SANDPOINT — Moscow’s Benny Kitchel knocked down a pair of free throws with just over a minute left to put the Bears ahead and Sandpoint missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer as Moscow slipped past Sandpoint 43-40 on Saturday night at Les Rogers Court to wrap up a perfect season in 4A Inland Empire League play.

“Moscow’s an excellent team, they’re well coached,” Sandpoint coach Wade Engelson said. “Our guys left it all on the basketball court. I wish the outcome was different but this is a bunch of guys that really got after it.”

The Bears (11-8, 4-0 4A IEL) earned home-court advantage in the best-of-3 regional championship series that starts Wednesday, Feb. 26, against either Sandpoint or Lakeland.

Moscow took a 19-10 lead after the first quarter.

Sandpoint’s Ryan Roos hit a 3-pointer as the horn sounded to end the first half and the Bulldogs trailed 28-26 after two.

Heading into the fourth quarter, Sandpoint trailed 37-31. The Bulldogs then went on a 9-2 run to take a 40-39 advantage.

After Kitchel made his free throws to put Moscow up 41-40, Sandpoint missed three free throws and the Bears knocked down two more to seal the win.

“We played outstanding defense and we outrebounded them by double digits even though they are a much taller team than we are,” Engelson said.

Sandpoint went 2 of 9 from the free-throw line while Moscow hit 9 of 17.

Kitchel finished with 12 points and Blake Buchanan added 10 for Moscow. Roos led the Bulldogs with 13.

Sandpoint (8-10, 0-3) heads to Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday.

Moscow 19 9 9 6 — 43

Sandpoint 10 16 5 9 — 40

MOSCOW — Diego 1, Decker 7, Abendroth 6, Thompson 0, Simpson 1, Colter 2, Postell 3, Buchanan 10, Kitchel 12, Skinner 1.

SANDPOINT — R. Roos 13, Banks 7, Niemela 2, Eldridge 2, VanDenBerg 0, C. Roos 2, Treadaway 8, Casey 6.

Lakeland 65

Timberlake 47

RATHDRUM — Junior Noah Haaland scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half, and the Hawks raced to a 39-10 halftime lead en route to the nonleague victory over the in-district rival Tigers at Hawk Court.

Abe Munyer added 10 points and 12 rebounds for Lakeland (14-3), and Ben Zubaly had 11 points and five assists.

“We played really good defense in that first half,” Lakeland assistant coach Bill Ryan said. “We came out excited to get after somebody that wasn’t Moscow for the first time in a couple weeks. Ben and Carson (Seay) guarded really well, and we rebounded real well in the first half, got the fast break going.”

Lakeland’s last two games were losses to Moscow, by three and five points in 4A Inland Empire League play. Lakeland’s last game against someone other than Moscow was Jan. 21 at Coeur d’Alene.

Wyatt Dickinson made 10 of his 13 points in a 27-point third quarter for Timberlake (4-13). Jack McDonald added 12 points for the Tigers, all on 3-pointers.

Timberlake travels to Kellogg on Tuesday in a matchup of co-Intermountain League leaders.

Lakeland plays host to Sandpoint on Thursday in the 4A IEL finale for both teams.

Timberlake 4 6 27 10 — 47

Lakeland 17 22 14 12 — 65

TIMBERLAKE — Mullins 0, Peightal 7, Menti 0, Higgins 2, Paslay 4, Yetter 5, McDonald 12, James 4, Dickinson 13.

LAKELAND — Zubaly 11, Furey 0, Seay 9, Henry 4, Ab. Munyer 10, Am. Munyer 6, Haaland 18, Roth 0, Waddington 0, Derrick 3, Saasen 4.

Kellogg 52

St. Maries 50 (OT)

KELLOGG — Tyler Oertli had two offensive rebounds down the stretch in overtime, and hit a pair of free throws in the final moments as the Wildcats held off the Lumberjacks in overtime at Andrews Gymnasium.

Kellogg trailed St. Maries 32-21 in the third quarter as the Lumberjacks grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the period.

“It was a really good game,” Kellogg coach Jeff Nearing said. “We scored quick to start overtime, and didn’t give up any field goals in overtime. We had a couple of chances to ice it in regulation, but some untimely turnovers hurt us. Defensively, St. Maries played really well. Once we got that (rebounding) issue fixed, we clawed back in the fourth and were in the game.”

St. Maries fought back from a 46-42 deficit in the final 30 seconds to send the game to overtime.

Graden Nearing scored 17 points for Kellogg (11-6), which hosts Timberlake on Tuesday.

Randie Becktel scored 13 pionts for St. Maries (12-5), which travels to Orofino on Friday.

St. Maries 4 17 15 10 4 — 50

Kellogg 12 7 11 16 6 — 52

ST. MARIES — Sands 9, Ross 4, Becktel 13, Gentry 9, Stancil 5, Peet 0, Gibson 10, Renner 0, Ledbetter 0.

KELLOGG — R. Luna 3, K. Luna 0, Oertli 5, Nearing 17, Miller 11, Walker 0, Jerome 1, G. Luna 15.

Lakeside 92

Shadle Park JV 63

PLUMMER — Kenyon Spotted Horse scored 12 of his game-high 32 points in the third quarter, and the host Knights shook off some first-half rust to defeat the Highlander junior varsity at Ron Miller Court.

“It was good to see Kenyon back to form,” said Lakeside coach James Twoteeth of Spotted Horse, who has suffered injuries to both ankles this season. “You can tell it’s not bothering him anymore. He’s doing better on the break, and getting a lot more steals.”

Talon Twoteeth added 14 points for Lakeside (16-0). Vander Brown and Jasper Abuan each had 13 points for the Knights, who pulled away after leading by seven at the half.

Jamil Miller led the Shadle JV with 24 points.

Lakeside plays Immaculate Conception on Monday at 7 p.m. at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake.

Shadle Park JV 17 16 15 15 — 63

Lakeside 20 20 22 30 — 92

SHADLE PARK JV — Wilson 0, Miller 24, Doyle 10, Redd 3, Fox 4, Wilcox 11, Pugh 6, McCullough 2, Picard 3.

LAKESIDE — Brown 13, Abuan 13, Higgins 8, White 5, Twoteeth 14, Spotted Horse 32, Matt 5, Arroyo 2.

Clark Fork 55

Kootenai 41

HARRISON FLATS — Josh Constantine scored 23 points for the Wampus Cats in a North Star League win over the Warriors.

Cameron Garcia scored 13 points for Clark Fork (5-11, 2-4 NSL), which travels to Wallace on Tuesday.

Garrett Renner scored 26 points for Kootenai (0-13, 0-7), which plays at Mullan on Feb. 20.

Clark Fork 14 15 21 5 — 55

Kootenai 9 11 12 9 — 41

CLARK FORK — Constantine 23, Garcia 13, SanRoman 6, P. Bopp 3, Abbott 5, Shelton 0, Boehme 0, Matsutaru 2, J. Bopp 0, Bailey 0, Reuter 3.

KOOTENAI — Brewster 10, Reynolds 2, G. Hysell 0, Raudebaugh 2, D. Hysell 0, Renner 26, Coppa 1.

Genesis Prep 64

Imm. Conception 27

POST FALLS — Freshman Steven Burgess scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter, and the Jaguars opened a 29-4 lead after the first quarter over the Cristeros in the nonleague game at The Courts at Real Life Ministries.

Eli Gonzales added 11 points for Genesis Prep (10-8).

Sebastian Eloe led Immaculate Conception with 12 points.

Imm. Conception 4 8 7 8 — 27

Genesis Prep 29 9 19 7 — 64

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION — Jo. Darakjy 2, S. Kramer 9, Brunson 2, Fonte 0, Eloe 12, L. Kramer 2, Harvey 0, Lloyd 0.

GENESIS PREP — Schroeder 6, Daniels 4, Burgess 22, Weeks 8, Neely 9, Gonzales 11, Brosenne 0, Snowder 4.

N.I. Christian 62

Pullman Christian 55

SPOKANE VALLEY — Sophomore Malachi Bullington totaled 22 points and 11 rebounds as the top-seeded Royals beat the third-seeded Eagles in the championship game at The Oaks to win their fifth straight Mountain Christian League tournament title.

Jake Peterson added 16 points for North Idaho Christian (21-6), which also won its fifth straight MCL title. Wiley Pilgrim had five assists and five steals, and Phil Connelly had 12 points, five boards and three assists.

Erik Brown led Pullman Christian with 21 points.

Pull. Christian 16 15 12 12 — 55

N.I. Christian 18 17 9 18 — 62

PULLMAN CHRISTIAN — Brown 21, Nimmer 2, Hewitt 9, Yocum 0, McClure 9, Gleason 0, Zheng 0, Coltira 0, Shaffer 14.

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Desrochers 0, Alliano 0, Pilgrim 2, Peterson 16, Connelly 12, Koonze 0, Johnson 0, Hill 0, Kelly 10, Bullington 22.