SMARTS ... on and off the court

Two of the biggest plays of the season for the Post Falls High boys basketball team required athletic ability, of course, but also smarts and the ability to remain calm and adapt quickly to a pressure situation.

Fortunately for Post Falls coach Mike McLean, he has three players like that — guard Luke Thoreson and forwards Michael Hillman and Seth Anderson, all seniors.

Not only are they key contributors to a Trojan team (19-3) which is playing in the state 5A tournament beginning Thursday at the Idaho Center in Nampa, they also sport three of the highest GPAs in the school.

The 6-foot-3 Thoreson, who averages 10 points per game, sports a 4.333 GPA, which ranks him No. 1 in his class. The 6-6 Hillman, who averages 10 points and 10 rebounds, is around a 3.9 GPA. The 6-6 Anderson, who averages 9 points per game, is around a 3.7 GPA. All take their share of A.P. (Advanced Placement) classes.

“All three of them are so smart, and they all have high basketball IQs, along with Marcus (Colbert, a senior point guard who averages 17 points per game),” McLean said. “Each has very high basketball skills — I wouldn’t say one’s a guard, one’s a post — they’re all basketball players. If we want to make an in-game adjustment, we can draw it up once and they’re like, ‘Yeah, we got it.’ They make my job a lot easier.”

THE MOST recent big play took place in last Tuesday’s 5A Region 1 championship game vs. Coeur d’Alene at North Idaho College.

Post Falls led 39-38, but Coeur d’Alene had just scored, and the Trojans called timeout with 1:45 left in the game, and the ball in their frontcourt.

Anderson took the inbounds pass, and gave the ball to Thoreson on a dribble handoff. Thoreson dribbled from the right wing to the top of the key, then continued dribbling to the left elbow. There, he threw a left-handed wraparound pass to Hillman, who had cut across the key and sealed his man on the left block. Hillman took the pass, spun baseline and scored on a layup for a 41-38 lead with 1 1/2 minutes to go.

“We tried it against Coeur d’Alene (earlier in the season),” Thoreson said. “I tried to enter the ball from the top and they stole it. He (McLean) has been harping on me to take that extra dribble and swing it in.”

“If you throw from the top of the key straight down to Michael, it will never get there,” McLean said. “But Luke took the two extra hard dribbles to get the correct angle to allow Michael to curl and seal himself ... it looked much easier than it was.”

Moments later, on a similar-type play, Hillman took a feed in the lane and scored on a drive to the hoop to put the Trojans ahead for good, 43-41 with 40 seconds left.

“We’ve always been taught to stay calm — we don’t lose our focus, we don’t get rattled,” Thoreson said. “Coach just called a play, and we ran it.”

THE OTHER big play took place late in the third quarter of a first-round regional tournament game vs. Lake City. With the ball at the left of the key, Anderson drove baseline toward the basket, rose up and dunked with his left hand over a Lake City defender.

“I was supposed to do a dribble handoff (to Colbert),” Anderson said. “We noticed they switch everything. Both took a step toward Marcus, so I did a fake handoff and took off. I took one dribble and went for it.”

The dunk capped an 11-0 run to end the third quarter, taking Post Falls from being down 31-24 to being ahead 35-31. The Trojans never trailed the rest of the game.

“We needed that (play), too,” Thoreson said.

“I think it brought the energy level up, because we were playing with real low energy,” Anderson said.

TWO OF them — Hillman and Thoreson — are two-year starters. Anderson came off the bench last season, and starts this year. All figure to play college basketball next year. Thoreson has already signed with Williams College, an NCAA Division III school in Williamstown, Mass., ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Colleges.

Hillman, being recruited as a power forward, has had to adjust to playing with his back to the basket this season. And he has gotten strong enough to handle himself inside.

“He was a guard growing up,” McLean said. “We are very confident as a staff that he is not going to get pushed off the block. I think Michael is one of our best jump shooters — it’s just that this year, we’ve asked him to be inside.”

“Last year, I was almost always on the perimeter,” Hillman said. “Over the offseason, I definitely worked on getting bigger and stronger.”

Thoreson has come in on the heels of a couple of pretty good shooting guards at Post Falls — Shawn Reid (now a sophomore at Montana State) and Connor Hill (a freshman at Idaho). McLean’s advice to Thoreson — don’t try to be Reid or Hill, just do what you do best.

“Luke’s at his best when he lets the game come to him,” McLean said. “Luke’s one of our better distributors; he does a good job getting into the lane and finding the open guy.”

Anderson is being recruited as a small forward, but has had to play power forward this year for the Trojans. McLean says his game will be way different two years from now, and he said plays like that dunk vs. Lake City are things the Trojans see often from Anderson in practice.

“He has the most upside of any of our players in our entire program,” McLean said. “He has the most athleticism, and is the most naturally gifted player we have. Seth is scary athletic. He can do so many things, I encourage him to go, go, go, people can’t stop you.”

Hillman is considering a career in the medical field, a field which is part of Thoreson’s family as well. Their dads, David Hillman and Nate Thoreson, work together at River City Physical Therapy in Post Falls.

Anderson jokes about becoming a “professional video-game player,” but more likely may pursue a field in math or science.

Hillman, Thoreson and Anderson have all played with or against each other since basically they were old enough to dribble.

“Every play, I know where Seth is going to be, I know where Michael’s going to be, I know where Marcus is going to be, I know where Taylor (Valente) is going to be,” Thoreson said. “We thrive off that, because we can look at each other and make the eye contact and we all know what we’re doing, right then and there.”

All three were brought up from the junior varsity as sophomores for the postseason, and watched from the bench in 2010 as Post Falls won its first state title since 1964.

That was nice, they said, but they want one of their own — especially after last season, when the Trojans dropped their first game at state before battling back to win the consolation (fourth-place) trophy.

Post Falls opens vs. Centennial on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. PST.

“It would be huge for us, because the way our program has been built the last 4-5 years, it’s almost expected from our coaching staff and our players that we should be good, we should be going to state every year,” Anderson said.

Added Hillman, “It would be our win.”

But, first things first. Last week, Thoreson said he and Anderson were working ahead on their homework for the calculus classes they would be missing this week while at state. Only once has Thoreson received a grade lower than A in high school — and that was a B+ in physics last semester.

“It takes a lot of time,” Thoreson said of balancing classes with basketball practice and 2-3 hours of homework a night. “Especially with sports and traveling, you really have to stay on top of that — or ahead — of all your classes.”

State high school boys basketball tournaments

Times PST

At the Idaho Center, Nampa

Thursday

Game 1 — Borah (22-1) vs. Coeur d’Alene (16-6), 12:15 p.m.

Game 2 — Highland (15-7) vs. Timberline (13-10), 2

Game 3 — Post Falls (19-3) vs. Centennial (14-9), 5:15

Game 4 — Mountain View (16-7) vs. Eagle (17-12), 7

At Borah High, Boise

Thursday

Game 1 — Twin Falls (21-2) vs. Century (5-18), 12:15 p.m.

Game 2 — Skyview (16-7) vs. Madison (17-7), 2

Game 3 — Moscow (12-10) vs. Kuna (15-8), 5:15

Game 4 — Rigby (21-2) vs. Jerome (20-5), 7

At Meridian High

Thursday

Game 1 — Sugar-Salem (17-6) vs. St. Maries (19-5), 12:15 p.m.

Game 2 — Fruitland (14-8) vs. Bear Lake (18-5), 2

Game 3 — Filer (18-4) vs. Snake River (16-7), 5:15

Game 4 — Kellogg (18-4) vs. Weiser (18-5), 7

At Capital High, Boise

Thursday

Game 1 — New Plymouth (17-6) vs. Butte County (17-7), 12:15 p.m.

Game 2 — Kamiah (19-3) vs. North Star Charter (17-8), 2

Game 3 — Soda Springs (16-7) vs. Firth (21-2), 5:15

Game 4 — Valley (19-2) vs. Cole Valley (19-2), 7

1A Division I

At Vallivue High, Caldwell

Thursday

Game 1 — Notus (19-3) vs. Lapwai (15-7), 12:15 p.m.

Game 2 — Grace (13-8) vs. Clearwater Valley (14-11), 2

Game 3 — Genesee (23-0) vs. Liberty Charter (22-2), 5:15

Game 4 — Glenns Ferry (17-7) vs. Horseshoe Bend (14-6), 7

1A Division II

At Caldwell High

Thursday

Game 1 — Salmon River (18-4) vs. Castleford (14-9), 12:15 p.m.

Game 2 — Nezperce (19-3) vs. Rockland (11-11), 2

Game 3 — Sho-Ban (18-3) vs. Dietrich (18-5), 5:15

Game 4 — Kootenai (7-12) vs. Carey (17-6), 7