PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Post Falls held to 18 points in loss to Lewiston

POST FALLS — One basket in the first half.

One.

Plus a load of missed shots in the first 16 minutes for the Post Falls Trojans.

The hosts cut a 20-point halftime deficit to eight early in the fourth quarter with an encouraging comeback. But Post Falls scored just one point over the final 6 and a half minutes and fell 31-18 to the Lewiston Bengals in the Inland Empire League opener for both teams Friday night at The Arena.

“I’ve never seen a league game where we hold a team to 31 points and get beat by double digits,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “To say we were inefficient on offense tonight is an understatement. I thought we got a lot of good looks, and we just didn’t make them.”

Carson Way hit two 3s and scored seven of his game-high 13 points in the first quarter for Lewiston (8-2), which led 23-3 at halftime.

Yes, 3.

Lewiston scored the game’s first 14 points before Cooper Craig of Post Falls (2-11) hit a free throw with 2:17 left in the first quarter, and Alex Shields followed with a putback. The Bengals scored the final nine points of the half as the Trojans went scoreless in the second quarter.

Shields made a pair of inside baskets to open the third quarter, then scored on a fast break to cut Lewiston’s lead to 23-9.

Early in the fourth quarter, Asher Bowie sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key to pull the Trojans within 25-17. But Post Falls’ sixth basket turned out to be its last of the night.

“This is my fault as a coach,” McLean said. “We were prepared defensively, we knew what they were going to do, we executed exactly what we had hoped to try to control Way, to try to take away some of those other spot-up shooters, to be ready for all those actions that they like to run. But, everything that we worked on offensively, we didn’t do that. As the head coach, that’s my fault.”

Shields scored eight points for Post Falls, which travels to Lewiston on Thursday.

“That was a dogfight, is what it was; an absolute dogfight,” first-year Lewiston coach Brooks Malm said. “Coach McLean, hats off to him and his program. As a young guy, I watched his teams play in the Idaho Center in the state championship. So all the respect to his team; they do a great job pressuring the ball. Carson Way did a good job coming out and being aggressive. I thought all of our guys did a good job of attacking early, and then late, we lost a little bit of that aggressiveness.”

Lewiston plays Moscow on Monday at the University of Idaho’s ICCU Arena.

Lewiston 16 7 2 6 — 31

Post Falls 3 0 11 4 — 18

LEWISTON — Gomez 2, Way 13, Bramlet 0, Mader 5, White 0, Wren 2, Hottinger 4, Lawrence 5.

POST FALLS — Anderson 0, Ostlund 1, McLean 0, McCarthy 4, Shields 8, Craig 2, Blake 0, Bowie 3, Carver 0.

Sandpoint 57

Lakeland 51

RATHDRUM — Parker Childs scored 18 points for the Bulldogs, who finished 7 for 13 from the 3-point line in an Inland Empire League win over the Hawks at Hawk Court.

“It felt like an even game on both sides,” said Lakeland coach Tony Hanna, whose team went 1 for 13. “They just shot it better. It was a good battle, but we just didn’t convert late in the game. We did a better job of executing and knew Childs could shoot it. We just made a couple of mistakes and he made us pay for it.”

Scotty Hocking scored 13 points for Lakeland (2-8, 0-2 IEL), which hosts Timberlake on Tuesday.

Rusty Lee scored 17 points for Sandpoint (5-7, 1-2).

Sandpoint 14 15 18 10 — 57

Lakeland 17 6 17 11 — 51

SANDPOINT — Pettit 0, Lee 17, Frank 5, VanDenBerg 5, Dickinson 10, Childs 18, Lane 0, Jones 2.

LAKELAND — Nowell 8, Cameron 3, Ferguson 9, Ryan 10, Loutzenhiser 6, Hocking 13, Anderson 2, Harris 0.

Lakeside 66

Timberlake 64

SPIRIT LAKE — Junior Brutis SiJohn tossed in a 35-footer at the buzzer as the visiting Knights, who led by 15 points entering the fourth quarter, beat the Tigers in nonleague play.

Timberlake battled back and took a 64-63 lead with 5.4 seconds left when Raj Olivieri hit the first of two free throws. He missed the second, SiJohn rebounded and rushed the ball up the left sideline, and launched his game-winner from just inside the half-court line.

“We were lethargic; I think we used a lot of energy in the Lapwai game,” said Lakeside coach James Twoteeth, whose squad battled the Wildcats before falling 89-76 at Lapwai. “It was an ugly win, but we’ll take it.”

While Twoteeth was happy he decided not to call a timeout after the missed free throw, Timberlake coach Mike LaFountaine lamented not using a timeout in the waning seconds, so a potential game-winner could be taken just before the buzzer.

“We just left too much time on the clock for them at the end,” LaFountaine said. “(But) I was proud of the way we played (in coming back).”

Tyson Charley scored 20 points, Vander Brown 14, Quincy Hall 12 for Lakeside (4-2), which plays host to Genesis Prep next Wednesday.

Ayson McLuskie scored 18 points, Olivieri 16 for Timberlake (3-8), which plays host to West Valley tonight at 6.

Lakeside 21 15 21 9 — 66

Timberlake 14 13 15 22 — 64

LAKESIDE — Brown 14, SiJohn 7, Callahan 4, Rivera 0, Hall 12, Hendrickx 9, Charley 20.

TIMBERLAKE — Olivieri 16, McLuskie 18, Yetter 7, Vallieres 6, H. Huggins 10, V. Higgins 3, MacArthur 4.

Bonners Ferry 74

St. Maries 68

BONNERS FERRY — Despite a game-high 35 points from Greyson Sands, the Lumberjacks fell to the Badgers in nonleague play.

Sands made five 3-pointers and 12 of 16 free throws for St. Maries (4-2), in a game where 52 fouls were called and three players fouled out.

Dillon Holder hit two 3s and added 13 points for St. Maries.

Ridge Williams hit two 3s and led Bonners Ferry (8-1) with 18 points. Asher Williams and Charles Henslee each added 12 for the Badgers, who hit 20 of 26 free throws, including 6 of 9 in the fourth quarter.

After St. Maries went up by one point with 5 minutes left, Braeden Blackmore and Henslee each hit 3s for Bonners.

“Both teams pressed a lot; it could have gone either way,” Bonners Ferry coach Nathan Williams said. “Sands, he hit some big shots. I’ve been harping on my guys since third grade, that close games will come down to free throws.”

Bonners Ferry plays at Moscow on Tuesday.

St. Maries travels to Kellogg on Thursday for a key Central Idaho League game.

St. Maries 23 16 18 11 — 68

Bonners Ferry 22 19 19 14 — 74

ST. MARIES — Holmes 4, Sands 35, Badgett 5, Holder 13, Renner 2, Wicks 3, Hill 6,

BONNERS FERRY — R. Williams 18, E. Blackmore 9, Henslee 12, Petesch 4, A. Williams 12, Th. Bateman 10, Hammons 0, Tr. Bateman 0, Schulte 0, B. Blackmore 9.

The Oaks 72

N.I. Christian 53

SPOKANE VALLEY — Larry Fendich scored 34 points for the Royals in a Mountain Christian League loss to The Oaks.

Carson Malinauskas scored nine points for North Idaho Christian (8-7, 4-1 MCL), which faces Spokane Classical Christian on Monday at Spokane First Church of the Nazarene.

Kaden Harken scored 23 points for The Oaks (12-0, 6-0).

N.I. Christian 10 12 18 13 — 53

The Oaks 21 15 22 14 — 72

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN — Fendich 34, Barnett 0, Hunter 3, Smith 3, Car. Malinauskas 9, Scott 0, Antone 4, Thacker 0, Col. Malinauskas 0, Sakae 0, Sullivan 0, Ellis 0.

THE OAKS — C. Harken 6, J.L. Curran 16, J.M. Curran 5, Shubin 4, Mattison 0, Jarvis 0, K. Harken 23, C. Van Horn 0, C. Christensen 16, Strickler 2, Arntell 0.