Wildcats' streak comes to an end
Mar. 7—Sometimes it's more about the journey, not the destination.
In the case of the 2023 Lapwai boys basketball team, it was a lot more than that.
Lapwai fell 81-79 to Lakeside of Plummer in the Idaho Class 1A Division I state championship on Saturday, which snapped the Wildcats' 62-game winning streak and ended their hopes of winning three straight state titles.
Lapwai looked out of sorts from the opening tip. The Knights scored seven unanswered points in the game's first two minutes. The Wildcats were finally able to get on the board following an Ahlius Yearout layup with 5:20 left in the first.
This put the Wildcats in uncharted territory, having to play from behind, and they had a hard time adjusting.
In the first quarter alone, Lapwai turned the ball over eight times. By the end of the first half, the Wildcats made more history but in the wrong direction. Lapwai finished with its lowest field goal percentage (25%) through a quarter and its lowest score total (22).
It took 16 minutes before the Wildcats started to adjust to how to play from behind, but luckily, they're fast learners. Lapwai outscored Lakeside 57-37 in the final two quarters and overtime.
Defensively, the Wildcats went back to their roots by playing press defense, but the aggressiveness led to fouls.
Really, the whistle was blowing on both sides with a combined 48 fouls. But allowing Lakeside to continuously get to the charity stripe was just the final dagger.
Winning 62 consecutive games is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it was the longest winning streak in the state.
Winning 62 straight must be a school record though, at least, right? Nope. That distinction belongs to the 1986-89 Wildcats, who won 81 straight games before falling to Lewiston in the 1989 season.
But at the end of the day, the only people who cared and paid much attention to Lapwai's win streak were, well, the outside.
In a column written in the Lewiston Tribune back in 2012, former Lapwai head coach Bruce Crossfield recalled the highs (and not that many lows) of the run. One thing he said that really stuck out to me was "Our players had an unbridled passion for the game of basketball, and they didn't let trophies, records, headlines and past achievements diminish that passion. They played with a zest and love for the game that far exceeded their accomplishments."
It's been 37 years and Lapwai basketball is still the same. You'll be hard-pressed to find any group in the country that loves the sport more than the Wildcats.
The 62-game winning streak was snapped and failing to close the deal on a trifecta of state championship titles will sting. But Lapwai has won 62 out of its last 63 games and isn't going anywhere. This isn't a changing of the guard in the Class 1A Division I and it's certainly not the end for a Wildcats team that reloads every year with talent.
Lapwai's success and overall domination over the last two years shouldn't be forgotten or taken away after one loss. What it should do is make the rest of the state worry about what Lapwai will come back with next winter.
