PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: St. Maries wins by enough to earn top seed

ST. MARIES — Kellogg and St. Maries traded double-digit victories in their two Central Idaho League meetings this season.

And in the end, St. Maries' victory margin on Tuesday night was just enough to make the road to the state 2A tournament come back through the Lumberjacks’ home gym.

Senior Greyson Sands, coming back from a knee injury, hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished with a game-high 28 points in a reserve role as the Lumberjacks beat the Kellogg Wildcats 74-57 on senior night.

With the win, St. Maries (14-5, 5-1 CIL) will be the top seed to the 2A District 1-2 tournament, with Kellogg (14-6, 5-1) being the second seed. The tie was broken by point differential in the two games between the two schools, with St. Maries holding a four-point advantage. Kellogg beat St. Maries 56-43 on Jan. 12 in Kellogg.

“We knew going into halftime and being down three (30-27) that they were tired and in foul trouble,” said Chase, whose team outscored Kellogg 47-27 in the second half. “The kids just pushed the tempo and created turnovers.”

Senior guard Trace Wicks hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter, giving the Lumberjacks a 42-41 lead.

“It seemed like the kids kept the foot on the pedal after that,” Chase said. “It’s a whole different dynamic having a point differential as a tiebreaker. It was definitely the most nerve-wracking 15-point lead I’ve ever had.”

Riply Luna scored 17 points for Kellogg.

“Honestly, the turnovers in the third quarter were the difference,” Kellogg coach Mike Martin said. “Defensively, we were not good enough in the second half. We had some foul trouble that we did a good job of getting through in the first half, but just didn’t weather the storm in the second half. Hats off to St. Maries, they were more prepared than us, and that’s on me.”

St. Maries travels to Timberlake tonight at 7.

Kellogg hosts Wallace on Thursday.

Kellogg 18 12 14 13 — 57

St. Maries 21 6 22 25 — 74

KELLOGG — Miller 15, Whatcott 9, R. Luna 17, K. Luna 11, McLean 5, Coburn 0, Hendrix 0, Taylor 0.

ST. MARIES — Holmes 5, Sands 28, Badgett 7, Holder 2, T. Renner 3, Wicks 12, Swallows 0, Hill 17.

Lake City 85

Lakeland 41

RATHDRUM — Nathan Hocking scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the third quarter, and the visiting Timberwolves began pulling away in the second quarter in the Inland Empire League and regular season finale for both teams at Hawk Court.

Leading by seven points after one quarter, Lake City (21-0, 9-0 IEL) outscored Lakeland (3-16, 1-7) 34-4 in the second quarter.

“I was proud of the way we competed in the first quarter; we handled their pressure well,” Lakeland coach Tony Hanna said. “The second quarter they really turned up the pressure on us. They cover so much of the court; they’re long and athletic. They get a few runouts, get some momentum going, hit some 3s, hit some 2s … they’re just good.”

Kolton Mitchell added 18 points for Lake City, which moved into the top-25 national rankings by MaxPreps, at No. 25.

Blake Buchanan, who earlier Tuesday was named to the U.S. men’s team for the Nike Hoop Summit on April 8 in Portland, Ore., hit two 3-pointers and added 15 points.

“The goal was to make him a shooter, and he probably has one of the best-looking shots of anybody, not just a 7-footer,” Hanna said of the 6-11 Buchanan.

Nolahn Anderson scored nine points, all on 3s, for Lakeland.

“We tried to make them a shooting team; we tried to take them away from the rim, and for the most part we did an OK job,” Hanna said. “It was a great opportunity; we got a chase to play one of the top teams in the country, and we didn’t back down.”

Top-seeded Lake City plays host to fourth seed Post Falls on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of the 5A Region 1 tournament.

Third-seeded Lakeland plays at No. 2 Moscow on Monday at 6 p.m. in the loser-out first-round of the 4A Region 1 tournament.

Lake City 17 34 23 11 — 85

Lakeland 10 4 12 15 — 41

LAKE CITY — Buchanan 15, Strawn 10, Hill 0, Watson 3, Miller 3, Kiesbuy 4, Johnson 11, Mitchell 18, Snow 0, N. Hocking 21.

LAKELAND — Nowell 0, Cameron 8, Ferguson 0, Ryan 6, Tebbe 3, Rothrock 4, Loutzenhiser 6, S. Hocking 5, Anderson 9, Harris 0, Locke 0.

Post Falls 48

Moscow 46

MOSCOW — The visiting Trojans gave the Bears life by missing 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter before escaping with the win in the Inland Empire League and regular-season finale for both teams at Bear Den.

“We’re very fortunate to get out of there,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said.

Troy Ostlund of Post Falls (6-15, 4-5 IEL) hit the first of two free throws with 4.8 seconds left. He missed the second, but Moscow (8-12, 2-6) was unable to get a shot off before time expired.

Tyras Blake hit five 3-pointers and led Post Falls with 15 points. Neil McCarthy added 11 points for the Trojans, which lost junior forward Cooper Craig to a broken hand in practice last week.

“Coeur d’Alene was able to hurt them in transition,” McLean said of the Bears, who lost 57-24 at home to the Vikings on Monday night. “They did a good job of not letting us get out and run. We did enough to win.”

Caleb Skinner led Moscow with 15 points.

Post Falls, the No. 4 seed, plays at top-seeded Lake City on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first round of the 5A Region 1 tournament.

Moscow plays host to Lakeland on Monday at 6 p.m. in the loser-out first round of the 4A Region 1 tournament.

Post Falls 13 12 11 12 — 48

Moscow 10 14 12 10 — 46

POST FALLS — Anderson 0, Ostlund 6, McLean 0, McCarthy 11, Shields 8, McKeown 1, Wolfe 0, Blake 15, Bowie 2, Carver 5.

MOSCOW — Reed 6, Cummings 5, Afatchao 2, Rehder 10, Abendroth 2, Williams 0, C. Skinner 15, Z. Skinner 4.

Wallace 65

Mullan 34

WALLACE — Senior Damian Davis scored 18 points for the Miners in a nonleague win over the Tigers at Kirby Krulitz Court.

Senior Brad Tesky had 14 for Wallace (5-15), which travels to Kellogg on Thursday.

Floyd Nelson scored nine for Mullan (6-10), which faces Kootenai in a loser-out game in the 1A Division II District 1 tournament on Tuesday at North Idaho College.

Mullan 3 9 16 6 — 34

Wallace 20 19 12 14 — 65

MULLAN — Nelson 9, Trogden 7, A. Zingler 6, T. Zingler 8, S. Petit 2, L. Petit 2, Appiah 0.

WALLACE — Ritchey 2, D. Davis 18, Tesky 14, Morden 7, J. Davis 4, Hasz 12, Schmidt 4, Cleveland 2, Sabala 2.