Trojans fall to Lewiston on senior night
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 14 hours, 32 minutes AGO
POST FALLS — In a game of runs, Lewiston had the biggest one(s).
After Post Falls opened up a lead with a 7-0 run early in the third quarter, Lewiston went zone and answered with a 10-0 burst, built a 12-point lead early in the fourth quarter and held on for a 73-70 victory over the Trojans on senior night at The Arena.
“The crazy thing is, we got the looks we wanted in the zone, we just missed them, it was just unfortunate,” Post Falls coach Jayson Ulrich said. “The kids played hard, just let a couple of their kids get wide open.”
Lewiston (17-3), ranked No. 1 in 5A by MaxPreps, still led 71-62 before Post Falls (14-6), ranked No. 4 in 6A, went on an 8-0 run, capped by a steal and score by Jaxon Lysne to cut it to one with a minute and a half left. Lysne finished with a game-high 29 points.
Post Falls missed three 3-pointers in the final minute, the first two which would have given the Trojans the lead, and the final one that would have tied it at the buzzer.
Post Falls’ loss means Lake City, which finished tied for first with the Trojans in the 6A Inland Empire League, will be the top seed to the 6A District 1 tournament.
Post Falls will be the No. 2 seed, and will host No. 3 Coeur d’Alene next Saturday at 1 p.m. in a loser-out first-round game. The winner will face Lake City in a best-of-3 series to determine the district’s lone berth to state, beginning with Game 1 on Feb. 24 at Lake City.
Post Falls would have had to have won Friday night, and had Lake City lose to Moscow next Tuesday, for the Trojans to be the top seed.
“We knew what was ahead of us anyway ... our guys are up for the task,” Ulrich said.
Senior Connor Carver added 22 points for Post Falls.
Senior Royce Fisher hit all three of his 3s and scored 11 of his 26 points in the third quarter for Lewiston, which has already clinched the 5A IEL title. Junior Brady Rudolph also hit three 3s and added 17 points.
Lewiston 19 17 22 15 — 73
Post Falls 20 17 13 20 — 70
LEWISTON — Fisher 26, Wilkerson 1, J. Walker 9, P. Walker 0, Haines 4, Rudolph 17, Hepburn 12, Bobeck 0, Way 4.
POST FALLS — Norisada 0, Auble 0, Bodman 8, Lysne 29, Naylor 2, Munday 3, Brown 0, Carver 22, Dean 6.
MARK NELKE/Press Post Falls senior Jaxon Lysne (5) splits Lewiston defenders Brady Rudolph, left, and Royce Fisher in the first half Friday night at The Arena.