Lake City Wins No-Brainer At Pf T-Wolves Take Hint From Coach, Play Smart Against Border Rival

Jim Winger didn’t write any Xs and Os on the chalkboard during his pregame talk with the Lake City High boys basketball team Thursday.

All he did was point a finger at his head.

The message was received as the visiting Timberwolves played well for a second straight game, holding off Post Falls 72-64 in a Border League game.

“Before the game there was no talk about strategy. It was ‘boys, we’re working on brain. Let’s turn it on,”’ said Winger, whose team handled Post Falls earlier 68-45.

LC (11-8 overall, 8-7 in league) took a giant step toward securing the No. 3 seed in the Inland Empire League’s state-qualifying tournament. The T-Wolves most likely will travel to the loser of tonight’s Lewiston-at-Coeur d’Alene showdown.

Post Falls (9-8, 6-7), which finishes with tough games against Coeur d’Alene, Lewiston and Sandpoint, most likely will play host to Sandpoint in a loser-out playoff to decide the fourth seed to the regional tourney.

What most concerns Trojans coach Wade Quesnell now is putting together solid play before the regular season ends.

“We’ve got to try to get some momentum back,” Quesnell said. “It doesn’t matter who we play (in regionals). We’ve got to start playing well before we get there.”

Post Falls never led Thursday, but LC didn’t put the Trojans away until late.

The T-Wolves appeared able to stop Post Falls when Jacob Lenz banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key to extend the lead to 46-33 in the third quarter.

A steal and a layup by Chad Quesnell, though, cut that 13-point LC lead to 46-45 just 12 seconds into the fourth quarter.

But that was the end of Post Falls’ 12-0 run. A key development seconds later turned the momentum back to LC. Post Falls guard Scott Klaudt was called for an illegal screen when Quesnell stepped around and made a 3-pointer.

The basket was waved off, and a rebound basket by Gabe Hern and a 3-pointer by Chad Cheeley got LC rolling again at 53-45 with 6 minutes left.

LC forced a turnover and Lenz finished a breakaway layup to give his team its biggest lead at 59-45 with 4:14 left.

“A month ago they would have kept going by,” Winger said of Post Falls’ rally that trimmed LC’s lead to one point. “We answered their run with a run, and we haven’t done that in a while.”

LC’s lead wasn’t safe largely because of Chad Quesnell. The T-Wolves did a good job defending the standout guard in the first half, holding him to nine points. But he finished with a game-high 31.

“You look at him and you think you can defend him,” Winger said. “We did a helluva job on him in the first half. But he’s unbelievable. I can’t say enough good things about him. He keeps proving why he was player of the league last year.”

Lake City 72, Post Falls 64

Lake City 25 4 17 26 - 72

Post Falls 12 9 20 23 - 64

LAKE CITY - Hern 19, Bramlet 2, Cheeley 25, Reiswig 0, Lenz 12, Barlow 4, Schuh 4, Nipp 2, Stroh 2, Everson 0, Thiringer 2.

POST FALLS - Klaudt 0, Quesnell 31, Christiansen 0, Fehling 0, Therrian 3, Miller 5, Leary 15, McArthur 2, Thornley 8.

NORTH STAR LEAGUE

Clark Fork 73, Mullan 39

Adam Beers finished with nine rebounds, four steals and four assists as the Wampus Cats (10-4, 4-2) defeated the visiting Tigers (4-13, 1-6) to retain second place, one game ahead of Falls Christian.

Mullan 12 6 8 13 - 39

Clark Fork 14 13 18 28 - 73

MULLAN - Valley 9, Gonzales 5, Elwood 3, Stanley 3, Morris 2, Greenfield 13, Zingler 4.

CLARK FORK - Changala 7, Haston 11, B.Stutzke 9, Stevens 5, Beers 7, N.Stutzke 14, Higgins 3, Klontz 15, Vogal 2.

NON-LEAGUE

Lakeside 35, Wallace 33

The visiting Knights (12-4), protecting a three-point lead, held the ball for most of final 3 minutes to edge the Miners (5-10).

Lakeside 12 10 12 1 - 35

Wallace 8 15 6 4 - 33

LAKESIDE - Kolar 2, Lozeau 7, McFadden 3, Allen 6, Pluff 2, Gajkowski 1, T.Morris 8, B.Morris 6.

WALLACE - Grattic 4, D.Lee 6, K.Lee 2, Meek 0, Fleming 9, Sprute 7, Pluid 0, Blanchard 0, J.Lee 5.

GIRLS

INTERMOUNTAIN LEAGUE

Moscow 68, Kellogg 36

Shai Workman and Amber Matthews combined to hit 8 of 14 field goals, and the league-champion Bears (16-3, 9-0) made 5 of 9 3-pointers while defeating the host Wildcats (5-11, 1-9).

Moscow’s first game at the A-2 District I-II tournament in Post Falls will be at 7:45 p.m. Thursday against Tuesday’s winner between seeds No. 4 and 5. Kellogg will be either seed No. 5 or 6, and play a Tuesday loser-out game.

Moscow 11 19 15 23 - 68

Kellogg 6 8 11 11 - 36

MOSCOW - Allen 5, T.Goetz 7, Bonine 4, Lathen 8, Thomas 4, Thornton 5, Workman 9, Matthews 10, Davidson 2, C.Goetz 8, Prisbrey 6.

KELLOGG - Magnus 1, Burkgart 3, Vork 6, Mann 2, Stevens 11, Grebil 7, Hunt 6.

Bonners Ferry 58, Pr.River 41

Amber Paulson scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds as the Badgers (15-4, 8-2) finished the league season with a win over the visiting Spartans (9-9, 4-5).

Amanda Ashby added four assists for the Badgers, who are No. 2 to district and open Thursday against Tuesday’s winner between Nos. 3 and 6. Priest River can tie for third place if it defeats St. Maries on Saturday and Lakeland loses to Moscow.

Priest River 3 10 12 16 - 41

Bonners Ferry 15 15 20 9 - 58

PRIEST RIVER - Troudt 4, Cook 2, Duley 2, Washburn 0, Smith 2, Turner 4, Carpenter 15, Vogrig 1, Guthrie 4, Oscarson 7.

BONNERS FERRY - Walter 9, Day 0, Ashby 3, Stolley 2, Maas 2, Braniff 11, Carey 2, Paulson 22, Robertson 2, Bateman 6.

, DataTimes