NAMPA — As if the Post Falls Trojans needed any extra motivation Thursday night, they just had to be reminded of the number 12 and the 72-63 final score.

Twelve, as in how many 3-pointers Centennial made against the Trojans last year, en route to a nine-point victory in a state semifinal game.

One year later, helped by a tremendous individual defensive effort by sophomore Colby Gennett, Post Falls dominated Centennial defensively in a 56-38 victory in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center.

“We don’t forget,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “We got beat last year, and they took away an opportunity our kids really wanted. We’ve talked about Centennial, and that effort, in the spring when nobody felt like coming in and doing any shooting, or working in the weight room. We talked about it all summer. We talked about it at the beginning of the year — remember what Centennial took away from you. And we weren’t necessarily gunning for Centennial, but we wanted to use that experience … we had to play them today, so it was the perfect storm for us.”

Post Falls (19-5) will play Hillcrest (20-5) of Idaho Falls in a semifinal game tonight at 7 at the Idaho Center. Hillcrest beat Mountain View 76-67 in the final game of the night.

Jake Pfennigs had 21 points and 10 rebounds for Post Falls, which never trailed. Tanner McCliment-Call added 17 points, and Gennett hit all six of his shots and scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half.

But Gennett’s biggest contribution came at the defensive end, where he held Kam Modrow to four points on 2-of-8 shooting.

“He defended,” McLean said of Gennett. “Colby did a very good job taking away their shooter, and everybody else, just overall, did an excellent job executing our game plan.”

“I knew that he was a big-time shooter,” Gennett said of Modrow. “I just couldn’t let him get started. … I don’t think scoring, assists, and all that as a big deal. It’s the smaller things like defense, rebounds, getting my teammates open, making the extra pass to get a great shot over a good shot.”

Post Falls shot 68 percent (13 of 19) from the field in the first half, and finished at 52.5 percent (21 of 40) despite playing what McLean derided as “rec ball, AAU ball” in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans led by as much as 31-15 late in the first half on a 3-pointer by Pfennigs, and took a 31-19 lead into halftime.

Post Falls led by as much as 22 in the second half as Centennial never seriously threatened. The Patriots shot 38.2 percent (13 of 34 ) from the field, and just 47.4 percent (9 of 19) from the line.

“Offensively tonight, I gave us a B-plus,” McLean said. “For offensive execution. I thought we forced some shots, and we missed too many open shots and easy shots we can make.

I was really, really happy with our defense. We’ve won a lot of games down here at the state tournament taking away teams’ first option, and trying to limit their second option. If you’re going to beat us, you’re going to have to with your third and fourth option. Tonight we took away their first option.”

McCliment-Call and Pfennigs are both deadly 3-point shooters, but on Thursday night got most of their points driving to the basket. Phennigs scored 14 in the first half, McCliment-Call nine, and Matt Fleming added four points off the bench.

“A lot of teams try to run Tanner off the 3-point line,” McLean said. “I think Tanner’s one-dribble pull-up — I’ve not seen a better one in the state yet. And obviously Jake is just a very special player.”

Senior point guard Logan Drace led Centennial (11-15) with 13 points.

“They took us away from the title game last year,” Pfennigs said, “so we came out with a little chip on our shoulder, wanted to take care of business. Colby locked down his guy, and everybody else did their job on their guy. We played some good defense.”

Centennial 9 10 13 6 — 38

Post Falls 15 16 17 8 — 56

CENTENNIAL — Hansen 3, Drace 13, Martens 8, Ka Modrow 4, Jones 0, Tarter 0, Padour 7, Ko. Modrow 3, Koch 0. Totals 13-34 9-19 38.

POST FALLS — Gennett 14, Buer 0, McCliment-Call 17 Walker 0, Bourgard 0, Fleming 4, A. Ballew 0, Pfennigs 21, Morris 0. Totals 21-40 11-12 56.