MOSCOW — Ben Zubaly scored 10 of his 16 points in the third quarter to lead the second-seeded Lakeland Hawks past the top-seeded Moscow Bears 65-58 in Game 1 of the best-of-3 4A Region 1 championship series Wednesday night at Bear Den.

“We took care of the ball,” Lakeland assistant coach Bill Ryan said. “We shot free throws well down the stretch to keep them away.”

Ammon Munyer had 17 points and 12 rebounds, Abe Munyer eight points and 10 rebounds and Zubaly five assists for Lakeland (18-4), which can punch its first ticket to state since 2016 with a win in Game 2 at Moscow on Friday at 6 p.m.

Benny Kitchel scored 15 points for Moscow (13-9), which has won three straight regional titles.

Moscow earned the chance to host all three games in the championship series after going undefeated in 4A Inland Empire League play. The Bears beat Lakeland by 3 and 5 points during league play.

Lakeland 19 8 26 12 — 65

Moscow 20 10 8 20 — 58

LAKELAND — Zubaly 16, Seay 3, Henry 5, Ab. Munyer 8, Am. Munyer 17, Haaland 14, Roth 2.

MOSCOW — Diego 7, Decker 10, Abendroth 3, Thompson 3, Simpson 2, Colter 0, Postell 8, Buchanan 8, Kitchel 15, Skinner 2.

Kellogg 53

Timberlake 43

KELLOGG — After Timberlake senior Jacob James scored 27 points in Kellogg on Feb. 11, the Wildcats coaching staff made a point — again — to not let him beat them at Andrews Gymnasium.

In Wednesday’s 3A District 1 championship game, a trio of defenders limited James to four points, and senior Graden Nearing scored 17 points to lead the top-seeded Wildcats past the second-seeded Tigers for the program’s seventh straight district title.

“We started out great and led 11-2 to start the game,” fourth-year Kellogg coach Jeff Nearing said. “We went cold and got down at halftime, but had a great start to the third quarter. We had a big defensive effort and only allowed one field goal in the third quarter. The boys kept their composure a lot better than their coach did tonight.”

Kellogg (16-6) opens at state next Thursday at Meridian High against Sugar-Salem. The Diggers are the defending state champions.

Timberlake (6-15) hosts Priest River (5-15) in the district second-place game tonight at 6, with the winner advancing to a state play-in game Saturday at Weiser High. The fourth-seeded Spartans beat third-seeded Bonners Ferry 60-52 in a loser-out game earlier on Wednesday at Kellogg.

James and Graden Nearing were named league co-MVPs following the game.

“We harped on it last time we played them, and he (James) scored 27 points,” Jeff Nearing said. “We did a good job to limit his looks at the basket tonight.”

Zach Yetter scored 10 points for Timberlake.

Timberlake 7 14 6 16 — 43

Kellogg 11 8 15 19 — 53

TIMBERLAKE — Peightal 6, Menti 9, Higgins 2, Paslay 2, Yetter 10, McDonald 8, James 4, Dickinson 0.

KELLOGG — Bush 2, R. Luna 2, K. Luna 2, Oertli 6, Nearing 17, Miller 4, Walker 0, Jerome 8, G. Luna 12.