CdA gives PF room for doubt

The easy answer would be that the Post Falls boys basketball team didn’t have anything to play for Saturday.

The Trojans, after all, had the 5A Inland Empire League championship secured along with the No. 1 seed to the regional tournament.

Coeur d’Alene, meanwhile, had plenty to play for. For one, the Vikings could improve their regional seeding. Perhaps more than that, though, they could put some doubt in the Trojans’ heads.

The much-more-inspired Vikings overcame an eight-point deficit to stop second-ranked Post Falls 58-51 in a regular-season finale at The Arena.

The Region I tournament begins Friday with a first-round doubleheader at The Arena. Second-seeded Coeur d’Alene (14-6, 3-3 IEL) takes on No. 3 Lake City (11-9, 3-3) at 5:45 followed by Post Falls (17-3, 4-2) meeting No. 4 Lewiston (10-9, 2-4).

The winners play at the site of the highest seed on Feb. 23 to decide the regional title and top seed to state. The losers face off in a loser-out game the same night and that winner will take on the regional final loser Feb. 26 for a second state berth.

A basket by Marcus Colbert gave the Trojans a 45-37 lead with 5:23 to go.

CdA went on a 21-6 run during the final 5:04. Post Falls didn’t score another basket.

“When we do it, we’re a good defensive team,” CdA coach Kent Leiss said. “And I really liked our patience offensively. We don’t have the depth that we used to have so we have to be a little more disciplined.”

CdA’s deliberateness seemed to only speed up the Trojans, who missed their final 10 shots in the final 2:44.

“We play defense for 30 to 40 seconds and then we raced down the floor and make them play defense for 5 seconds,” PF coach Mike McLean said. “We took some uncharacteristic, wild crazy shots – even for us, which is saying something.”

Jake Matheson and Connor White led CdA with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Colbert led PF with 16.

•The 4A Region I tourney begins Tuesday when No. 3 Lakeland (12-8) visits No. 2 Sandpoint (6-14) at 7.

The winner goes to No. 1 Moscow (14-6) on Thursday. The title game is Feb. 23.