Lewiston Upsets Post Falls, 55-50

Lewiston High School boys basketball coach Dick Richel believes his Bengals have been overlooked this season.

On Friday night, Lewiston sent a reminder to the Inland Empire League that it intends to be a factor in the upcoming regional tournament by upsetting Post Falls 55-50 at Trojan Gym.

“I think the media up here and down in Lewiston have brushed us aside,” Richel said. “A few of our guys had their feelings hurt and I don’t think they wanted to bury the Bengals just yet.”

Lewiston, 9-6 overall, hiked its IEL mark to 2-2 heading into tonight’s date at Coeur d’Alene. Post Falls slipped to 2-2 and 12-3 with first-place Lake City visiting Trojan Gym tonight.

It’s doubtful Post Falls overlooked Lewiston - that’s not easy to do since four Bengals starters go 6-foot-4, 6-4, 6-5 and 6-8. But the Trojans did overlook a couple of key elements to winning, such as offensive execution, accurate shooting from the field and foul line, and defending Bengals senior forward Ryan Baerlocher in the second half.

Baerlocher basically defended himself in the opening half by committing three quick fouls.

But he sizzled in the second half, scoring 18 of his 24 points, including 6 of 8 free throws in the final 90 seconds as Lewiston overcame a 48-47 deficit.

The game was clearly played at Lewiston’s pace. The Bengals’ fullcourt press slowed Post Falls’ offense and Lewiston often dropped into a zone that required the Trojans to be patient.

Post Falls would have preferred an open-court game.

“They put that press on to slow us down, not to steal the ball, and see what we could do in the halfcourt,” Post Falls coach Scott Moore said. “At times we executed the offense but then we’d come down and go one-on-one.”

Moore carefully picked his next words. “We will not win games with one-on-one.”

Against Lewiston’s zone, Post Falls had four players circle the 3-point line and one work in the lane.

“That offense is not set up to shoot 3s. Sure we’ll shoot some, but the intent is to spread the defense so we can attack the gaps,” Moore said.

That rarely happened - until late in the game when Tim Roberts and reserves Brett Hollenbeck and Justin Curtis all scored by penetrating.

Curtis’ layup put Post Falls up 48-47, but Baerlocher took over. In addition to his work at the foul line, which gave Lewiston a 53-50 lead, he also stole the ball from Mike McLean in the closing seconds as the Trojans worked for a 3-point attempt.

Post Falls’ four main weapons had off nights. Starting guards Roberts and Ryan Edmonds shot just 5 of 22. Wing Mike McLean knocked down three 3-pointers, but he finished just 5 of 12. Forward Darick Pope went 0 of 8 and scored 1 point.

That foursome usually averages 43 points. On Friday, they produced 30 points and shot 24 percent. Collectively, Post Falls was 18 of 56. At the line, the Trojans went 0 of 3 in the final quarter and just 9 of 19 overall.

Lewiston 55, Post Falls 50

Lewiston 17 7 17 14 - 55 Post Falls 13 15 10 12 - 50

LEWISTON Baerlocher 24, Gilchrist 6, Ulrich 2, Smithwick 4, Feider 18, Gomez 1, Frei 0, Farris 0, Scharnhorst 0.

POST FALLS McLean 15, Pope 1, Roberts 9, Edmonds 5, Alexander 2, Lee 8, Cudmore 4, Curtis 4, Hollenbeck 2, Pichotta 0.