Post Falls Traps Hawks For 77-58 Win
Few things make a coach as happy as when his team executes something in a game it has been practicing all week.
Post Falls coach Scott Moore must still be smiling today after using an intense trapping defense to beat Lakeland 77-58 in non-league boys basketball Friday night.
“We’ve put in a lot of time working on that defense over the last couple of days and it really paid off tonight,” Moore said.
Leading the defensive charge for the Trojans was Chad Quesnell, who hounded the Hawks ballhandlers throughout the game. His defensive effort also got his shooting going on the way to 15 points.
“I try to do what I can on defense because it sparks my game offensively,” Quesnell said.
The game started out evenly before Post Falls center Austin Lee got hot, scoring 10 points in the first quarter. Lee, who shares the post position with Travis Bohn, wouldn’t score again as he saw limited playing time the remainder of the game .
Post Falls found itself up by 14 points midway through the second quarter as Lakeland didn’t get a basket until 4:15 was left in the half. The defense of Quesnell and his backcourt partner, Brason Alexander, shut down the Hawks guards’ attempts to run the offense.
“We put total pressure on their ballhandlers and it helped to generate our offense,” Moore said.
Lakeland post Paul Kowalcyzk took advantage of Lee’s absence to score a team-high 16 points on a series of turnaround jumpers and offensive rebounds.
Post Falls continued to stay effective inside, though, behind the hot hand of Bohn. Bohn, who scored 19 to lead the Trojans, scored seven points during a Post Falls third-quarter run that put the game out of reach.
Quesnell added six in the quarter, including a 3-pointer with 3 minutes left that put Post Falls up by 20. The period ended with the Trojans ahead 60-43 after Lakeland mounted a brief comeback to pull within 15 for the last time in the game.
“This was Travis’ best game this year,” Moore said. “I think one of the best aspects of our team is that anyone can step up on a given night.”
Lakeland’s high-scoring combo of Scott Rothrock and Jared Mudge was held to a combined 13 points.
The win moved Post Falls to 8-3 overall and Lakeland dropped to 3-4.
“As long as we keep our intensity up, we’re going to be tough every game this year,” Quesnell said.
Post Falls 77, Lakeland 58
Post Falls 22 19 19 17 - 77
Lakeland 16 12 15 15 - 58
Post Falls - Quesnell 15, Alexander 14, Curlee 7, Bohn 19, McLean 4, Juhlin 6, Lee 10.
Lakeland - Holt 3, Mudge 7, Banks 11, Reese 2, Koalczyk 16, Rothrock 6, Dots 7, Thiringer 4.