Lakeside coach Ron Cox had plenty on his mind during the first five games of
his team's season.
Reaching the Class 2A state tournament semifinals
wasn't one of them.
"Not at all," Cox said Thursday night after his Eagles,
0-5 to start the year, had qualified for the tournament's final four with a
49-35 victory over Connell. "Our whole thing all year has been just to get
better each game. All we've ever really shot for was Feb. 24, because that
was the day districts started."
Now Lakeside (14-11) can take a shot at Hoquiam (26-0),
the pretournament favorite, at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Sophomore Joel Noland and senior Kyle Schreibeis scored
14 points each to lead Lakeside, from Nine Mile Falls, north of Spokane.
Steven Dorman had 13 points and 12 rebounds for Connell (15-10) and Kris
Knight added 10 points and 10 boards.
"We knew No. 12 (Knight) was a shooter and that we'd
have to deal with (6-foot-9) Dorman," Cox said. "After that, whatever
happened, happened."
And not much did, with Connell shooting only 31
percent. Lakeside was even colder at 29 percent, but made 15 of 16 free
throws with Noland going 10 for 10.
Connell, coached by former East Valley, West Valley,
Davis and Wapato mentor Jerry Groenig, rallied for a 27-25 third-quarter
lead only to have Lakeside stage a game-turning 13-2 run.
Noland scored eight points, four from the foul line, as
Lakeside built a 38-29 advantage with 3:42 left in the game.
The closest Connell got after that was 41-35 on a
Knight putback with 1:23 left.
