Silver Valley Sports Recap Jan.8-14
Photo by Les McPhail/ Miner guard Carter Bailey tries his luck with the finger-roll during the Miners’ game against Lakeside on Friday. Wallace earned a 63-56 home victory.
Photo by Les McPhail/ Zack Welch looks to break a few defenders’ ankles as he drives to the basket against Lakeside. Welch had 14 points in the contest.
Photo by Chanse Watson/ Carson Hudson prepares to takes his Lake City opponent to the ground during a match at Wallace High School last week.
Photo by Chanse Watson/ Wallace wrestler Trevor Harshman controls his opponent’s legs.
Wallace boys basketball
WALLACE — It was an odd game on Friday night when the Wallace Miners hosted the Lakeside Knights at Kirby Krultiz Court.
The game saw some back and forth action, teams building and losing leads, but it was a really big shot that helped the Miners gut out the 63-56 win.
The game opened up with Lakeside taking the fight right to Wallace, building a quick lead only for the Miners to take it right back from them.
The Knights found themselves in early foul trouble and the Miners used this to their advantage as they built their lead playing against Lakeside’s bench.
The Miners went into halftime leading 33-22 and seemed to be running away with the game, but Lakeside made some interesting adjustments to get them back into the game.
Using a Box & 1 style defense, the Knights did whatever they could to get Wallace freshman Carter Bailey off his game after his big first half.
The strategy worked for a little while until Bailey was able to draw two quick fouls and put the Knights’ best defender on the bench with four fouls.
Lakeside outscored Wallace 18-17 in the third frame, and continued chopping away at the lead throughout the fourth quarter.
Going back to the Box & 1, Lakeside was able to force some turnovers as well as missed shots which allowed them cut the Miner lead to just two points with only 25 seconds remaining.
This is where the game took a turn for the exciting.
Miner coach Corey Miller pulled center Hunter Gust in favor of reserve guard Hunter Stutzke to use in his break scheme.
Up by only two with Lakeside firmly in control of the momentum of the game, Stutzke took a deep pass out of the press break and fired a corner 3-pointer as his coach was telling him to hold onto the ball, but seconds later breathed a sigh of relief after ball swished through the net, effectively breaking the back of the Lakeside comeback.
Miller laughed off the reaction to Stutzke’s big shot after the game while complimenting his team’s ability to adapt.
“That Box & 1 really took us out of our game,” Miller said. “Fortunately we were able to hit some shots, even some that I was scared that we took, but we hit the ones we needed and that’s what counts. They’re a good team and we definitely expected a tough game and I think we got it.”
Erik Brackebusch finished with a game high 18 points while Zack Welch chipped in 14 of his own to pace the Miner offense.
Saturday, Jan. 13
Genesis Prep 82, Wallace 27: Erik Brackebusch led Wallace with 11 points, but the rest of the team wasn’t able to get going on Saturday when the Miners lost to the Genesis Prep Jaguars at Post Falls Middle School.
Carter Bailey chipped in 9 points of his own for the Miners.
Wallace girls basketball
Tuesday, Jan. 9
St. Maries 56, Wallace 26: It was a tough outing for the Lady Miners, who gave up a lot of height to the Lumberjacks.
“We actually played pretty well,” coach Nichole Farkas said. “We handled their full-court pressure and defensively played with tons of effort and heart.
“Being ‘out-talled’ was probably our biggest problem. They have several players in the 6-foot category. We had some other good looks at the hoop that didn’t fall, and it was hard for us to get any second chances.”
Jen Hayman finished with 12 points for the Miners.
Saturday, Jan. 13
Genesis Prep 55, Wallace 47: The Miners may have lost the game, but they earned the respect of their opposition on Saturday when they traveled to Genesis Prep.
“We beat a scrappy Wallace team that played their hearts out,” Genesis Prep coach Brandon Haas said.
Against the top team in the North Star League the Miners fared quite well, which is something coach Nichole Farkas is very pleased with.
Had it not been for a shaky first quarter the Miner girls would have probably been on the other side of the coin, but falling behind by 9 points early can be a tough hole to dig out of.
“We’re going to hit our stride when it matters most,” Farkas said. “We still have positive attitudes and a winning effort mentality.”
Kimmie Krous led Wallace with 18 points and Skylar Hill added 11.
The Shoshone News-Press did not receive any information regarding Wednesday’s wrestling matchups in Wallace before press time.
Several athletic events were canceled due to both weather and illness, the SNP will do our best to get those rescheduled dates out to the public as soon as possible.