Hill keeps Trojans alive
<p>Post Falls High's Coonor Hill puts up a score in the second quarter against Idaho Falls Friday during the 5A state boys basketball tournament in Nampa.</p>
NAMPA - Their state title hopes dashed the night before, the Post Falls Trojans said they still had something to play for, and Connor Hill made sure they still do.
Hill poured in 34 points as the Trojans beat Idaho Falls 74-62 in a loser-out game Friday afternoon at the state 5A boys basketball tournament at the Idaho Center.
"We want to go home with a trophy, and as a senior, I thought I've got to lead us offensively, try to score a little more," said Hill, who went 11 for 16 from the field, including 6 of 8 from 3-point range.
Post Falls (20-5) plays Eagle (15-11) for fourth place today at 8:15 a.m. PST at Columbia High in Nampa.
Hill, who entered state averaging 21.7 points per game, scored 12 points in the first quarter, 18 in the half, hitting 4 of 6 3s.
"Connor's a very special player," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "When he gets on a roll shooting like that, he's very hard to defend because people run at him and he can beat you off the dribble. Connor did a good job tonight not forcing the issue. This team played more zone than most teams play against us, and it's probably a reason why teams don't do a lot of zone against us."
Still, the game was tight until midway through the third quarter. With the score tied at 43, Hill made a runner in the lane, then stuck a 3-pointer. Matt Lickfold, who finished with 12 points and five rebounds, hit a pair of free throws and scored on a putback to make it 52-43 late in the third. Post Falls led by as much as 16 points after that.
"We had to really show our championship character today," McLean said. "It was really rough after the game last night in the locker room. And back at the motel, it wasn't very good. They got a little food in 'em, we had a little meeting, and I went to bed last night thinking, we have a chance. This morning we had a little shootaround, and about halfway through the shootaround, I was pretty confident that we had these guys recovered."
Marcus Colbert added 11 points, five assists and two steals for Post Falls.
"I think the game was close because, for the second night in a row, we struggled with our free-throw shooting," McLean said. "I was told, walking back to the tunnel here, if Connor would have shot just his normal percentage, he would have set a scoring record in this building tonight."
Hill missed four of his first six free throws, and finished 6 for 10. Post Falls, which shot 13 of 23 in an overtime loss to Borah in the first round Thursday night, was 3 of 10 from the line in the first half Friday, 12 of 25 for the game.
Sean McCarthy scored 17 points to lead Idaho Falls (13-13), which stayed close by hitting 10 of 23 3-pointers.
Post Falls beat Eagle in last year's state championship game.
"Eagle and us have a little history, right?" McLean said. "I'm sure Eagle would love to get a piece of us right now, and as far as we're concerned, we don't mind playing Eagle all the time."
Post Falls 18 16 23 17 - 74
Idaho Falls 15 20 14 13 - 62
POST FALLS - English 5, Gonzales 1, Hill 34, Anderson 5, Valente 2, Thoreson 0, Colbert 11, Benner 0, Hillman 4, Lickfold 12, Shelton 0. Totals 27-45 12-25 74.
IDAHO FALLS - Romrell 0, Baker 2, Carlson 0, Gardner 0, Craig 10, Despot 7, Graham 3, McCarthy 17, Jones 6, Guza 0, Starr 11, Davis 2, Andrus 4. Totals 19-43 14-18 62.