COEUR d’ALENE — Point guard Marcus Colbert did most of the heavy lifting for the Post Falls Trojans on Tuesday night.

But when it came down to crunch time, he got a big assist from wing/post Michael Hillman.

Hillman scored three of his five baskets in the final minute and a half, including the go-ahead basket with 40 seconds to play, and Post Falls went on to beat Coeur d’Alene 47-41 in the championship game of the 5A Region 1 boys basketball tournament at North Idaho College.

“Hillman’s a beast,” Colbert said. “We call Hillman a stone-faced killer. People don’t expect some things from him, and he comes out and does it when it’s not expected. That’s just Hillman, though.”

Post Falls (19-3) advances to state March 1-3 at the Idaho Center in Nampa. Coeur d’Alene (15-6) plays host to Lake City (14-8) on Friday at 7 p.m. for the region’s second berth to state.

The game was moved to NIC when a leaky roof was discovered at Coeur d’Alene High’s Elmer Jordan Court just prior to the opening tip. Water was dripping into the key, and the game started a little over an hour after its scheduled tip time of 7 p.m., and played before a festive crowd estimated at 1,400 at NIC’s Rolly Williams Court.

Post Falls coach Mike McLean didn’t mind moving the game to NIC. After all, the Trojans were 12-0 there over the past four years, playing in NIC’s holiday tournament. In the waning seconds, Post Falls’ fans chanted “This is our house,” with good reason.

“On the bus ride down here after all the craziness there (at Coeur d’Alene), I thought we had the advantage.” McLean said. “Because when we went to Reno, they changed the game time on us, so when we flew to Reno, we ate our pre-game meal in Vegas, got to the airport and got our rental cars, and had about 15 minutes to get to the gym for our first game. So coming here in a rush, I thought that was something, with our past experience, we could build on.”

Colbert scored 16 of his 23 points in the first half, 13 of those in the first quarter. Post Falls built a 32-23 lead with 5 minutes left in the third quarter, before Coeur d’Alene answered with a 10-0 run to take the lead.

Colbert scored seven quick points as Post Falls regained the lead at 39-36.

“Marcus, in the first half, showed why he is the best player in the state,” McLean said.

With the Trojans leading 39-38, Hillman sealed off his man on the block, took a pass from Luke Thoreson and scored for a three-point lead with a minute and a half left.

Deon Watson of Coeur d’Alene, who finished with 20 points, buried his fifth 3-pointer of the game to tie it at 41 with 1:01 left.

Hillman answered with a drive down the lane for a basket with 40 seconds left.

Watson came up short on a 3-pointer from in front of the Coeur d’Alene bench — Vikings coaches screamed for a foul. Then came a wild exchange where the Trojans passed the ball into the frontcourt, but the ball got knocked away into the backcourt, where Colbert circled back, grabbed the ball and fed ahead to Hillman, who was all alone under the basket. He scored and was fouled by Watson — and the foul was ruled intentional — with 6.3 seconds left. Hillman, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, made the two free throws to make it a six-point game.

“It’s crazy right now ... unexplainable,” Hillman said of winning Post Falls’ first regional title since 2009. “It’s a feeling I’ve never felt before. This is where I wanted to be my senior year. ... we’re for sure not done yet.”

Coeur d’Alene didn’t shoot well, but hung close in the first half with the help of eight offensive rebounds against Post Falls’ 1-2-2 zone. Chad Chalich had eight rebounds for the Vikings.

“The no-call on Watson’s 3 was huge,” Coeur d’Alene coach Kent Leiss said. “That’s the game. ... but we did have a couple dumb turnovers in the fourth quarter. We just didn’t have enough scoring. We needed to have somebody step up and help Deon.”

Post Falls 15 10 7 15 — 47

Coeur d’Alene 11 12 9 9 — 41

POST FALLS — Anderson 2, Valente 4, Thoreson 6, Colbert 23, Hillman 12.

COEUR d’ALENE — Tackett 2, Roletto 4, Chalich 6, Loy 5, Higbie 4, Watson 20.