Lake City boys prevail over Post Falls in OT

POST FALLS - For the first half Friday night, the Post Falls High boys basketball team looked like the leaders of the 5A Inland Empire League, and the Lake City Timberwolves looked like a team still searching for its first league win.

Trailing by 10 points at halftime, Lake City hit three straight 3-pointers to get back into the game, and eventually went up by seven points in the fourth quarter.

But Post Falls battled back to force overtime, and the two teams traded the lead until Kyle Guice's hook shot with 30 seconds left gave Lake City (11-4, 4-0 5A IEL) the lead for good in a 58-56 victory over Post Falls (5-9, 0-2) at the Arena.

"We had to come out and do something (in the second half)," Lake City coach Jim Winger said. "We didn't even get on them at half - either we were going to do this, or we're going to get ourselves beat here, and put ourselves in a position we don't want to be in. It was either get with it, or face the consequences."

The win clinched at least a tie for the league title for Lake City, which has two league games remaining. The Timberwolves are also on the verge of clinching home-court advantage throughout the Region 1 tournament.

In the girls game, Hallie Gennett scored 20 of her season-high 30 points in the second half as Post Falls (16-1, 3-1 5A IEL), ranked No. 2 in 5A, pulled away in the second half to beat Lake City (10-9, 0-5) 65-37.

Today, Post Falls' boys and girls travel to Lewiston. Next Friday, Lake City's girls visit Lewiston, and Lake City's boys play at Lakeland.

Lake City 58, Post Falls 56, OT: After sleepwalking through the first half, Lake City got two 3-pointers from Drew Hocking and one from JJ Winger in the first 90 seconds of the third quarter to pull within 30-29.

Reserve guard Tucker Louie-McGee's three-point play put the Timberwolves ahead 39-36 at the end of three quarters, and Lake City opened it up to 49-42 with 3 minutes left.

But Post Falls answered with an 8-0 run, fueled by back-to-back baskets by Corey Koski, and the Trojans took a 50-49 lead on two free throws by Dalton Thompson with 1:28 left.

Guice, who finished with 25 points, hit a fallaway in the lane, and Riley Moreen hit a free throw to put Lake City up 52-50 with 27.8 seconds left.

Post Falls worked for the last shot, and Thompson got free in the post for a basket with 2 seconds left to force overtime.

The lead went back and forth in OT. Koski spun around Guice for a reverse layup for the first hoop, with 2:37 left. Moreen sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key — his only basket of the game — and Lake City was up 55-54.

Reece Jackson fed Timmy Mueller inside for a layup to put Post Falls up 56-55 with a minute left, but the left-handed Guice answered with a hook shot in the lane that trickled in with 30 seconds left.

Post Falls tried for the last shot, but lost the ball in the lane, and Guice came up with it and was fouled with 3.9 seconds left. He sank the first free throw and missed the second, but the Trojans were unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.

It was Post Falls’ fifth straight loss.

“There’s no moral victories; this is the 5A IEL,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “One of our goals tonight was to gain some respect in the league. I don’t know if we gained any respect or not outside of this locker room, but I told our guys they gained a lot of respect from me tonight. Lots of teams (in our situation) turn on each other, especially inexperienced teams like us, and I really truly believe this team has grown closer during this little rough patch we’ve been in.”

Post Falls came out the aggressor, and jumped out to an 8-1 lead after 2 1/2 minutes, forcing a quick timeout from Lake City. The T-Wolves got as close as 19-13 with 6 minutes left in the half but the Trojans, helped by five straight points by freshman Max McCullough, forged a 30-20 halftime lead.

Guice also had 12 rebounds and four blocked shots for Lake City, which hosts Post Falls on Jan. 29 and visits Lewiston four days later to conclude league play. JJ Winger added 10 points — all in the second half — including three 3s.

Thompson finished with 16 points for Post Falls. Koski had nine, and Mueller had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

“I wasn’t happy with the start. I think we’re too good a team to come out sleepwalking,” Jim Winger said. “Without Kyle and our bench, we would have been in a big, deep hole. We got out of here with a win, which is obviously nice. But, other than the third quarter and first part of the fourth, it wasn’t very complete. To Mike’s credit, they were really ready to go, and they played well. Defensively, we were cemented to the floor, and they just tore us to shreds.”

Lake City 7 13 19 13 6 — 58

Post Falls 17 13 6 16 4 — 56

LAKE CITY — Adams 0, Pratt 4, Murphy 0, Hocking 8, Guice 25, Louie-McGee 5, Moreen 4, Dahl 2, Winger 10.

POST FALLS — Hall 1, McKeown 0, Davenport 0, Pfennigs 7, Jackson 2, Hillman 4, Mueller 8, McCullough 5, Thompson 16, Corr 4, Koski 9.

Post Falls 65, Lake City 37: Gennett, a 5-foot-11 senior wing, hit four of her five 3-pointers in the second half. She finished 10 of 20 from the field, 5 of 10 from 3-point range.

“She got on a roll there for a while,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “When she gets on a roll, she can score.”

Lake City started out in a man-to-man defense, then switched back and between man and zone. Trailing 35-22 at halftime, the T-Wolves were in zone to open the third quarter, but Post Falls made five of its first seven 3-point shots — three by Gennett, one each by Katie King and Shayna Allert — and opened up a 59-31 lead after three quarters.

“They just have so many weapons,” Lake City coach Bryan Kelly said. “It’s just so hard to guard them when they’re knocking down shots. They were beating us down low when we were in man, and we go to zone and they’re killing us outside, so it’s a very tough matchup for us.”

“Really, that’s the first time we’ve been zoned all year,” Marc Allert said. “There’s probably been 10 possessions of zone against us before that. If we shoot like that, we probably won’t see any more.”

Brooke Litalien scored all 11 of her points in the first half for Post Falls, which inched away thanks to a sticky man-to-man defense that caused just enough turnovers for the Trojans to cash in on and extend the lead. Dani Failor added eight points, 12 rebounds (eight offensive) and four steals. Gennett had seven boards.

Hailey Jackson hit all four of her 3-pointers in the first half to keep Lake City within striking distance, and led the T-Wolves with 14 points. Madi Farrell added seven points, five rebounds and three blocked shots, and Amber Hawkes had eight boards.

“I think defensively, at times, we took them out of some stuff they wanted to do,” Marc Allert said. “But you’ve got to give Bryan and all those girls credit — they have improved a ton. They are a lot better than when we played them early on (a 52-21 Post Falls win in late November).”

A Post Falls win today at Lewiston would assure that the Region 1 tournament would begin in Kootenai County — at either Coeur d’Alene (15-3, 4-1) or at Post Falls.

“Tomorrow’s the biggest game for us (this season),” Marc Allert said.

Lake City 12 10 9 6 — 37

Post Falls 21 14 24 6 — 65

LAKE CITY — Jackson 14, D. Wilson 2, J. Wilson 2, Gewecke 0, Wheelock 5, Farrell 7, Torres 4, Hawkes 0, Smith 3.

POST FALLS — Allert 2, Gonzales 4, King 6, Meehan 0, Smith 4, Litalien 11, Gennett 30, Runkle 0, Failor 8, Perrin 0.