Trojans Keep A-1 Trophy Hopes Alive Pf Hits 67 Percent Of 2-Pointers In Win; Lake City Bows Out In Another Tough One

The Post Falls High School boys basketball team doesn’t care which trophy it plays for today.

The Trojans are simply content to still be playing. Post Falls will be seeking the consolation championship after a telling 74-65 win Friday afternoon over Madison in a loser-out game at the State A-1 Tournament.

Suffering seemingly a season’s worth of heartbreak in its two state games, Lake City suffered a second straight one-point loss as Capital tripped the Timberwolves 51-50 in the other loser-out contest.

Post Falls (21-5) will take on Capital (17-8) this morning at 8:15 PST at Idaho State University’s Holt Arena.

Lake City takes home a 14-10 mark.

In semifinal games, Centennial defeated Pocatello 72-62 and Rigby topped Blackfoot 69-56. Centennial and Rigby, both 25-0, will meet in the state championship game tonight. Pocatello and Blackfoot will play for third place.

Capital 51, Lake City 50

Jeff Doan sank a 14-foot jumper with 8 seconds left as the Eagles rallied from a 50-45 deficit to eliminate the Timberwolves.

LC coach Jim Winger signaled for a timeout, but the Timberwolves pushed the ball to midcourt before calling time.

With 2 seconds left, LC couldn’t get off a final shot. Regan Wilson took an in-bounds pass 8 feet inside half-court, but the horn sounded before he could attempt a shot.

LC guard Bryan Kelly, who played admirably in leading a Timberwolves’ rally earlier in the second half, missed the front end of a one-andone with 11 seconds remaining.

In a scramble that led to Kelly being fouled, Wilson missed a layup under the basket as LC had spread the floor trying to force Capital to foul.

“To state the obvious, we didn’t finish the game; we should have won the game,” said a disheartened Winger. “We threw it away out of bounds, we missed a free throw and got beat on defense (on Capital’s winning shot). I don’t think it was a case of them really earning it, I think it was more of a case of us flat out handing it to them.”

LC seemed destined for a showdown with Post Falls. Point guard Mike Thompson made both ends of a one-and-one with 2:37 left to put the T-Wolves ahead 50-45.

Then LC collapsed.

Capital took advantage of a critical LC turnover when Doan hit a soft turnaround 5-footer to cut the T-Wolves’ lead to 50-49 at the 1:27 mark.

LC managed to drain a minute off the clock before the frantic final 20 seconds.

The fact that the T-Wolves were in position to win, though, speaks to LC’s grit.

Capital, which plays a physical, man-toman defense, led 29-21 at halftime. The Eagles pushed the margin to 10 points at 33-23 with 5:40 remaining in the third quarter.

That’s when LC started playing some tough defense of its own to create several scoring opportunities.

Kelly, who collected several bruises from spills he took driving to the basket, scored eight of his 10 points as LC rallied to tie the score at 38 by the 1:07 mark of the third quarter.

Kelly made 5 of 6 free throws and then made another foul shot to complete a gametying three-point play.

In the fourth quarter, LC took its first lead since an early 2-0 margin. Kelly made a fastbreak layup to put LC ahead 44-43 with 4:12 remaining.

“When we went back to man (defense), I thought that picked us up,” Winger said.

Brian Russell, who played gingerly on an ankle he sprained in LC’s 66-65 loss to Blackfoot on Thursday, led with 14 points, 11 in the second half.

Interestingly, LC didn’t score its first basket of the game until the 6:09 mark of the second quarter. Capital fouled the T-Wolves seemingly every time they drove to the basket, especially in the first two quarters, when LC made 15 of 18 free throws. The T-Wolves made 25 of 31 for the game.

Winger said there were several highlights in the season, including winning the new school’s first regional championship.

“Start to finish, I’m very happy. Of the three seasons I’ve had, this is one of the most rewarding,” said Winger, who took his two teams at Coeur d’Alene High to state.

Winger’s teams have had nothing but bad luck at state. They are a combined 1-6, and five of the losses were down-to-the-wire decisions.

CAPITAL (51)

Lords 2, Eddins 10, Waddell 7, Lungren 3, Doan 17, Rowbury 2, Blacklock 10.

LAKE CITY (50)

Thompson 10, Kelley 10, Keefer 1, Wilson 6, Russell 14, Hoover 2, Beadell 7.

Halftime-Capital 29, Lake City 21.

Post Falls 74, Madison 65

The Trojans didn’t have to examine the final statistics long to determine the key against the Bobcats.

Post Falls shot a torrid 67 percent from 2-point range (25 of 37).

“We just did a great job in our offense of getting some open shots,” Trojans coach Scott Moore said.

It may sound like a broken record, but Moore likes the word patient.

“Again we played smart and were patient offensively,” he said.

Several players contributed, too.

Senior wing McLean hit all seven of his shots to tie senior guard Tim Roberts for team scoring honors with 15 points. Sophomore post Austin Lee and senior point guard Ryan Edmonds added 11 each.

After a tight first quarter, Post Falls opened a 40-33 lead by halftime.

The Trojans pulled away in the third period, opening as much as a 16-point lead. Madison never mounted a serious threat in the final quarter.

Post Falls played well defensively, too, holding Madison’s top two scorers, Brady Gardner and Sam Nelson, to a combined 21 points.

“We played mostly zone, but we were very aggressive,” Moore said.

The Trojans are in a position today to write a fitting end to their season.

“We want to go home with some hardware,” he said. “If we get that game (today), then we’ve accomplished our goal and that was to come to state and do well.”

POST FALLS (74)

Roberts 15, Pope 7, McLean 15, Lee 11, Edmonds 11, Cudmore 6, Hollenbeck 2, Pichotta 7.

MADISON (65)

Nelson 10, Lee 4, Gardner 11, Ricks 6, Holloway 7, Bowen 10, Scheiss 6, Shirley 8, Grover 1, Marlowe 2.

Halftime-Post Falls 40, Madison 33.

Centennial 72, Pocatello 62

Junior post Jon Harris pumped in a game-high 27 points as Centennial (25-0) came back to defeat Pocatello (17-8) in one semifinal.

Rigby 69, Blackfoot 56

Senior forward Brandon Andrew came up with 15 points second-ranked Rigby (25-0) as it rolled over Blackfoot (14-14) in the other semifinal.

MEMO: Cut in Final Edition