Post Falls boys qualify for 5A State

The Post Falls boys basketball team was businesslike after capturing the 5A Region I championship Tuesday. That’s largely because the Trojans are after bigger hardware. As they’ve been apt to do at times this season, the Trojans overcame some adversity to knock off the Coeur d’Alene Vikings 47-41 before a crowd estimated at 1,400 at North Idaho College. PF (19-3) advances to state, beginning March 1 a week from Thursday at the Idaho Center in Nampa. Coeur d’Alene (15-6) will play host to Lake City (14-8) in a winner-to-state, loser-out game Friday. Lake City had to go to overtime to hold off upset-minded Lewiston 60-50 in an elimination game Tuesday. Post Falls 47, Coeur d’Alene 41: The game was supposed to be played at CdA’s Elmer Jordan Court. But after the teams were introduced and the national anthem was sung, it was discovered there was a leak from the roof at CdA that was falling like a left-on faucet. After a 13-minute delay, school officials moved the game to NIC. It finally tipped off 56 minutes after it was moved to NIC. It was a wonderfully played and brilliantly officiated contest. The game was tight throughout save for a brief 32-23 lead by Post Falls in the third quarter. CdA overcame that deficit, pulling even at 32 when Travis Tackett made a layup with 50 seconds to go in the quarter. That held up going into the fourth period. It was much of the same in the final quarter. Michael Hillman gave Post Falls a 41-38 lead when he took a nice pass from Luke Thoreson with 1:30 remaining. Then after a timeout, CdA’s Deon Watson, who played one of his best games of the season, hit his fifth 3-pointer to knot it at 41 with 1:01 to go. Hillman scored again off an assist from Montana State University-bound point guard Marcus Colbert with 41 seconds remaining. Watson took a final 3-pointer, but he missed with 19 seconds to go. It appeared he may have been brushed by a Trojan. In an ensuing frenetic few seconds, Hillman got loose and made a layup while being intentionally fouled from behind by Watson. Hillman made the two foul shots for the intentional infraction for the final margin. “I couldn’t be more proud of guys like Michael (Hillman), Marcus (Colbert) and Luke (Thoreson),” PF coach Mike McLean said. “This is two games in a row where they played four quarters. On the bus ride down here after all the craziness (at CdA), I felt we had the upper advantage because when we went to Reno they changed the game time on us,” PF coach Mike McLean said. “We flew and ate our pregame meal in (Las Vegas), got to the airport and got our rental cars and had about 15 minutes to get to the gym before our first game. So coming here in a rush I felt was something (we could draw) on our past experience.” Colbert finished with a game-high 23 points to go with three steals and two assists. Hillman had 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. CdA hurt PF on the offensive boards in the first half. The Vikings outrebounded the Trojans 17-11 in the opening two quarters and 30-22 for the game. “In the first half they got eight offensive rebounds and that killed us,” Colbert said. “We tried to make some adjustments, tried to get our body on people and block them out and win the boards in the second half.” Colbert would like a second state title. “Going into the season this was one of our goals and we just accomplished this one,” Colbert said. “Now it’s on to the next one and that’s state. It would be just as special as the first one. It would be sweet to finish with a ring my senior year,” he said. Watson had a team-high 22 points and six rebounds. Chad Chalich had 10 rebounds. Lake City 60, Lewiston 50 (OT): Riley Moreen made 7 of 8 free throws in overtime to help the Timberwolves eliminate the visiting Bengals. Moreen finished with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Mitch Bevacqua added 14 points and Kyle Guice had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots. Randon Fuentes led Lewiston (7-15) with 16 points.