PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Trojans march on to state

GRANGEVILLE - Post Falls faced a tall order all week, figuratively on Tuesday and Thursday, literally on Saturday - and found a way to win each time.

The Trojans won three times away from home this week - when a loss in any of those games would have ended their season.

The reward - Post Falls is headed back to state for the fifth straight year, after beating Eagle 57-48 in a state 5A play-in game Saturday.

"I can't tell you how proud I am - they weren't going to go out this way," said Post Falls coach Mike McLean, whose team won at Lewiston on Tuesday and at Coeur d'Alene on Thursday in loser-out games of the Region 1 tournament.

Post Falls (11-13) will play Mountain View (18-5) of Meridian, the third-place finisher from District 3, in its state opener Thursday at 7 p.m. PST at the Idaho Center in Nampa.

McLean was proud of his post players, who held Braiden Shaw, a 6-foot-8 BYU commit, to one point, and Jake Stevens, a 6-9 post, to two points. He said Tim Mueller and Joey Pfennigs did the work on Shaw, and Corey Koski and Keaton Corr took turns guarding Stevens.

"It was a team-effort defense," McLean said. "Those guys did a good job not letting them get the ball in the blocks, and the guards did a good job making it hard for them to pass it inside."

Corr scored 13 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter for Post Falls, which took the lead in the fourth quarter, then relinquished it, then took it back. The second of Corr's three 3s in the quarter, with less than 4 minutes to play, gave the Trojans the lead for good.

Nick Hall, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer with two seconds left vs. Coeur d'Alene, added 12 points for Post Falls.

Riley Leavitt led Eagle (13-12) with 16 points.

Eagle 9 14 13 12 - 48

Post Falls 13 9 13 22 - 57

EAGLE - Leavitt 16, Smith 7, Thibault 8, Talbot 5, Labrador 3, Lenhardt 6, Shaw 1, Stevens 2.

POST FALLS - Hall 12, McKeown 0, Davenport 2, Pfennigs 3, Jackson 6, Hillman 6, Mueller 4, Thompson 4, Corr 16, Koski 4.

Buhl 54

Kellogg 37

McCALL - Kade Crossland made six 3-pointers and scored 10 of his 26 points in the third quarter as the Indians defeated the Wildcats in a state 3A play-in game at McCall-Donnelly High.

"(Kasey) Crossland just lit us up and scored 10 in the third quarter when it got away from us," Kellogg coach Jeff Lambert said. "Our kids played hard, but it just wasn't there for us tonight."

The game was delayed 30 minutes after Buhl was delayed in arriving Saturday following a snowstorm in the area on Friday.

Garret Wendt scored 11 points and Logan Sauer had six points and five rebounds for Kellogg, which finishes 14-10.

Buhl advances to state beginning Thursday at Meridian High.

Buhl 10 10 19 15 - 54

Kellogg 11 7 8 11 - 37

BUHL - Eckert 8, DeKruyf 0, Oppedyk 0, Eckert 2, Loveless 0, Kas. Crossland 26, Kad. Crossland 9, Vanderburg 5, Lively 4.

KELLOGG - Colburn 0, Seaton 4, Bircher 6, Lambert 6, Wendt 11, deYong 0, Gust 0, Sauer 6, Waechter 4.

Cole Valley 68

St. Maries 59

GRANGEVILLE - Trevor Thomas had 23 points to go along with nine rebounds in leading Cole Valley Christian past St. Maries in a state 2A play-in game at Grangeville High.

Warren Joiner, Rhett Ryle and Austin Linnemeyer each finished with 12 points for the Lumberjacks.

"We just couldn't hit from outside," St. Maries coach John Bisson said. "They went to a zone in the second half, and we just didn't have the shots to help break it."

The Lumberjacks, who finished the season 14-10, shot 35 percent from the field, and were outrebounded 39-24.

Cole Valley Christian (19-5) advances to state beginning Thursday at Capital High in Boise.

Cole Valley 16 19 15 18 - 68

St. Maries 15 20 5 19 - 59

COLE VALLEY CHRISTIAN - Jardine 3, Widmyer 6, Plott 10, Thomas 23, Nichols 11, Jones 6, Greenleaf 2, Runsides 7.

ST. MARIES - Joiner 12, Stapleton 8, Ryle 12, Posselt 0, Lu. Feasline 11, Cordell 4, Linnemeyer 12.

Clearwater Valley 56

Lakeside 34

ST. MARIES - Austin Reed scored 24 points and Clearwater Valley beat the Lakeside Knights in a state 1A Division 1 play-in game at St. Maries High.

Lakeside was led by Jordan Meshell with 11 points and Doug Schatz added 10.

Clearwater Valley (15-9) jumped out to a 15-4 first-quarter lead, and the Knights couldn't find a way back into it.

"They came out and knocked down some 3s early and we just never caught up," Lakeside coach Brad Calkins said. "They had some size on us and we looked like a young team, just getting our first taste of it."

Lakeside, which lost to Clearwater Valley in a state play-in game for the third straight year, finishes with a 11-12 record.

Clearwater Valley advances to state beginning Thursday at Vallivue High in Caldwell.

Clearwater Valley 15 10 20 11 - 56

Lakeside 4 6 15 9 - 34

CLEARWATER VALLEY - Owens 4, Hohutshebala 7, Pratt 11, Baldwin 1, Reed 24, Shira 0, Fisher 0, Wyman 9, Olson 0.

LAKESIDE - Schatz 10, Kolar 0, Gauthier 0, Boyd 7, Mitchell 0, Nomee 2, Gallegos 2, Nilson 0, Stensgar 0, Meshell 11, Brown 4.