The Front Row with MARK NELKE Feb. 17, 2011
Only two games separated the four teams in the 5A Inland Empire League boys basketball standings.
And, with a different bounce here or there, all four teams could have wound up with 3-3 league records.
Post Falls is the slight favorite, but by no means a shoo-in, when the 5A Region 1 tournament begins Friday at The Arena in Post Falls.
No. 2 seed Lake City (15-5, 3-3 5A IEL) plays No. 3 Coeur d'Alene (13-7, 3-3) in the first game at 5:45 p.m. No. 1 Post Falls (17-3, 4-2) faces No. 4 Lewiston (11-9, 2-4) at 7:30.
The championship game is Tuesday; the second-place game is next Friday. The top two teams advance to state March 3-5 at the Idaho Center in Nampa.
POST FALLS essentially won the league and gained home-court advantage throughout regionals with its overtime victory at Lake City a couple of weeks ago. Had Lake City won, the Timberwolves could have wound up the top seed.
Post Falls won twice on the road in league - at Lake City and at Coeur d'Alene. Lake City won at Coeur d'Alene. Coeur d'Alene was the only visiting team to win at Lewiston, and also the only team to win at Post Falls. Lewiston was the only team to not win on the road in league. Lewiston picked off Post Falls and Lake City at home, but as the No. 4 seed, the Bengals will play all their regional games away from Booth Hall.
"It's almost like a sibling rivalry," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "We all know each other so much, each game means so much."
AND SO much for having to win the regional; just getting to state is the big deal in Region 1. The last two state champions came out of the 5A IEL, and both (Lewiston in 2009, Post Falls in 2010) lost in the regional title game. And the league has put a team in the finals three straight years, with Coeur d'Alene losing in the 2008 final.
"The last two or three years, I don't think you could say any league could be any tougher," Lake City coach Jim Winger said.
Lake City won the regional title at Post Falls last year, qualifying for state for the first time since 2002. Post Falls came back to beat Coeur d'Alene for the region's second berth to state.
Lake City beat Coeur d'Alene twice in league play by a combined nine points.
After Post Falls lost at home to Coeur d'Alene last week in its league finale, McLean put the loss in perspective - it was only the Trojans' third setback of the season. Not bad for a team which lost three starters, two of which are playing in college, one of them the state 5A player of the year.
"We as a program have had enough success that we're not going to knee-jerk over one loss," McLean said.
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].