NAMPA — When the final buzzer sounded, a couple of Post Falls players remained seated on the bench for a few extra moments, before finally getting up to congratulate the other team in the handshake line.

Which seemed fitting, since sitting was part of the problem the Trojans faced on Friday night.

Foul trouble plagued Post Falls in the first half, and appeared to affect the Trojans in the second half of a 65-48 loss to Madison of Rexburg in the semifinals of the state 5A high school boys basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center.

“This has been something we’ve been struggling with all year,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said, “where we would have a guy or two in foul trouble, and we seemed to have a hard time getting that player back into the flow of the game. Tonight we had a whole bunch of guys in foul trouble, so we were sitting a whole bunch of guys. … I think it’s more of an inexperience situation.”

Post Falls, which lost in the semis for the third straight year, will play Rigby (20-7) in the third-place game today at 11 a.m. PST at Columbia High in Nampa.

Rigby lost to Borah of Boise 72-59 in the other semifinal. Borah will play Madison (25-3) in the championship game tonight at 7 at the Idaho Center.

The Post Falls-Madison game was rugged from the start. Colby Gennett, Post Falls’ leading scorer, picked up his second foul with 3:32 left in the first quarter. Gavven Desjarlais picked up No. 2 with a minute to go in the quarter, and reserve Terrell Mitchell was whistled for his second with .2 seconds left in the quarter.

All three sat the rest of the half.

Still, Post Falls only trailed 28-24 at the break.

In the third quarter, with Gennett and Desjarlais back in, Madison started pulling away, with wings Mason McWhorter (21 points), Jaden Schwab (11) and Kyle Jackson (6) able to drive to the basket and score. Throw in the burly Spencer Hathaway, who totaled 19 points and seven rebounds, and the Bobcats, who start five seniors, were tough to stop all night.

“My feeling on the bench was that we became less aggressive, especially in our help, because we were playing not to foul, instead of playing to stop the ball,” McLean said. “And that opened up some driving lanes for them.”

Desjarlais, who had 19 points in Post Falls’ win over two-time defending champion Rocky Mountain of Meridian on Thursday, finished with five points on Friday. Gennett, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds on Thursday, had one basket and four points against Madison.

“I don’t think we trusted in each other,” said sophomore Alex Horning, who hit three 3-pointers and led Post Falls with 17 points. “We never connected, and that really killed us in this game.

“We’re young. We just need to get stronger. Rebounds are a big part of our game (the Trojans were outrebounded 28-21).”

Being in foul trouble “makes you a little timid,” Horning said.

A total of 45 fouls were called in the game, which featured enough contact to make many football coaches proud. Madison was 26 of 35 from the line — Hathaway was 11 of 14, McWhorter 9 of 9 — and Post Falls was 17 of 22. No Bobcat finished with more than three fouls, while Desjarlais and Horning fouled out for the Trojans.

“We thought if we could take it at them, and see what they’ll do with that,“ said second-year Madison coach Travis Schwab, who succeeded the legendary Bill Hawkins. “And fortunately it worked out a little bit, and we went from there.”

McWorter hit eight of his free throws in the first quarter. Still, Post Falls led 21-16 before Madison closed the half on a 12-3 run, with McWhorter scoring six points, Hathaway five.

Madison used a 10-2 run in the third quarter to build a 38-29 lead. Post Falls came no closer than six points in the fourth quarter.

Madison shot 56.3 percent (18 of 32) from the field. Post Falls shot 33.3 percent (13 of 39) from the field.

“In the second half, I thought we took some rushed shots,” McLean said. “I don’t think we played selfish, but I thought we took some really nervous shots when it was starting to slip away from them.”

McLean said the way the game unfolded could provide a good learning experience for a young team that starts three sophomores and a junior.

“What I told our guys in there was, roles reversed,” McLean said. “Last night we were the hunter; we were looking for somebody. Tonight, I felt we were the hunted, and we didn’t respond real well to that.”

Madison 14 14 13 24 — 65

Post Falls 11 13 10 14 — 48

MADISON — Porter 3, Poll 0, Downey 2, Schwab 11, McWhorter 21, Murray 0, Jackson 6, Wills 1, Williams 2, Hathaway 19, King 0, Jensen 0. Totals 18-32 26-35 65.

POST FALLS — Gennett 4, McLean 6, Hauser 0, C. Rutherford 9, Ballew 2, Shields 0, Desjarlais 5, Horning 17, Mitchell 5. Totals 13-39 17-22 48.