Quiesnell’s 43 Leads Post Falls
The Sandpoint High boys basketball team played one of its best games Thursday at Post Falls.
With the game up for grabs, though, Sandpoint couldn’t solve two problems.
The Bulldogs couldn’t contain Post Falls senior point guard Chad Quesnell and they couldn’t crack the Trojans’ fullcourt pressure.
The press heaped the first shovels of dirt on Sandpoint and Quesnell buried the Bulldogs thereafter as he scored a career-high 43 points to lead the Trojans to a thrilling 67-62 Border League win.
“It was impressive, but what he did best I thought was at the freethrow line down the stretch,” said Chad’s father, Post Falls coach Wade Quesnell.
His son made 13 of 13 free throws in the fourth period.
The 5-foot-8 Quesnell scored 18 of his team’s final 26 points in the last 6 minutes.
Sandpoint first-year coach Tyler Haynes said Quesnell may have made more trips to the foul line than necessary.
“First off, Quesnell’s not made of china,” Haynes said. “That was unbelievable. He’s a great little player - he’s probably my favorite player in the league - but he’s not made of china. It’s really frustrating to come in here with a great defensive game plan and see that happen.”
Sandpoint used three players to defend Quesnell, but he had more than enough fuel in the tank when it counted most.
Post Falls improved to 7-5 overall, 5-4 in league. Sandpoint slipped to 4-8, 2-7. The Trojans are off for a week while Sandpoint returns home Saturday to play Coeur d’Alene.
Post Falls 67, Sandpoint 62
Sandpoint 9 20 17 16 - 62
Post Falls 16 11 12 28 - 67
SANDPOINT - Shelton 0, Nieman 21, Bowman 0, Watson 12, Menard 0, Gehring 9, Kleinert 12, Singlton 0, Rust 8.
POST FALLS - Klaudt 2, Meeks 6, Quesnell 43, Christianson 0, Fehling 0, Miller 14, Leary 2, Thornley 0.
Coeur d’Alene 78, East Valley 63
Jim Rupp scored 23 points for the Vikings (9-3, 7-2) to help offset the 27-point scoring effort of Andrew Burgess.
The visiting Knights (1-10, 0-7) trailed by 16 at halftime, but got within five in the third quarter. Burgess was 9 of 11 from the field and 3 of 3 from the freethrow line.
East Valley 9 14 23 17 - 63
Coeur d’Alene 21 18 17 22 - 78
EAST VALLEY - Henderson 3, Sitton 6, Quirk 9, Burgess 27, Shogren 3, Sterling 1, Storey 2, Pooley 2, Horgan 10.
COEUR D’ALENE - Fetzer 1, O’Dowd 8, Jeff Rupp 2, Chambers 12, Jim Rupp 23, Wood 8, Mellick 4, DeArmond 6, Hoorelbeke 12, Sigler 2.
Girls Border League
Post Falls 41, Sandpoint 26
Desiree Johnson scored 10 points and recorded eight rebounds to help the Trojans (10-5, 8-5) defeat the Bulldogs (3-13, 1-11).
Post Falls’ Carmi Eberle led all scorers with 12 and had four steals.
Sandpoint 4 9 5 8 - 26
Post Falls 8 11 14 8 - 41
SANDPOINT - Allmaras 0, Verby 0, Bymaster 2, Ward 9, Cargill 6, Ross 2, James 5, Wood 2, Jensen 0.
POST FALLS - Eberle 12, Billetz 8, Mills 0, Brown 0, Foster 2, Edmonds 0, Holland 0, Swanstrom 5, Ruen 4, Johnson 10.
CDA 54, East Valley 46
Shaylia Davis scored a game-high 18 points to go with 10 rebounds and two steals as the Vikings (4-11, 3-8) held off the Knights (4-7, 3-4).
East Valley got to within three points with 5 minutes to go, but couldn’t get over the hump.
East Valley 10 9 10 17 - 46
Coeur d’Alene 7 16 14 17 - 54
EAST VALLEY - Conard 4, Schumacher 6, LeGrant 2, Werner 0, Birdsbill 0, Tomblin 8, Neal 2, Tonani 4, Schultz 2, Shogren 7, Triplett 11.
COEUR d’ALENE - Lenz 13, Bielic 0, Vig 2, Ruiz 12, Tatum 0, Roetter 3, Allowatt 6, Davis 18, Griffitts 0.
Great Northern wrestling
Deer Park collected six pins and three forfeits to easily beat Newport-Cusick 60-13. In the tightest match of the evening, Deer Park’s Nolan Jones got two escapes in the second period on the way to a 4-2 win over Jon Green at 158 pounds.
Five pins and two technical falls gave Medical Lake a 56-15 win over Riverside. Riverside’s Joben Nuesse defeated Medical Lake’s Jesse Moroni at 122 points in a battle of 1997 state qualifiers.
Colville recorded six pins in the 68-6 win over Chewelah.
, DataTimes