Post Falls, Lewiston advance to title game

Fourth-seeded Lake City used a box-and-one defense on Post Falls sharpshooter Caden McLean, and opened up a double-digit lead over the top-seeded Trojans in the first half of their 5A Region 1 boys basketball tournament opener Friday night at The Arena in Post Falls.

But Post Falls eventually adjusted, and junior Alex Horning scored 22 of his game-high 24 points in the final three quarters as the Trojans beat the Timberwolves to advance to the regional championship game.

Post Falls (19-3) will play host to No. 2 seed Lewiston (13-7) for a berth to state Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Lewiston held off visiting and No. 3 seed Coeur d’Alene 41-39 on Friday.

Lake City (14-8) will play at Coeur d’Alene (7-14) in a loser-out game Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.

Post Falls 60

Lake City 46

“It was obvious they were going to take Caden out and not let him have an open shot,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “At halftime we talked about settling down and getting good shots, and we held them to 15 points in the second half. We were taking bad shots (in the first half), and they were able to rush down and get easy scoring opportunities.”

Colby Gennett added 17 points and seven rebounds for Post Falls. Point guard Cole Rutherford added 12 points, and Caden McLean, Post Falls’ leading scorer in 5A Inland Empire League play who was held scoreless Friday, had four steals.

“We had too many other weapons,” Mike McLean said. “They weren’t going to let Caden score, so Alex, Cole and Colby stepped up and scored.”

Freshman point guard Kolton Mitchell scored 19 points to lead Lake City.

A lob from Rutherford to Gennett for a dunk came during a second-quarter run that helped Post Falls pull within 31-29 at halftime, and the Trojans took the lead for good early in the third quarter.

Zach Johnson, a freshman starter for Lake City who suffered a knee injury in Tuesday’s triple-overtime victory over Lakeland, warmed up but did not play Friday night.

Lake City 17 14 7 8 — 46

Post Falls 12 17 16 15 — 60

LAKE CITY — Janke 2, Irvin 7, Kiesbuy 9, Spellman 0, Hanson 6, Mitchell 19, Sundstrom 0, Meredith 3.

POST FALLS — Gennett 17, McLean 0, Wubbolding 0, Rodriguez 2, Peterson 0, Rutherford 12, Ballew 3, Lee 0, Horning 24, Shields 2.

Lewiston 41

Coeur d’Alene 39

LEWISTON — One week after Coeur d’Alene prevailed in a 34-33 slugfest at Lewiston, this time it was the host Bengals who escaped in the low-scoring game.

With the score tied and a little over one minute left, Lewiston grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Kash Lang, who sank a 3-pointer — his only basket of the game — to give the Bengals the lead for good at Booth Hall.

Trailing by four points with 4.1 seconds left, Coeur d’Alene inbounded the ball to sophomore Cameren Cope, who scored in the lane and was fouled with 2.8 seconds left. He intentionally missed the free throw and the Vikings rebounded, but missed a shot at the buzzer.

“We had a chance,” Coeur d’Alene coach Tony Hanna said. “It could have gone either way. Who knows, maybe we’ll see them again.”

Senior Devon Johnson scored a game-high 18 points for Coeur d’Alene, including seven in the third quarter when the Vikings rallied from down 20-13 at halftime to a 27-all tie after three. Johnson does most of his scoring near the basket, but hit 2 of 2 3-pointers on Friday night.

“They had to come out and guard him, and he was able to get to the rim a little more,” Hanna said.

Sophomore Jace McKarcher scored nine points to lead Lewiston, which has no seniors on its roster.

Coeur d’Alene 7 6 14 12 — 39

Lewiston 9 11 7 14 — 41

COEUR d’ALENE — Whittaker 2, Bengtson 0, Johnson 18, Larson 0, Karns 3, Prka 0, Cope 8, O. Smith 0, McLaughlin 8.

LEWISTON — Eke 8, McKarcher 9, Lang 3, White 0, Mullikin 6, Hottinger 0, Hepburn 6, Forsman 4, Forsmann 4.