PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Lake City shoots past Post Falls
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 6 months, 2 weeks AGO
MARK NELKE/Press Paxton Winey of Lake City goes up for a shot as Alex Dean (55) and Connor Carver (21) of Post Falls defend on Wednesday night at Lake City.
MARK NELKE/Press Isaiah Naylor of Post Falls goes up for a shot as Paxton Winey of Lake City soars by on Wednesday night at Lake City.
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
COEUR d’ALENE — In the first of what could be many meetings between the two teams this year, the Lake City Timberwolves said they weren’t necessarily trying to send a message to the Post Falls Trojans.
They were just looking for a win.
Senior post Josh Watson, who recently verbally committed to play at North Idaho College, totaled 20 points (on 9-of-12 shooting), six rebounds and four steals as Lake City, ranked third in 6A by MaxPreps, led by as much as 22 points en route to a 68-60 victory over fourth-ranked Post Falls in 6A Inland Empire League play on Wednesday night at Lake City.
“We just wanted to show that we could compete with anybody,” Watson said. “We just want to make a title run again; last year we got second. We just wanted to prove that we could play with anyone when we work together as a team.”
Junior Jordan Carlson scored 21 points, hitting 3 of 6 3-pointers, and also had seven rebounds and three blocked shots for Lake City (9-6, 2-0 6A IEL).
“This is a weird year, where only one team can go (to state),” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “This is far from over. They’re a good team, and we’re a good team, and it’s super unfortunate because we’re both in the top five (in MaxPreps rankings). There’s probably going to be some more of these battles. You want to get a feel for where they’re at, and where we’re at.”
Senior Connor Carver led Post Falls (10-4, 1-1) with 16 points, and senior Jaxon Lysne added 14.
Lake City shot the ball well early, jumping out to a 28-12 lead on a 3-pointer by Watson early in the second quarter.
Post Falls closed to within 39-30 at the half, but Lake City boosted its lead to 60-38 late in the third quarter on a 3 by Jackson Anderson.
“Lack of energy,” Post Falls coach Jayson Ulrich said. “The first quarter and the third quarter, the start was the same. We got smacked in the mouth tonight, and we deserved it. That’s a wakeup call, because we had been on a bit of a run (six straight wins, and eight out of nine). I’ll wear that. The last two practices were not very good, and that’s on me. I’ve got to keep our energy level up in practice so it relays into the game.”
Lake City finished 50% (25 of 50) from the field, and 8 of 20 from 3-point range.
“In games like this, guys are going to end up with shots who are outside of your main tier guys,” Anderson said. “And if those guys make shots, you’re probably going to win the game, and that’s the separator in a game like this.”
“I thought we had a good plan coming in, and Lake City shot the ball really well,” Ulrich said. “We tried to mix up our defenses, and we got out of sorts, and our rotations were bad.”
Down by 22, the Trojans answered with a 13-0 run that pulled the visitors within 60-51 early in the fourth quarter, but could come no closer.
“It tells me our guys can do it,” Ulrich said of battling back. “We just can’t have those lapses, and only play well for a quarter and a half.”
Lake City plays at Post Falls on Jan. 30. If Post Falls wins that one, and both teams end up 3-1 in the three-team league, the first tiebreaker is point differential. That means the Trojans would have to win by nine in the rematch to earn the top seed.
Coeur d’Alene (0-2 in league) will obviously have a say in this, but however it plays out, the No. 3 seed plays at the No 2 seed in a loser-out game, with the winner facing the top seed in a best-of-3 series for the district’s lone berth to state.
“I love military history,” Ulrich said. “They won the battle, but the war is not over. This is one battle, and they were better than us tonight.”
Post Falls plays host to North Central of the Greater Spokane League on Saturday.
Lake City returns to action next Thursday at Coeur d’Alene.
Post Falls 10 20 14 16 — 60
Lake City 22 17 21 8 — 68
POST FALLS — Norisada 3, Auble 0, Bodman 8, Lysne 14, Naylor 11, Munday 5, Carver 16, Dean 3.
LAKE CITY — Williams 2, Oxenrider 0, Winey 6, Plummer 0, Carlson 21, Everson 0, Watson 20, Bowman 7, Hill 0, Anderson 7, Pearson 2, Irgens 3.
MARK NELKE/Press Isaiah Naylor of Post Falls goes up for a shot as Paxton Winey of Lake City soars by on Wednesday night at Lake City.