PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Carver carves up Lake City

By MARK NELKE 

Sports editor 

POST FALLS — The second half featured Post Falls Trojans senior Connor Carver driving to the basket, scoring baskets and/or drawing fouls on the visiting Lake City Timberwolves. 

And Lake City could do little to stop him. 

Carver scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half, and Post Falls scored the game’s last eight points, capped by Jaxon Lysne’s 3-pointer with 8 seconds left, and beat Lake City 68-65 on Friday night at The Arena to finish tied for first with the Timberwolves in the 6A Inland Empire League. 

"We just wanted to attack the rim, and get them in foul trouble, and we got to the line and we made our free throws,” said Carver, who also had nine rebounds. “It just means a lot for us to win on our home court, and just know that we’re not going to be messed around with.”  

Lake City (11-7, 3-1 6A IEL) led 65-60 with 2 minutes remaining on a 3-pointer by Jackson Bowman, who finished with 15 points. 

Lysne answered with a 3, then drove the lane for the tying basket with 1:02 left. 

Post Falls (13-5, 3-1) then forced a shot clock violation with 25.3 seconds left. 

With the ball out front, Lysne angled left, used a screen at the top of the key by Carver, and when Lake City went under the screen, had the room and drilled a 3 from just to the left of the circle.  

"I was supposed to come off the screen and look to get downhill,” said Lysne, who scored 12 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter. “But the defender went under, and I had an open shot and I took it. It was a big-time win; it took all of us to get it done, but we have a chance to have home-court advantage going into regionals now.” 

After a timeout Lake City rushed the ball up the court, but was unable to get off a decent shot at the horn. 

“Congratulations to Post Falls,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “They played a hard, physical game, and kept grinding to the end. They never gave up, and made some big shots in the end ... now we’re in a situation where these 5A games are really important.” 

Despite Post Falls’ win, Lake City still holds the point-differential tiebreaker over the Trojans, having beat Post Falls by eight points at home on Jan. 14. 

But the tiebreaker before that is record against the 5A IEL schools. 

Lake City, ranked third in 6A by MaxPreps, holds a win against Lakeland, with games still remaining vs. Lewiston, Sandpoint and Moscow. 

Post Falls, ranked sixth in 6A by MaxPreps has wins against Moscow and Sandpoint, with games remaining vs. Lakeland and Lewiston. 

If Lake City has a better (or similar) record against the 5As as Post Falls does, the T-Wolves will be the top seed to regionals, and avoid the 2-3 loser-out game against Coeur d’Alene. 

Post Falls has to finish with a better record against the 5As to earn the top seed. 

“We’re tied in the battles, and I don’t think anything else is going to change from here on out,” Post Falls coach Jayson Ulrich said. “I’m super proud of my guys tonight. It was almost a 180 from the last time we played them (a 68-60 loss). We just played harder; consistently harder.” 

Lake City led by as much as 12 points in the first half, as junior Jordan Carlson scored 17 of his 22 points in the first two quarters. Carlson finished with 10 rebounds and four assists. 

Fouls were an issue as the game went on. Post Falls junior Cashton Bodman fouled out with 5:15 left, and Carlson and Watson also had to sit for stretches due to fouls. 

“I don’t blame them,” Anderson said of the Trojans going to Carver often on the block. “We have to adjust to the way the game is being called, and figure out a way to guard him moving forward, and see if we can figure things out. We needed to be better on the defensive end.” 

Post Falls chipped away in the second half, taking a 56-55 lead on Lysne’s steal and score with just under 6 minutes remaining. Carver (seven points) and Lysne had all but two of the Trojans’ points in the fourth quarter. 

Alex Dean had five rebounds, four on the offensive end. 

“Keeping aggressive,” Ulrich said of the halftime message. “One of our best assets is, we’re playing better when we’re playing downhill. Being in close games all year pays off in moments like this.” 

Post Falls is home against Lakeland on Tuesday. 

Lake City plays host to Lewiston on Friday. 

Lake City     19    17    15    14    —    65 

Post Falls    14    12    21    21    —    68 

LAKE CITY — Williams 0, Winey 7, Plummer 2, Carlson 22, Watson 6, Bowman 15, Hill 0, Anderson 6, Pearson 0, Irgens 7. 

POST FALLS — Norisada 0, Auble 0, Bodman 7, Lysne 21, Naylor 2, Munday 8, Brown 0, Carver 29, Bresee 0, Dean 1. 

Lewiston 62 

Lakeland 35 

RATHDRUM — Sophomore Austin Hocking scored a game-high 22 points for the shorthanded Hawks, who fell to the Bengals in a 5A Inland Empire League game at Hawk Court. 

The Hawks were without senior Brayden Carrel for the second straight game. Carrel broke a metatarsal bone in his left foot, and will miss the rest of the regular season, but could return for regionals, according to Lakeland coach Caleb De Fabiis. 

Lakeland (7-8, 2-2 5A IEL) travels to Post Falls on Tuesday. 

Royce Fisher scored 19 points for Lewiston (15-2, 5-0 IEL), which travels to Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday. 

Lewiston    18    14    19    11    —    62 

Lakeland    14    8    8    5    —    35. 

LEWISTON — Fisher 19, Wilkerson 0, J. Walker 9, P. Walker 3, Rudolph 12, Hepburn 13, Bobeck 3, Howland 1, Way 2. 

LAKELAND — Boardman 0, Tuskan 0, Lukey 0, Fuhriman 8, Yager 0, Caywood 0, Young 0, Hocking 22, Hillman 5. 

Kendrick 62 

St. Maries 47 

KENDRICK — The visiting 3A Lumberjacks shot 6 of 23 from the 3-point line in the loss to the defending 2A state champion Tigers.

“In our last two outings, we just haven’t shot the 3 that well,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “We’re just forcing it and not making the extra pass we need.” 

Senior JJ Yearout had a game-high 26 points and added 13 rebounds for the Lumberjacks (10-3). 

Senior Ralli Roetcisoender scored 18 points for Kendrick (14-2). 

“JJ wanted to guard him and did a good job on him defensively,” Chase said. “But they’ve got three other all-state guys that are really good. It’s kind of pick your poison a little bit. Our kids played hard and didn’t give up.” 

St. Maries hosts Priest River next Friday in a Central Idaho League game.

St. Maries    10    14    6    17    —    47 

Kendrick    19    12    14    17    —    62 

ST. MARIES — Harold 3, J. Barta 3, Yearout 26, Gustaffe 6, B. Barta 5, Riberich 4, Speakman 0, Sloper 0. 

KENDRICK — M. Kirkland 13, Silflow 10, Roetcisoender 18, Tweit 10, H. Kirkland 11. 

Coeur du Christ 65 

Mullan 31 

COEUR d’ALENE — Freshman Kamden Manuel scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in the third quarter for the Saints in a North Star League win over the Tigers at Lakes Middle School. 

Freshman Jude Gama scored 10 points for Coeur du Christ (10-4, 3-0 NSL), which faces Priest River on Tuesday at Holy Family Catholic School. 

Senior Colten Imes scored 10 points for Mullan (1-9, 0-3), which travels to Kootenai on Tuesday. 

Mullan            2    8    9    12    —    31 

Coeur du Christ        20    18    14    13    —    65 

MULLAN — Imes 10, Sala 7, Bosson 2, Calvert 8, Wilson 0, Haas 4. 

COEUR du CHRIST — Anderson 9, Gama 10, Manuel 15, Clemens 2, Clute 7, Cools 7, Mudrick 5, Sundholm 4, Eloe 6. 

    MARK NELKE/Press Lake City senior Jackson Bowman launches a 3-pointer in the second half against Post Falls on Friday at The Arena at Post Falls.