Tourney-tested Trojans triumph
JASON ELLIOTT | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 13 years, 11 months AGO
Jason Elliott has worked at The Press for 14 years and covers both high school and North Idaho College athletics. Before that, he spent eight years covering sports at the Shoshone News-Press in Wallace, where he grew up. | December 30, 2011 8:00 PM
COEUR d'ALENE - The goal was simple entering Rolly Williams Court on Thursday night for the Post Falls boys basketball team - keep the streak going.
They did.
Senior Marcus Colbert scored a game-high 22 points for the Trojans as they beat the Davis Pirates of Yakima 59-57 in the championship game of the Coeur d'Alene Inn-viational.
In the first year of a true boys bracketed tournament, the Trojans added to a previously unbeaten record to improve to 12-0 in the four-year history of the tournament.
Davonte Luckett hit a 3-pointer with under two minutes remaining for Davis to tie the game at 57 apiece.
It was the final time the Pirates scored in the game as Luke Thoreson and Colbert hit free throws in the final moments for the win.
"Our goal coming into this was to win all four tournaments we play in this year," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "We won two weeks ago in Reno and again tonight. Now we're going to focus on regionals next. Our kids take a lot of pride in winning these kinds of tournaments."
Thoreson finished with 17 points for Post Falls as an all-tournament selection.
"My guys hit me to get some shots tonight," Thoreson said. "We were hitting the boards hard and running the floor. We came to play tonight. I had struggled the first two nights, but just came out and hit some shots."
Michael Hillman had six points and 10 rebounds for Post Falls.
"That was our game plan," Hillman said. "Our goal was to get as many boards as we could and try to slow down their fast break."
But the night belonged to Colbert, who hit five 3-pointers on his way to a second straight tournament MVP award.
“It feels good right now,” Colbert said. “We really didn’t expect anything less. We came into the game on a mission. A lot of people doubted us, but we came out and fought.”
Luckett scored 18 points for Davis (7-2).
“Post Falls is a quality team,” Davis coach Eli Juarez said. “They’re a solid team. We really enjoyed coming here. We’ll learn from this experience.”
Post Falls 12 13 20 14 — 59
Davis 10 20 15 12 — 57
POST FALLS — Anderson 7, Valente 3, Thoreson 17, Jackson 0, Colbert 22, Benner 2, Hillman 6, Koski 2, Shelton 0.
DAVIS — Kupp 11, Acosta 0, Navarro 3, Chapman 0, Luckett 18, Trimble 14, Wright 3, Perea Vijarro 0, Lizotte 8, Jobes 0, Allen 0, Knox 0.
Coeur d’Alene 48, Lake City 46: Devon Loy made a pair of free throws with 5.2 seconds remaining to lift the Vikings past the Timberwolves in the third-place game.
Luke Ness tied the game with under 30 seconds remaining, but an intentional foul called on Lake City set Loy up for the deciding points.
“Both teams played gutsy basketball,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “Overall, I was really impressed with our young group. We’ve got some young kids, but I feel good about where we’re at right now. After three days, we’re walking out of here feeling pretty good.”
Colby Daniels had 10 points for Coeur d’Alene (5-3), which hosts Lewiston Tuesday.
“We shot the ball well in the second half,” Coeur d’Alene assistant coach Steve Bourgard said. “We got some good looks against their defense and hit some 3s.”
Lake City 8 11 20 7 — 46
Coeur d’Alene 6 13 16 13 — 48
LAKE CITY — Traverse 2, Pratt 3, Bevacqua 16, Ross 0, Ness 11, Moreen 8, Guice 6, Winger 0.
COEUR d’ALENE — Tackett 0, Roletto 0, Neirienckx 4, Daniels 10, Loy 18, Moore 0, Higbie 4, Blakely 2, Watson 10.
Prairie 51, Redmond 36: Preston Brooks scored 19 points for the Falcons of Battle Ground, Wash., to beat the Panthers in the fifth-place game.
Redmond 11 9 5 11 — 36
Prairie 9 15 13 14 — 51
REDMOND — Dahlen 2, Bowman 0, Powell 0, Rodby 6, Genz 2, Brown 0, Manselle 17, Tavita 2, Lau 3, Jackson 2, Bordges 0, Reed 0.
PRAIRIE — Burnett 4, McDonald 10, Brooks 19, Phillips 0, Denny 1, Hak 0, Brooks 3, Cherzan 14.
Chiawana 67, Foster 31: Jordan Downing scored 18 points to lead the Riverhawks of Pasco past the Bulldogs of Tukwila.
Chiawana 27 13 19 8 — 67
Foster 15 5 10 1 — 31
CHIAWANA — Torres 9, Downing 18, Mendoza 11, Perez 6, Zamora 12, Babinchuck 9, Hergert 5.
FOSTER — Gutierrez 4, Suta 5, Leigh 7, White 3, Brown 2, Horton 2, Husanovic 7, Breland 2, Buckmaster 2.
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP — Marcus Colbert, Post Falls.
Luke Thoreson, Post Falls; Davonte Luckett, Davis; David Trimble, Davis; Devon Loy, Coeur d’Alene; Riley Moreen, Lake City.
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