Customary Rally Gets Post Falls Past Sandpoint

For the fans who witnessed the A-1 Region I boys basketball playoff between Sandpoint and Post Falls on Monday, it was a duplication of the teams’ two regular-season games.

Which means Sandpoint built a double-digit lead only to watch Post Falls rally.

Post Falls injected a lethal dose in the wounded Bulldogs, ending Sandpoint’s season 59-51 in a loser-out game at Trojans Gym.

The Trojans (11-10) earned the fourth and final seed in the double-elimination portion of the tourney, which begins Wednesday with two games at separate sites.

Post Falls is at top-seeded and Border League champ Coeur d’Alene (16-4) while No. 3 Lake City (11-9) travels to No. 2 Lewiston (16-4). Game time at both sites is 7 p.m.

“It was a carbon copy of all three games,” said Post Falls coach Wade Quesnell, whose postgame smile was also a facsimile of the grin following the previous victories over Sandpoint.

Post Falls topped Sandpoint 67-62 and 53-49 in league.

The victory also followed Post Falls’ formula overall for wins this season. The Trojans’ victories usually featured a rally of some sort.

And the rallies were usually spearheaded by perhaps the best player in the league and the coach’s son, senior guard Chad Quesnell.

Although Quesnell scored a game-high 27 points - he had a career-high 43 in the first victory against Sandpoint - he had some help at critical times Monday.

Sandpoint went into halftime with a 30-20 lead. A free throw in the opening seconds of the third quarter gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead.

If there was one slight difference between the win Monday and the previous victories, Post Falls’ rally came in the third quarter, not the fourth.

Quesnell scored 10 points in the period, but it was 3-pointers by Josh Miller and Scott Klaudt that opened the court for Quesnell to penetrate and cause problems.

Miller hit two 3-pointers sandwiched around Klaudt’s trey as the Trojans trimmed a 39-30 deficit to 41-39 with 1:02 left in the period.

Quesnell hit two free throws to tie the score briefly at 41, but a basket in the key by John Gehring put Sandpoint ahead 43-41 at quarter’s end.

Post Falls, which outscored the Bulldogs 39-21 in the second half, took the lead and held it most of the fourth quarter until Sandpoint’s Stefon Kleinert hit two free throws to knot it at 50-all with 3:35 left.

Quesnell snuck inside for a short jumper that put Post Falls ahead for good at 52-50 with 3:16 remaining.

Sandpoint coach Tyler Haynes said a handful of turnovers in critical situations gave Post Falls just enough cushion to prevail.

“Tonight sums up (the season),” Haynes said. “We played hard. I’m proud of how hard we played and how we’ve handled ourselves.”

Sandpoint finishes 6-15 and 0-9 against Inland Empire League teams.

Wade Quesnell said the Trojans can’t use the same formula if they hope to challenge CdA.

“The last time we played we held them to 52 points and we played well defensively,” Quesnell said. “But we can’t expect to fall behind against Coeur d’Alene and battle back like this.”

Post Falls 59, Sandpoint 51

Sandpoint 16 14 13 8 - 51

Post Falls 8 12 21 18 - 59

SANDPOINT - Nieman 8, Bowman 9, Menard 0, Gehring 12, Kleinert 16, Singleton 2, Rust 4.

POST FALLS - Klaudt 8, Meeks 8, Quesnell 27, Christiansen 0, Fehling 2, Miller 8, Leary 0, McArthur 2, Thornley 4.

, DataTimes