Round 4 between Viks, Trojans?

They've waged three hard-fought, at times entertaining, at times controversial battles this season, with Post Falls winning twice and Coeur d'Alene once.

Is it possible there could be Round 4 between the two teams on Saturday night, for the championship at the state 5A tournament at the Idaho Center at Nampa?

"I would be surprised if they're not both in the championship game," said Lake City coach Jim Winger, whose Timberwolves beat both of those teams once during the season, finishing 1-3 vs. Coeur d'Alene, 1-2 vs. Post Falls. "I would be more surprised that they wouldn't be in it than I would if they're both in it. I think they will be."

Of course, both teams have some work to do to get to that point, starting with today's first-round games - third-ranked Coeur d'Alene (16-6) vs. top-ranked Borah (22-1) at 12:15 p.m. PST, and second-ranked Post Falls (19-3) vs. Centennial (14-9) at 5:15 p.m.

"That would be fun, but gosh, that's really far down the road when you're facing the No. 1 ranked team in the state right off the bat," Coeur d'Alene coach Kent Leiss said. "That would be nice though, we'd like to play them again. It would be fun to have an all-northern final."

In the 3A tourney at Meridian High, top-ranked St. Maries (19-5) opens today at 12:15 p.m. PST vs. Sugar-Salem (17-6), and second-ranked Kellogg (18-4) faces Weiser (18-5) at 7 p.m.

In the 1A Division II tourney at Caldwell High, Kootenai (7-12) opens vs. Carey (17-6) tonight at 7 p.m. PST.

Coeur d'Alene: Borah has won 20 in a row since a one-point loss to Mountain View of Meridian in early December. Borah beat Mountain View last week for the District 3 title.

The Lions are led by 6-6 forward Ben Tucakovic and sophomore point guard Isaiah Wright. Borah also boasts 6-8 Brock Holubetz.

Coeur d’Alene whacked Borah 69-51 in the third-place game last year.

“I’m sure they’ll be remembering that,” Leiss said. “So we have our hands full.”

Coeur d’Alene’s most consistent offense has come from senior point guard Deon Watson (13.7 points, 8 rebounds per game). Others who have stepped up from time to time — and someone will need to step up at state — include Ty Higbie (9.6 points, 6 rebounds), Devon Loy (7.6 points, 4 rebounds), Joe Roletto (6.6 rebounds, 4 rebounds, 2.5 steals) and Chad Chalich (5.6 points, 5 rebounds).

One potential problem — the Vikings shoot just 57 percent from the line.

“I’m not holding out a lot of hope that we’re going to dramatically turn into great free-throw shooters, but hopefully we can keep getting better than that,” Leiss said.

Post Falls: The Trojans’ celebration was someone muted after beating Coeur d’Alene in last week’s Region 1 title game. That’s because Post Falls has bigger goals in mind.

“This isn’t anything we didn’t expect,” said senior point guard Marcus Colbert, who two years ago helped the Trojans win their first state title since 1964. “Going into the season, this was one of our goals, and we just accomplished this one — and now it’s on to the next one, and that’s state.”

“We had some goals that we set out before the season,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “One was to be the league champion, and we were (tri)-champions, which we felt it was like kissing your sister; we weren’t real happy about that.

“The second goal we had is, we wanted to win every tournament that we go to. We won the Reno tournament, we won the NIC tournament, and we won this (regional) tournament. Obviously, we have goals for this next tournament.”

After losing to Borah in the first round last year, Post Falls came back to finish fourth.

Centennial beat Coeur d’Alene in the semifinals last year, then lost to Mountain View in the championship game.

St. Maries: Coach Craig Wicks leads the Lumberjacks back to the state tournament for the second straight year after beating Timberlake 75-70 in the District 1 tournament runner-up game at Lakeland High.

St. Maries (19-5) opens the tournament on Thursday at 12:15 p.m. (PST) at Meridian High against Sugar-Salem (17-6), a team they beat 50-44 in the opening round last year.

“We’re right back where we were last year,” Wicks said. “Hopefully we’ve learned some things. We’ve got a good shot if we can play our style of game.”

Fruitland (14-8) is the defending champion and opens with Bear Lake (18-5). The winner of the St. Maries-Sugar-Salem and Fruitland-Bear Lake games will meet in the semifinals.

Kootenai: The Warriors return to state after losing two games by a combined three points last year.

Kootenai (7-12) opens with defending champion Carey (17-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. PST at Caldwell High.

It is Kootenai’s third straight trip to state.

“We really don’t know what to expect,” Kootenai interim coach Doug Napierala said. “It’s been a different season for sure this season.”

Napierala, the school’s athletic director, replaced Andrew Whipple, who resigned as coach Jan. 30 for an undisclosed reason in his fifth season as coach. Kootenai is 3-3 under Napierala.

“They’re getting better each day,” Napierala said. “I’m real proud of the boys. They didn’t quit and battled back this season.”

Notes: The Press will be tweeting updates from state. Follow us on Twitter at CdAPressSports. ... All games in all six classifications will be video webcast at www.IdahoSports.com.

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