25 turnovers spoils Bulldogs bid at comeback victory

SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — It’s hard to win any basketball game when you turn the ball over 25 times.

But the Bulldogs’ boys basketball team nearly did, bouncing back from a 17-point deficit to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Sandpoint couldn’t quite pull off the feat as they fell to Medical Lake 58-50 Thursday afternoon in the Eagle Classic.

Head coach Wade Engelson said the Cardinals utilized a full-court press the entire game which gave the Bulldogs fits and forced them to make mistakes.

“They ran it very well,” Engelson said. “It was a lot more ball pressure which forces you to run your press break at a higher level so its good experience for us and we’ll grow and learn from it ... We want to face that type of stuff so when we face it in the future we can be more successful.”

Engelson obviously wishes the outcome of the game ended in the Bulldogs favor but he was proud of his team for not giving up and fighting until the last second ticked off the clock.

“I liked how our guys battled back,” he said. “We were down 17, we could’ve taken our ball and gone home but our guys competed. Our defense got a lot better and we made that big run to tie it late and it could’ve gone either way until late when they hit a couple huge three-pointers at the end of the shot clock and that was the difference.”

Senior Ryan Roos stepped up for Sandpoint, notching a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

Engelson said Roos’ energy and play helped the Bulldogs climb back into the game and nearly knock off a tough Medical Lake (6-1) team.

“[Roos] had an attack mindset throughout the course of the game and really was the catalyst for the comeback,” he said.

Engelson also thought senior Christian Niemela, who scored 9 points, was all over the place defensively and did a great job attacking the rim.

The Bulldogs (3-3) will have a quick turnaround and face East Valley 9 a.m. Friday at the Eagle Classic.

Despite the short time between contests, Engelson expects his team to be ready to go.

“You just show up and you play,” he said. “All these other teams are doing the same thing. It’s similar to what happens in a state tournament. You play one night, you come back and you got to turn around and play the next day, so this is great experience.”

Sandpoint 9 11 14 16 — 50

Medical Lake 12 18 12 16 — 58

SANDPOINT — R. Roos 16, Banks 8, Niemela 9, Eldridge 0, VanDenBerg 3, C. Roos 4, Treadaway 3, Lane 1, Casey 6, Moore 0.

MEDICAL LAKE — Halcomb 0, Haas 2, Hamilton-Becker 12, Peterson 20, Mason 20, Lewis 3, Jasmer 0, Jones 0, Pepperman 1.