Cda, Lewiston Move On

A-1 Region I tournament

Post Falls sharpshooter Chad Quesnell came to the sideline late in the third period.

“How many times have you shot this quarter?” Trojans boys basketball coach Wade Quesnell asked his son.

Answer: One. Reason: There weren’t many shots available because of Coeur d’Alene’s perimeter-wary defense. Open shots, anyway.

Top-seeded Coeur d’Alene limited the Trojans to 15 second-half points and posted a methodical 59-40 A-1 Region I tournament win Wednesday night at Viking Gym.

CdA (17-4) will play second-seeded Lewiston (17-4), which defeated Lake City 56-48 in Lewiston, at 7:45 p.m. Friday at Viking Gym.

No. 4 Post Falls (11-11) and No. 3 Lake City (11-10) tangle in a loser-out contest at 6.

Coeur d’Alene 59, Post Falls 40

CdA’s stifling defense was especially important because the Vikings have had trouble with teams like Post Falls.

“The reason why is they’re an uptempo team. They can pressure us, get us rattled and take us out of our tempo,” CdA coach Larry Bieber said. “If they score, they press right away and score again. They score in bunches.”

But not unless the first shot drops.

“Our inability to get any offense going meant we couldn’t press,” Wade Quesnell said. “They just brought it down and got in their half-court set. Their big guys really hurt us in the second half.”

CdA’s Casey Hoorelbeke, a 6-foot-6 forward, had 17 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots. Lukas O’Dowd, a 6-7 senior, added 10 points.

‘We knew we could dominate inside if we could get the ball inside,” Bieber said.

The Vikings led uncomfortably 29-25 at half and 39-34 after three quarters. Guard Jim Rupp scored 16 of his 18 points in the fourth as CdA pulled away.

Early on, Post Falls found soft spots in the Vikings’ zone defense.

Chad Quesnell hit three shots in the first three minutes as the Trojans led 9-6. Quesnell’s steal and layup gave Post Falls its final lead at 15-14.

“We spread them out in the first half and we were penetrating. Every shot we had was wide open,” Wade Quesnell said. “They just collapsed on us in the second half and didn’t let us drive.”

CdA kept better track of Chad Quesnell, who scored just five of his team-high 14 after intermission.

Nick Meeks had four points early in the third quarter, but then the Trojans went dormant as they futilely passed the ball behind the 3-point arc.

“We closed out on their shooters better because they were hurting us with 3s in the first half,” Bieber said.

The Vikings also caught Post Falls napping at times. In the third quarter, CdA scored five of its 10 points off of inbounds plays.

Rupp pilfered a Post Falls inbounds pass and scored a layup to give CdA a 49-36 lead midway through the fourth.

Post Falls 11 14 9 6 - 40

Coeur d’Alene 12 17 10 20 - 59

POST FALLS - Quesnell 14, Meeks 9, Leary 4, Thornley 2, Klaudt 7, Miller 2, Therrian 2.

COEUR d’ALENE - Ji. Rupp 18, Chambers 2, Wood 5, Hoorelbeke 17, O’Dowd 10, DeArmond 5, Sigler 2.

Lewiston 56, Lake City 48

The visiting Timberwolves, who lost to Lewiston by 16 and 17 during the regular season, nearly pulled off the upset.

But Steve Johnson’s field goal and Jason Eck’s two free throws gave Lewiston breathing room late in the fourth quarter.

LC was forced to foul and the Bengals capitalized at the line to provide a deceiving final margin.

“To go on the road and work that hard and do exactly what we wanted to do… it’s a tough blow,” LC coach Jim Winger said. “We kind of hurt ourselves at the end.”

The Timberwolves, who trailed by five at half, led briefly in the third period and often were within a field goal in the fourth.

Lake City 13 5 17 13 - 48

Lewiston 12 11 14 19 - 56

LAKE CITY - Hern 9, Bramlet 4, Cheeley 16, Reiswig 2, Lenz 7, Schuh 4, Nipp 4, Stroh 2.

LEWISTON - Egland 10, Pierce 10, Maurer 3, Couch 5, Eck 11, Johnson 17.

, DataTimes