COEUR d’ALENE — Like many of his teammates, Post Falls High senior Jake Pfennigs spent most of the game roaming the perimeter.

But on the play that would ultimately decide the game, the 6-foot-7 Pfennigs was almost in the shadow of the basket.

Pfennigs put the Trojans ahead on a layup with 17 seconds left, then teammate Tanner McCliment-Call blocked Lake City’s shot in the waning seconds as Post Falls escaped with a 48-47 victory over the host Timberwolves in 5A Inland Empire League play Friday night.

On the winning play, Colby Gennett, in his first game back since suffering an ankle injury in late December, had the ball near the high post and fed McCliment-Call on the left wing. McCliment-Call dumped the ball inside to Pfennigs, who caught the ball under the basket, pump-faked the defender and laid the ball in.

“Obviously Jake did a great job with the catch, and that was a very good up-and-under move,” Post Falls coach McLean said. “But the reality is, that was five guys all having to work in unison. We had to get the ball swung to the side at just the exact moment. Colby penetrated to throw that skip pass. Tanner had to sink to the bottom to get the bottom guy in the zone to come out, and the most important part, David Bourgard’s got to hit that screen on the middle guy at the exact right time, so Jake comes open before that guy has time to react.”

Lake City (7-7, 1-2 5A IEL) had the last shot. Point guard Kodie Kolden drove to the basket, but McCliment-Call blocked the shot, off Kolden and out of bounds with 2 seconds left. Post Falls (11-5, 3-0) was able to inbound the ball twice and run out the clock to notch its third road win in as many league games this season.

“I always tell people, any road win in the IEL is so difficult,” McLean said. “I don’t know if people don’t believe me ... it’s so hard. When you have a league this small, where everybody has plenty of time to scout one another ... We’re playing over here at Lake City, with so much experience on their bench with their coaching staff, they had those kids so prepared tonight, we’re very fortunate to come out of here, shooting the percentage that we did (38.5 percent, 20 of 52). We normally shoot better, but that’s a credit to them; they kept us out of our rhythm.”

McCliment-Call led Post Falls with 16 points. Pfennigs added 14 points and 14 rebounds and Gennett scored 11 points.

It was the second straight tough loss at home for Lake City, which lost to Coeur d’Alene last Friday on a foul with 0.3 seconds left. This one was more disappointing for the T-Wolves, who dictated the pace and led most of the way, but couldn’t finish off the upset.

“That’s a tough one,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “I can’t say enough how we played, but one thing about Mike’s teams, they play hard. I thought we played harder. The kids executed what we wanted them to do perfectly. They just kept nipping at us at the end. We just played our hearts out, we just came up a point short.”

Hunter Schaffer of Lake City, who scored a game-high 17 points, hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Lake City jumped out to a 21-14 lead. James Carlson added 13 points, Kolden 10.

The T-Wolves built their lead to 33-23 early in the third quarter on a driving layup by Schaffer. Post Falls closed the quarter on an 11-2 run to pull within 38-37.

Midway through the fourth, Pfennigs’ 3 from the right baseline gave the Trojans a 44-42 lead. But Schaffer answered with a 3, and Nic McCartin’s driving layup made it 47-44 Lake City with 1:41 left.

McCliment-Call’s jumper from the right baseline pulled the Trojans within one point with 49 seconds left, and Post Falls got the ball back after a missed free throw.

After yielding 21 points in the first quarter, Post Falls allowed just 26 the rest of the game.

“I thought it was our defense,” McLean said of the third-quarter comeback. “We were getting stops, and that allowed us to crawl back into it. They did a good job of capitalizing on our mistakes, and we had to make sure we shut that down.”

Next Thursday, Post Falls is home vs. Coeur d’Alene, and Lake City travels to Sandpoint.

Post Falls 14 9 14 11 — 48

Lake City 21 8 8 10 — 47

POST FALLS — Gennett 11, McCliment-Call 16, Walker 0, Bourgard 3, Fleming 2, Pfennigs 14, Morris 2.

LAKE CITY — Kolden 10, McCartin 2, Manzardo 2, Carlson 13, Schaffer 17, Kiesbuy 3, Pollow 0.