Post Falls Nears A State Berth

Idaho boys basketball

As the final seconds wound down on Post Falls’ 89-59 victory over Coeur d’Alene in a second-round A-1 Region I Tournament game, Trojans’ fans chanted “On to state!”

Although technically the Trojans haven’t qualified, they are undefeated against Inland Empire League teams and are just a win away from a state berth.

And if the Trojans play at the level they have recently, it will be a tall order for any team to defeat them twice in a row, which is necessary to win the double-elimination regional tourney.

“Our confidence is soaring right now, but we’ve still got goals to reach and we’ll go hard again in practice (today),” Post Falls coach Scott Moore said.

Trying to get a shot at the juggernaut will be Coeur d’Alene and Lake City. The crosstown rivals will meet for the first time ever in the postseason after the T-Wolves’ 61-37 loserout victory over Lewiston.

Lake City (11-12) and Coeur d’Alene (14-8) meet tonight at 7 at Coeur d’Alene High. The winner plays at Post Falls (19-3) Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Post Falls 89, Coeur d’Alene 59

Post Falls got 26 points from guard Chad Quesnell in winning its 10th consecutive game over IEL foes.

Coeur d’Alene jumped out to a quick lead, but a 14-2 Trojans run to close the first period set the tone for the rest of the night. A partisan Post Falls crowd of almost 1,500 witnessed the biggest Trojans win in the three times the teams have met this season.

Quesnell played tenacious defense on the Vik guards and Trojan Austin Lee was a force in the interior to offset CdA standout Lukas O’Dowd.

“Austin has got his confidence going and the rest of the kids on the team believe in him,” Moore said.

The Vikings played even with Post Falls in the second quarter, but the Trojans came out hot in the second half. Quesnell had eight points in the third quarter as Post Falls went on a 22-13 run. The Vikings were down by just six points after back-to-back baskets by Eddie Gibbs with 6:15 left, but would never get closer.

“Coeur d’Alene came to play, but we knew we’d be ready,” Quesnell said. “They made a run on us, but we held our composure well.”

Post Falls continued to pour on the points in the fourth quarter as 10 players scored. The Vikings, led by Gibbs’ 15 points, suffered from 3-point range. They made just 4 of 23.

Vikings coach Larry Bieber said his team was dominated in every phase of the game, but now must turn its attention to Lake City.

“It’s gonna be in our house and we’ll be ready to play,” Bieber said.

Post Falls 89, Coeur d’Alene 59

Post Falls 18 17 22 32 - 89 Coeur d’Alene 9 17 13 20 - 59

COEUR d’ALENE - Dretke 2, Rupp 6, Gibbs 15, Wood 4, Davis 3, Kovatch 4, Hoorelbeke 7, Sigler 4, O’Dowd 13.

POST FALLS - Chritiansen 2, Quesnell 26, Alexander 16, Curlee 2, Bohn 10, McLean 10, Lee 11, Therrian 6, Juhlin 4, McArthur 2.

Lake City 61, Lewiston 37

Timberwolves guard Chad Cheeley scored 20 points despite a painful ankle injury that he feels may have improved his game.

“It might be helping me, because I’m confident shooting from outside since I can’t drive to the basket as well,” he said.

Shooting from the outside was no problem for Cheeley, who made five 3-pointers to down a Lewiston team that couldn’t get anything going on offense.

The Bengals were put away by a 17-7 second-quarter run by LC in which T-Wolves forward Gabe Hern scored 6 of his 18 points.

Lewiston (9-13) was led by Carson Egland’s nine points. Egland was effective in the post, but got in early foul trouble that may have doomed Lewiston’s chance of winning.

Lake City coach Jim Winger felt his team was due for a victory over the Bengals after losing to them twice in the regular season.

“You’re bound to have pride come out since we lost at home to them earlier this year and very few teams beat us at home,” Winger said.

Lake City 14 17 12 18 - 61 Lewiston 11 7 11 8 - 37

LAKE CITY - Camantique 1, Cheeley 20, Barlow 2, Anderson 2, Bramlett 2, Reiswig 2, Stroh 5, HErn 18, Morris 9.

LEWISTON - White 4, Benner 3, Charlo 4, Eck 2, Pierce 8, Egland 9, Smith 7.

Intermountain League

Kellogg 43, St. Maries 31

The Wildcats (12-7, 6-3) clinched second place in the league race - and a first-round bye to the A-2 District I-II Tournament - by beating the visiting Lumberjacks (9-10, 4-5).

Casey Marek hit three 3-pointers in the first half and Nathan Corkill finished 5 of 6 from the floor, including two 3-pointers, for the Wildcats. Heath Marek added six rebounds for Kellogg, which shot 47 percent from the field.

Chris Weinmann of St. Maries had seven rebounds.

The IML season ends tonight. District play opens Tuesday at Lake City High in Coeur d’Alene, with No. 3 vs. No. 6 Priest River, and No. 4 vs. No. 5 in loser-out games.

St. Maries 7 9 4 11 - 31 Kellogg 12 13 5 13 - 43

ST. MARIES - Eccles 2, Craner 0, Mettler 3, Eberlin 6, Konkright 7, Weinmann 4, Bifford 2, Raebel 7.

KELLOGG - Co.Lewis 0, Blalack 0, Mercado 2, Corkill 15, C.Marek 11, Griffin 0, Ch.Lewis 4, Derbyshire 1, Rice 2, Carlson 0, H.Marek 8.

Moscow 70, Lakeland 58

The league-champion Bears (14-3, 10-0) forced 13 second-half turnovers to rally past the Hawks (6-11, 3-6) at Rathdrum.

Ryan Banks scored 24 and Paul Kowalcyzk had 12 rebounds for Lakeland.

Moscow 16 16 16 22 - 70 Lakeland 18 17 6 17 - 58

MOSCOW - Brown 13, Strobel 5, Rinaldi 7, Miller 15, Kuske 0, Curtis 11, Cosgrove 0, Richards 11, Johnson 2, Owen 6.

LAKELAND - Kowalcyzk 13, Rothrock 12, Dotts 4, Banks 24, Holt 2, Rasor 0, Reese 0, Thiringer 3, Moore 0.

North Star League

Lakeside 87, F.Christian 57

Brendon Nelson and Andrew Twiss hit a combined 17 of 28 from the floor, and added a combined 14 rebounds and six blocked shot as the league-champion Knights (17-1, 8-0) beat the visiting Eagles at Plummer.

Lakeside had 11 turnovers and forced 30. Jared Bligh scored 22 and Ben Larson 21 for the Eagles.

The regular season came to an end. FC was in a battle with Clark Fork for third place.

Falls Christian 12 15 17 13 - 57 Lakeside 20 20 26 21 - 87

FALLS CHRISTIAN - Baker 4, Staggs 0, Bligh 22, Beck 0, Walker 4, Burns 6, Larson 21.

LAKESIDE - Twoteeth 8, Nelson 22, Lozeau 2, Allen 12, McFadden 4, Pluff 10, Lambert 5, T.Morris 2, Twiss 19, B.Morris 3.

Non-league

Bonners Ferry 74, Wallace 44

Adam Hiatt scored 23, including 12 straight to end the second quarter and start the third, as the visiting Badgers (11-7) beat the Miners (3-16).

BF’s Intermountain League season is completed. The Badgers next play Tuesday at district.

Bonners Ferry 22 11 23 18 - 74 Wallace 7 13 9 15 - 44

BONNERS FERRY - Barry 6, LaMarsh 0, Bahe 9, Hiatt 23, Arthur 0, Meeker 10, Ashby 8, Hurst 6, Zimmerman 2, Robertson 2, Staples 6, Kucherry 2, Winery 0, Bateman 0.

WALLACE - Carlson 3, Grattic 9, Johnson 2, Teskey 8, Lee 4, Phrid 0, Fleming 0, Basham 2, Sprute 2, Schillereff 10, Lavigne 4.