We just have to put the ball in the hole like we can.”

“We’ve talked a lot that we’re a team that so far is doing 80% of what it takes to be an excellent team,” Mead coach Luke Jordan said.

“We’re just missing that 20%. That’s the fringe. This is a game where in the second half, we closed that 20% and we made the plays that those great teams make, and we’ve needed that all season long so we’re hoping to carry this into league play.”

After drawing within five after the third quarter, Thornton’s 3-pointer at the start of the fourth made it a two-point game, then he tied it with a runner with 4:50 left. He drilled a 3 to give Mead its first lead of the game at 50-47 with 4:04 left.

“Brady made some huge plays,” Jordan said. “I talked to him early on. He’s a sophomore who was voted by his teammates as a team captain. You know there’s something about him, there’s a level of tenacity that he plays with and competence that he plays with.”

Maze nailed back-to-back 3s to make it a six-point game with 90 seconds left.

“All of these games we play, they’re his biggest varsity game so far,” Jordan said of Maze. “So, each big game we play is the next big game he’s in, and he has responded time and time again.”

CdA’s Kai Wheeler (15 points) hit from long distance with 41.8 seconds left to draw the Vikings within two.

Wheeler converted a three-point play to get the lead back, but Nash Dunham answered with a 3 at the other end. Mead got a stop and Maze made both at the line with 6 seconds left.

Coeur d’Alene (9-2) rushed down the floor and Caden Symons’ layup with 1.6 seconds left made it 62-60. But Mead beat the press and Dunham hit a long 3 to finish it.

Mead swept three games at a tourney in Wenatchee last week before falling to Lake City Wednesday 71-42.

“We’re a team that’s growing and learning a lot,” Jordan said. “And these last five games have been huge for us in growing and learning as a team.”

Coeur d’Alene’s Logan Orchard scored the first eight points of the game, including a pair of 3-pointers. Maze hit a couple of 3s and the Vikings led 17-15 after one quarter.

CdA scored the first nine points of the second quarter and Jordan asked for a timeout. Vikings guard Trey Nipp hit a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter and CdA led 38-25 at the half.

Mead scored the first seven points of the second half to trim the deficit to six, and Bo Durgan’s follow-up with a minute to go made it 43-38 after three.

“These guys have lived how quickly a double-digit lead can disappear,” Jordan said. “So that was our idea. When we came out at halftime, we said, ‘There’s no one shot in basketball that gets this game back. It’s three stops in three buckets at a time,’ and guys did what they needed to do.”

Lake City 91, Central Valley 78: Braydn Arrieta scored 25 points and the Timberwolves (6-4) beat the Bears (1-6) in the late game.

Branson Olson led CV with 20 points.