MOSCOW It showed early Friday night that the Moscow High boys' basketball team had gone nearly two weeks without a game.
Bears' coach Don Dudley knew his squad would be a little flat and that it would take some time to get into the game.
But it only took a quarter as Moscow put three players in double-figure scoring on the way to defeating Priest River 66-42 in Intermountain League play at Bear Den.
The Spartans played a strong first quarter, taking advantage of numerous Bear miscues to take a 16-13 lead.
But Jeff Lathen kept Moscow alive, scoring the first eight Moscow points to finish with a game-high 16. Moscow put together a 13-4 run in the second period to take control.
"We knew we'd be rusty," Dudley said. "You have to give them credit, (coach) Kelly (Reed) had them ready to play."
The Bears were without center Jason Keep, who was on the bench for missing a practice. It didn't matter, though, as the Spartans' tallest player stood just 6-foot-3.
Reed said he was surprised to see Keep in street clothes for the game, but he didn't mind it.
In the last meeting between the two teams, Keep burned the Spartans for 14 points and 12 rebounds.
"Anytime a 6-10 (Keep is actually 6-8), 280-pound guy doesn't play against you you're happy," Reed said.
Senior Adam Miller hit a 3-pointer with just under two minutes left in the first half that gave the Bears their first lead, 20-18, and they didn't look back from there. Miller hit another one from long range on his next trip down the court and Scott Petersen followed with a 3-pointer of his own to give Moscow a 26-20 lead at intermission.
"They're a very good basketball team," Reed said. "I'm pretty excited about the way the game went. We lost to them by 40 last time. If we could have made lay-ins in the first half we would have been better. They have great shooters."
Jeremy Walters was about the only one who could do anything for the Spartans in the first half, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the first 16 minutes. On the night, Priest River (2-12, 0-5 in league) hit only 16 field goals, compared to the Bears' 28 for 56 shooting from the floor, including 8 of 18 from beyond the arc.
Besides the 16 points of Lathen, Miller and Petersen finished with 15 points each. Lathen grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
"That's what we look for, that balance," said Dudley, whose team improved to 11-2, 4-0 in league with the win. "We weren't taking our shots early on, we were going a million miles an hour. We had to get back in the flow of things. This time a year you would like to have a game every third day.
"I decided if we didn't have a game we'd have a scrimmage for sure."
Lathen said it was nice to be competing again, but the Bears, who have now won nine straight, may have entered the contest a little overconfident.
"Everybody was kind of rusty and tired of all the practices in a row," Lathen said. "I knew they were going to come out strong, we thumped them (last time)."
Lathen admitted to being worried at halftime, but said the shooting of Miller and Petersen made him feel better early in the final half. Petersen canned four of his five 3-pointers in the second half.
It was good Moscow was successful from the field, because it didn't get much from the free-throw line.
The Bears made it to the stripe just five times during the game, converting two attempts. The Spartans, meanwhile, made 11 of their 22 free throw tries.
Moscow is back in league action today, visiting Lakeland in Rathdrum.
PRIEST RIVER (42)
Davis Score 1 0-0 2, Darin Bradbury 5 0-6 11, Robert Thornton 2 3-6 7, Jeremy Walters 6 0-0 12, Brett Storro 0 3-4 3, Dane Ackley 0 2-2 2, Larry Johnson 0 3-4 3, Gordy Cook 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 11-22 42.
MOSCOW (66)
Ryan Dudley 3 0-0 6, Adam Miller 6 0-0 15, Brad Stinebaugh 0 0-1 0, Zeke Johnson 3 1-1 7, Scott Strobel 2 1-2 5, Chad Curtis 1 0-0 2, Scott Petersen 5 0-1 15, Jeff Lathen 8 0-0 16, Gus Johnson 0 0-0 0, Drew Owen 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 2-5 66.
Priest River 16 14 13 942
Moscow 13 13 16 2466
Halftime Moscow 26, Priest River 20. Total fouls Priest River 12, Moscow 20. Fouled out none. Technical fouls none. Three-point goals Bradbury, Miller 3, Petersen 5.
JV score Moscow 32, Priest River 30.