RINALDI SPARKS SANDPOINT WIN FOR HOST SPOT

Boys basketball

A little confidence and Devon Rinaldi went a long way for the Sandpoint Bulldogs in Lewiston.

Rinaldi scored a game-high 20 points Saturday night to help Sandpoint High win its first game at Booth Hall in at least a decade over the Lewiston Bengals in Border League play. The final was 53-48. But more important than winning its last game of the regular season, Sandpoint earned the right to host its opening game in the A- 1 Region I tournament Tuesday night against Lewiston. The win gave Sandpoint, 11-7 in league and 12-8 overall, third seeding and hosting privileges while Lewiston, 10-8 in league and 11- 9 overall, drops to fourth seed and is forced to make a long road trip in a league so balanced that home-court advantage has often made the difference. To help prepare for the game, Sandpoint traveled to Lewiston Friday to spend the night. "I think it was a mental thing," said Sandpoint coach Kurt Lundblad. "Tonight we believed in each other, and it was a great win for Bulldogs basketball." Sandpoint trailed 38-35 after three periods but outscored the Bengals 18-10 in the final quarter. Rinaldi's put-back with 6 minutes, 16 seconds remaining knotted the score at 39, and his layup and foul shot gave Sandpoint a 47-42 advantage with 3 minutes left. Bengal Carl Holmes' 3-pointer closed the margin to 47-45 with 2:38 remaining, and another trey by teammate Jason Eck made it 50-48 with only a minute left in the game. Overall, however, the Bengals suffered from cold shooting in the final period, making only 3 of 14 field-goal attempts, half of which came from 3-point range. Sandpoint clinched the game at the foul line in the last 1:15 by making all seven of its free throw attempts. Two were by Rinaldi, one by Jevon Watson and the final three by Paul Nieman, who finished the game with 14 points. "The difference in the game was Rinaldi," said Lewiston coach Dick Richel. "He basically took over the game in the fourth quarter." The game seesawed several times. Sandpoint started strong with a 6-0 lead and a 16-11 first-quarter margin on 7-for-14 shooting. But Lewiston came back in the second quarter and took a 27-23 lead into the locker room at halftime. Sandpoint won the first contest this season between the teams, 41- 40, at home and will have a chance to complete a sweep Tuesday. "Tuesday's game means more than this one," said Richel. Sandpoint 53, Lewiston 48 Sandpoint 16 7 12 18 - 53 Lewiston 11 16 11 10 - 48 Sandpoint (12-8, 11-7) - Nieman 14, Singleton 2, Watson 9, Menard 8, Rinaldi 20. Lewiston (11-9, 10-8) - Holmes 6, Eck 17, Cone 8, Rogers 2, Klamper 7, Haines 8. East Valley 84, Clarkston 53 Jeff Storey had eight rebounds and four steals as the Knights defeated the visiting Bantams. Steve Henderson had seven assists for EV and Andrew Burgess scored 16 points in the first quarter. Clarkston 16 12 11 14 - 53 East Valley 25 25 18 16 - 84 Clarkston (1-18, 1-16) - Hayes 0 0-0 0, Smith 0 2-4 2, Cridlebaugh 3 1-1 8, Bolland 6 1-3 13, McCall 1 0-3 2, Howell 1 0-0 3, Cummings 1 0-0 2, Harrington 8 3-4 19, Storm 2 0-0 4, Sheldon 0 0-2 0. Totals 22 7-17 53. East Valley (12-7, 11-6) - Brown 2 0-0 5, Henderson 3 0-0 8, Sitton 2 1-1 5, Kann 0 0-2 0, Je. Quirk 5 0-0 11, Pooley 3 7-8 14, Burgess 8 4-4 24, Storey 4 2-3 10, Ja. Quirk 0 0-0 0, Paul 2 0-0 5, Horgan 1 0-2 2. Totals 30 14-20 84. 3-point goals - Cridlebaugh, Howell, Burgess 4, Brown, Henderson 2, Je. Quirk, Pooley, Paul. Total fouls - Clarkston 14, East Valley 16. Fouled out - Brown. Technicals - None. INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE Lakeland 42, B. Ferry 41 The Hawks overcame 2 of 15 free-throw shooting by making 20 of 32 field goals to defeat the visiting Badgers. Todd Bateman made 4-of-6 3-pointers for Bonners Ferry but missed a desperation shot at the buzzer. Bonners Ferry 6 10 19 6 - 41 Lakeland 9 16 9 8 - 42 Bonners Ferry (10-10, 6-4) - Blanford 0, Carpenter 3, Bateman 16, Villeli 3, Scarlet 3, Rice 9, Solum 2, Dinning 5. Lakeland (4-12, 3-5) - Bertsch 8, Gorton 0, Finley 5, Stanford 4, Skidmore 14, Hansen 0, M. Banks 0, S. Banks 5, Keeler 0, Mudge 6. Kellogg 62, Timberlake 54 Luke Smith and Wayne Blalack each scored two 3-pointers in the second quarter as the Wildcats defeated the visiting Tigers. Brandon Neff had 10 rebounds for Kellogg and Thor Yarbrough nine for Timberlake. Timberlake 14 12 15 13 - 54 Kellogg 11 24 15 12 - 62 Timberlake (10-7, 2-7) - Yoshitake 0, Puckett 11, Rouse 0, Cypher 10, Coleman 0, Baker 14, Craviotto 0, Holderman 10, Russell 0, Yarbrough 9. Kellogg (16-2, 8-1) - Morden 0, Smith 6, Blalack 17, Wise 1, Oertli 5, Mangum 3, Marek 10, Neff 9, Mann 4, Absec 1, Bircher 6. NON-LEAGUE Lakeside 67, Genesee 64 (OT) Spencer Montague made a three-point play with 54 seconds left in overtime as the Knights defeated the visiting Bulldogs. Dustin Brouse had 20 points, 11 rebounds and five steals for Lakeside. Travis Grieser's 20 points led Genesee, which made 25 of 30 free throws. Genesee 6 10 17 23 8 - 64 Lakeside 15 11 17 13 11 - 67 Genesee (15-5) - Cleveland 2, Grieser 20, Charlton 14, Vieth 13, Moser 5, Marquez 5, Aherin 5. Lakeside (4-16) - Kolar 10, Brouse 20, Howard 9, Montague 7, Hodgson 0, McPeak 14, Torpy 5, Parr 0, Hoffman 2, Flock 0. St. Maries 55, Wallace 50 Trent Duffey made 7 of 11 field goals and also had five steals and four assists as the Lumberjacks defeated the visiting Miners. Derick Driggs had nine rebounds for St. Maries. Brian Meek made 3 of 6 3-pointers for Wallace, which committed nine first-half turnovers and 12 in all. Wallace 11 17 7 15 - 50 St. Maries 19 11 10 15 - 55 Wallace (6-14) - Benz 0, D. Lee 9, Zanetti 2, Meek 11, Fleming 11, Sprute 7, Lavigne 6, J. Lee 4. St. Maries (13-5) - Duffey 17, Hanson 2, Grieser 4, Eberlin 0, Krebs 9, Driggs 9, Harvey 2, Raebel 6, Stevenson 6. Gar-Palouse 65, Colton 35 Jason Fox had nine rebounds to guide a 37-19 edge as the Vikings eliminated the Wildcats in the Whitman County tournament. Trevor Tharp added four assists and Mitch Kriebel had four of Gar- Pal's 16 steals. Colton shot 29 percent from the field. Colton 9 10 11 5 - 35 Gar.-Palouse 16 17 13 19 - 65 Colton (7-15) - Busch 12, Wolf 6, T. Weber 4, R. Weber 0, Moehrle 5, Schlee 3, Pewitt 0, Jones 3, Olson 2, Stout 0. Garfield-Palouse (13-8) - Kimble 2, Tharp 9, Aa. Elder 4, M. Kriebel 8, Fox 16, Johnson 10, Ad. Elder 3, Smick 0, Parberry 2, J. Kriebel 5, Rosebrook 3, Riedinger 3.

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