6A DISTRICT 1 BOYS BASKETBALL: The battle continues ... Lake City pulls out win in OT, sets up deciding game with Post Falls on Saturday

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

POST FALLS — Two knockdown, drag-out battles between the Lake City Timberwolves and Post Falls Trojans over the last three days have settled nothing. 

A third and deciding game will be necessary to determine the 6A District 1 boys basketball champion, and the district’s lone berth to state. 

Just as the basketball gods apparently wanted it to be. 

“Flat-out wars,” said Lake City junior Jordan Carlson, who scored 19 points, including three of his team’s five in overtime, as the top-seeded Timberwolves, less than a second from defeat, beat second-seeded Post Falls 59-57 on Thursday night at The Arena to force a third and deciding game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lake City. “It’s been so much fun to be a part of, though; I’ve loved how hard our boys have been fighting. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of this.” 

Saturday’s winner between Lake City (15-8), ranked third in 6A by MaxPreps, and Post Falls (16-7), ranked fourth, advances to state at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa starting next Thursday.

The loser is done for the year.  

Before a near-capacity crowd in Post Falls’ 3,100-seat gym, in a game where neither team led by more than six points, Post Falls had a chance to win it with .8 seconds left following a rebound foul, and the score tied at 54.  

But Post Falls junior Cashton Bodman, who scored nine of his 17 points in the third quarter to give the Trojans a four-point lead, misfired on a pair of free throws, and the game went into overtime. 

"I’ve been working on this for a couple of years — surrendering the result and controlling all the things we can control, and the scoreboard’s going to be what it is,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “And if you do a good enough job with the controllables, usually it ends up in your favor. We just controlled what we could control. That was out of our control, and a lucky break, and maybe it’s meant to be, I don’t know.” 

Two free throws each by Carlson and Josh Watson put Lake City up 58-54. But Post Falls senior Jaxon Lysne, who scored a game-high 25 points, drove the lane for a three-point play to pull the Trojans within one with 58.9 seconds left. 

Watson missed a pair of free throws with 25.6 seconds left, and Lysne rimmed out a 3-point try in the waning seconds. Carlson was fouled on the rebound, hit one of two free throws.  

Post Falls had to throw it the length of the court with 1.0 seconds left, but Bowman came up with the steal to seal the win. 

"Those free throws wasn’t the problem,” Post Falls coach Jayson Ulrich said. “We go 6 of 25 from 3s, and we had 15 turnovers. We hurt ourselves tonight. We just killed ourselves ... They (the T-Wolves) packed it in, and they dared us to shoot it a little bit. And they killed us on the boards, especially in the first half ... But to play that way, and have a chance to win it, I’ll take Cashton at the line every day of the week.” 

Junior Jackson Anderson added 10 points for Lake City, which lost starting guard Paxton Winey to a badly sprained ankle in the first half. 

“We played from behind in the fourth quarter for the most part,” Anderson said. “We definitely had some good runs. The first game we shot 1 for 16 from 3 and only got to the free-throw line five times. We wanted to put more pressure on the rim, and just cut it loose from the 3-point line. No matter what, we were going to play fast and free tonight.” 

Bodman, Connor Carver and Alex Dean all had eight rebounds for Post Falls, which won Game 1 46-43 at Lake City on Tuesday. 

We know we can win over there,” Ulrich said. “We still have plenty of confidence in us, with a senior group like this, and guys that have been in a lot of tight games like this. It’s unfortunate ... sometimes life is hard. Basketball and life kinda go together. I think we’ll be fine. 

“Sometimes the basketball gods say you need one more.” 

Lake City     11    16    11    16    5    —    59 

Post Falls     16    10    16    12    3    —    57 

LAKE CITY — Williams 5, Winey 0, Plummer 6, Carlson 19, Watson 8, Bowman 9, Anderson 10, Pearson 0, Irgens 0.  

POST FALLS — Norisada 0, Bodman 17, Lysne 25, Naylor 5, Munday 1, Carver 4, Dean 5. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Lake City junior Jordan Carlson (5) drives on Post Falls junior Cashton Bodman (3) in the second half in Game 2 of the 6A District 1 championship series Thursday night at The Arena at Post Falls.