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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

PFC pulls away to win


Post Falls Christian's Matt Rouse scores over Kootenai's Jeff Ness during Thursday's win. 
 (Tom Davenport / The Spokesman-Review)

North Star League boys basketball champion Post Falls Christian opened the postseason following a similar pattern from the regular season.

The Eagles, slow starters but fast finishers most of the year, did so again Thursday as top-seeded PFC raced away from undersized and undermanned Kootenai 68-40 in a 1A District I tournament opener at Lakeland High School.

Clark Fork reversed a regular-season pattern, avenging a pair of league losses to Mullan as the Wampus Cats tamed the Tigers 45-35 in the second game.

PFC (18-0) and Clark Fork (12-10) will decide the district championship tonight at 7:45 at Lakeland. In a loser-out opener, Mullan (13-7) takes on Kootenai (7-15) at 6.

The top two teams advance to state, Wednesday through Saturday in Caldwell.

Post Falls Christian 68, Kootenai 40: The Eagles quickly overcame their sluggish start by using a 10-0 run to open the second half. By the end of the period, PFC had extended its lead to as much as 21.

“We had to get off our emotional high we were riding from an undefeated (regular season),” PFC coach Tim Mitchell said. “We had to come down. I told them, ‘Let’s take off some of our fancy wristbands … let’s get out there and play our style of ball and get on the ground and get dirty.’ In the second half, we were on the ground every play.”

The Eagles’ full-court defense stymied Kootenai, which committed 33 turnovers.

PFC senior wing Tim Laux took advantage of the Eagles’ high-flying transition game, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts, including two in the third period when he scored eight of his season-high 12 points.

Laux, who missed most of the first half of the season with a high ankle sprain and another four games in the second half because of an ear infection, saw his most extensive minutes.

“We played sloppy at times, but we ended up getting it together,” Laux said. “We probably came in too confident in ourselves. We’ve got to play harder and get it together tomorrow.”

Although Laux is far from top condition physically, getting out on the Eagles’ fastbreak put a smile on his face.

PFC guard David Park led a balanced attack with 13 points. Post Danny Anderson matched Laux’s 12 and point guard Matt Rouse chipped in 11.

Anderson and John Hutchins led a 39-21 advantage of the boards over the smaller Warriors. Hutchins had game-high 10 and Anderson had eight. Rouse also had seven steals and seven assists.

For a half, though, Kootenai kept it tight. After the Eagles opened a 15-6 lead through the first quarter, the Warriors rallied from an 11-point deficit to close within 29-23 at halftime.

“We made a nice run at the end of the first half,” Kootenai coach Mike LaFountaine said. “It’s so important to come out and win the first 3 minutes of the second half and we didn’t do it. They came out really explosive.”

Clark Fork 45, Mullan 35: The Wampus Cats used defense and patience on offense to stop the Tigers.

Mullan committed 24 turnovers split evenly between the first and second half, but nine came in the third quarter when Clark Fork opened a 29-21 lead.

The Tigers pulled within 30-26 when Cory Pehan scored a basket with 5:28 to go. But CF went on a 10-1 run to pull away.

Another key was the Wampus Cats hitting 9 of 12 free throws in the final 3:23.

“We’re a little bit quicker and we really tried to force the issue, and it kind of started paying off in the second half,” CF coach Brian Powell said. “We’re still a work in progress.”

Brian Young led CF with 11 points. Pehan had a game-high 17 to go with 11 rebounds. Teammate Jesse James had an off shooting night, going 0 for 10 after injuring the thumb on his non-shooting hand last week. He had a game-high 13 rebounds.

Powell said his team will have a stiff test tonight.

“We’re going to have our hands full again,” Powell said. “They’re a quick team and they’ve got a lot of depth. Hopefully, we can just stay with them for a while anyway.”