Bears, Trojans win with different styles

The Moscow Bears and the Post Falls Trojans used opposite means to achieve their ends Friday, but the results were, nevertheless, identical in the only way that matters.

Top-seeded Moscow used a lightning-fast start to smother No. 4 seed Lakeland 75-50 and No. 2-seeded Post Falls needed some key contributions off the bench and timely free-throw shooting to hold off No. 3 Sandpoint 65-56 in opening-round action of the 4A Region I boys basketball tournament at Lake City High School.

Moscow (14-7) will meet Post Falls (13-8) in tonight’s championship game at Lake City. The winner earns a berth to the State 4A tournament. That game will tip off at 6. Sandpoint (8-13) and Lakeland (6-14) will square off in a loser-out contest at 4:15.

Moscow 75, Lakeland 50

Moscow’s victory was decided early. The Bears shot a blistering 70 percent (7 of 10) from the floor in the first quarter and sprinted out to an 18-7 lead.

Senior Cody Line led the Bears with 10 first-quarter points, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range.

Moscow kept the heat on in the second quarter going on a 15-4 run that resulted in a 33-11 lead with 2:51 left in the half. The Bears extended that to 40-15 at halftime.

Line had a huge first half. He connected on 7 of 9 field-goal attempts and hit 4 of his 5 3-point attempts. He had 20 of Moscow’s 40 first-half points.

“I thought the big guys did a good job of screening for me and the guards did a good job of delivering the ball when I was open,” said Line, who finished with 26 points.

“Cody found the shots. He caught it in rhythm and shot with a lot of confidence,” Moscow coach Lance Hansen said. “All of our kids shot the ball with a lot of confidence and within the structure of our offense. We’re playing with a lot of confidence on both ends of the court.”

Lakeland tried to mount a comeback in the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to 21 (65-44), but it was too late.

“We didn’t lay down,” Lakeland coach Trent Derrick said. “We competed. Hopefully, we can build on that for (tonight). We were slow coming out of the blocks and Moscow shot the ball unreal in the first half. That’s why they’re No. 1 in the league.”

Lakeland’s Phillip Viebrock had a big second half. The senior, who was held to just two first-half points, had 26 in the second half, before fouling out with 2:38 left to play.

Post Falls 65, Sandpoint 56

The Trojans, thanks to a six-point possession in the game’s opening minutes, jumped out to a 17-6 lead midway through the first quarter and looked like they might run away from the Bulldogs.

Post Falls never trailed in the game, but Sandpoint wouldn’t quit and the Trojans would have to squelch Bulldogs comeback attempts all night. Post Falls wasn’t able to relax until junior guard Spencer Pingel hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Trojans a 56-46 lead with 1:36 to go.

Sandpoint had one last comeback attempt left and cut it to 56-51 on four straight points by Drake Hansen. But Post Falls hit 9 of 10 free throws, including 5 of 6 by senior guard Dan Hamilton, to put it away.

Post Falls jumped out to the 6-2 lead when Pingel stole a Sandpoint pass and went in for a layup. He made the basket and a Sandpoint player was called for an intentional foul. Pingel converted both free throws and Trojans were awarded the ball out of bounds. Junior post Brandon Haas followed up his miss with a short jumper.

Senior posts Michael Brewer and Brian Schultz both had good games for Sandpoint. Brewer had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Schultz had 16 points.

Haas and Pingel led the Trojans with 16 points apiece.