POST FALLS - In front of an estimated 1,300 fans, either last year's Region 1 champion or last year's state champion was going to be sent home early from the 5A Region 1 tournament at The Arena on Tuesday night.

Defending state champion Post Falls scored the final five points of the game, taking the lead on a Luke Thoreson jumper with 40 seconds remaining, and got a pair of free throws from Connor Hill and one from Marcus Colbert in a 42-38 win in loser-out action.

Top-seeded Post Falls (18-4) advances to face the loser of tonight's scheduled championship game between No. 4 seed Lewiston (12-9) and No. 3 seed Coeur d'Alene (14-7) on Friday at 7 p.m. at The Arena.

"I was very proud of how our kids responded after Friday night," said Post Falls coach Mike McLean, whose Trojans were upset by Lewiston 72-64 in the first round. "Having been there before in a loser-out game, I was very happy with the way Connor Hill played in the first half."

Hill scored 11 of his team-high 13 points in the second half, including nine in the third quarter.

“He believed in his teammates in the first half to get the job done,” McLean said. “In the second half, Connor was able to do what he does.”

Hill put Post Falls ahead 41-38 with 17 seconds remaining. Third-seeded Lake City turned the ball over attempting to set up a 3-pointer with 8.5 seconds left.

“We knew we needed to come out with more energy tonight,” Hill said. “We knew if we played harder on defense, we’d be able to get the win.”

Colbert hit the first of two free throws to ice the game for Post Falls with 7 seconds remaining.

“This game was huge for us,” McLean said. “To have a chance to play in front of our fans and play on our rims is big. The loss to Lewiston hurt on Friday, but our play and taking care of business during the regular season put us in a good spot.”

Senior guard Chris Wheelock stole an inbound pass with a minute remaining to give the Timberwolves a 38-37 lead. After Post Falls took the lead, senior Brady Smith missed a 3-point attempt to force the Timberwolves to foul.

“For us, it’s been our Achilles heel this season,” said Lake City coach Jim Winger, whose team won the regional title last year to advance to state for the first time since 2002. “We’ve had a hard time mustering points late. I was real proud of the kids defensively tonight.”

The game featured 17 lead changes and four ties, the last coming after the first of two 3-pointers by Thoreson early in the third.

“It was a hard fought basketball game,” Winger said. “We gave it all we had, but just came up short to a really good team. I hate to end the year with a loss and feel bad for our group of seniors. We weren’t ourselves on Friday (in a 66-52 loss to Coeur d’Alene) and tonight we got after it from the start, but just came up a little short.”

Colton Carlson scored 13 points and Scott Turner, Clint Hartz and Mark Smyly had six rebounds apiece for Lake City, which concludes the season 15-7. Wheelock added 10 points.

“Colton’s been stepping it up for a few weeks now,” Winger said. “Down the stretch, he’s been on fire in games and practice and really putting it together on defense. He finished the season great.”

“I thought Lake City did a great job of turning the game into a grinder,” McLean said. “It’s not the style we’d like to play, but we were able to execute. Our guys like to play in the half court too and we were able to hit our free throws in the end. In our league, you’ve got to bring it every night because there’s truly more than one team that could win it. One of the top four teams in the state went down tonight.”

Lake City 12 9 12 5 — 38

Post Falls 11 9 15 7 — 42

LAKE CITY — Smith 7, A. Mitchell 0, Wheelock 10, Turner 2, Smyly 4, Hartz 0, Guice 2.

POST FALLS — English 4, Gonzales 0, Hill 13, Anderson 2, Thoreson 10, Colbert 7, Hillman 4, Lickfold 2.