Trojans quiet the hype

POST FALLS - The Lakeland High boys basketball team came into Friday night's Battle for the Prairie Pig spirit game undefeated and, for the first time in school history, ranked No. 1 in the state media poll.

But Post Falls, ranked No. 3 in 5A, has dominated its prairie rivals for more than a decade. And the Trojans, with a persistent offense and excellent team defense, dominated once again, notching a surprisingly one-sided 61-37 victory at The Arena.

"We knew it was going to be a tough game," said Post Falls junior guard Max McCullough, who finished with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists. "They had a lot of hype coming in, but we wanted to prove ourselves."

In the girls game, Post Falls freshman Melody Kempton recorded a double-double by halftime, and finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four steals as the Trojans beat Lakeland 73-26.

After the boys game, Post Falls was named the winner of the spirit competition as well. Lakeland had won the Pig the last three years.

Post Falls 61, Lakeland 37: The Hawks (6-1) kept the game close in the first half with their zone defenses.

Post Falls (6-0) led 24-18 despite going 1 for 12 from 3-point range. Trojans coach Mike McLean's message to his team at halftime was to "keep shooting good shots."

And the Trojans shot 14 for 22 from the field in the second half, including 3 for 3 on 3s. Plus, Post Falls pounded Lakeland on the offensive boards.

Post Falls coach Mike McLean complimented Lakeland coach Dave Stockwell on the zone defenses he put in against the Trojans - a couple of 2-3 zones and a 1-3-1 zone, he thought.

"That guy has more zones put in, and they run their zones well," McLean said. "They have even more in than I know about zone defense. I am shocked, because to be a good zone team, you have to do a lot of work on that ... they're not the only team that zones us, we are prepared for it, but they execute their zone better than any team we play against."

Tyrel Derrick scored 23 points on 9-of-21 shooting for Lakeland.

"We beat ourselves; we didn't play the game we expected to play," Stockwell said. "I think we probably put too much emphasis on that particular game, and when the air started coming out of the tires, we started pressing. I can't lie to you - we were very disappointed in losing the ballgame. We thought we had a shot."

Post Falls scored the first eight points of the third quarter and never looked back, holding Lakeland scoreless the first five minutes of the quarter.

McLean praised the defense of senior post Jake Blakney in taking away cutters, and the all-around game of senior guard Luke Anderson. Nothing came easy for the Hawks, who shot 13 of 43 from the field.

Dalton Thompson, who covered Derrick most of the night, finished with three 3s and 13 points. Blakney added 10 points and six rebounds, and Anderson had four rebounds and three steals.

"We knew they were going to try and slow us down, but I thought we were pretty disciplined at the offensive end," McCullough said.

"Max has the innate ability to just score in bunches," McLean said. "I think what Max excels at is playing at different speeds. If you're going to have a foot race, Max may not be the fastest guy on the court, but he goes by people because he changes speeds as well as any high school kid you'll see. The way he changes speeds, that's what college kids do."

Lakeland plays Vallivue of Caldwell on Dec. 29 in the first round of the Lake City holiday tournament. Post Falls plays Georges P. Vanier Secondary School of Courtenay, British Columbia, on Dec. 29 in the first round of the Coeur d'Alene Inn-vitational at North Idaho College.

Lakeland 10 8 6 13 - 37

Post Falls 10 14 18 19 - 61

LAKELAND - Ram 9, Cooper 0, Derrick 23, Henry 2, Plunkett 0, Ray 3, Knight 0.

POST FALLS - McLean 3, W. Millsap 4, McCullough 15, Anderson 6, Flaa 2, English 4, Pfennigs 0, Thompson 13, Hillman 0, J. Millsap 4, Blakney 10.

Post Falls 73, Lakeland 26: Kim Reynolds normally comes off the bench for the Trojans, ranked No. 5 in 5A.

But coach Marc Allert opted to start all seniors in the spirit game, and Reynolds scored eight of Post Falls' first 14 points, and tallied all 13 of her points in the first half, at which time the Trojans (9-2) led 45-14.

"It was great; I was real nervous about it at first, because this is the last (Pig game) I'll ever play," said Reynolds, who hit all four of her field goal attempts, including a 3-pointer, and was 4 for 5 from the line.

"The last two games Kim came off the bench and played well," Allert said. "Kim can score, and when she gets some confidence and hits that first shot ... she's usually good for us coming off the bench - keeps our offense going."

Kempton, a freshman, came off the bench in this game and had 15 points, 10 rebounds and three steals in the first half. She had 11 points in the first quarter.

Freshman Bayley Brennan added nine points, Madie King hit a pair of 3s and scored eight, and senior Shayna Allert, who also came off the bench in this one, had four assists, three rebounds and a couple of steals.

"I just thought we played real relaxed and shared the ball really well," Allert said.

Lakeland (3-9) committed 11 of its 28 turnovers in the first quarter. Reserve Dani Linehan scored six points for the Hawks, who play Tonasket (Wash.) on Dec. 29 in the first round of the West Valley holiday tournament.

Post Falls faces Mountain View on Dec. 29 in the first round of a holiday tournament at Coeur d'Alene High.

Lakeland 8 6 4 8 - 26

Post Falls 28 17 17 11 - 73

LAKELAND - Vanderhoof 3, Bunch 0, Linehan 6, Kelsey 2, Bodak 3, Kirk 0, Rotchford 3, Pruitt 5, Piermattei 4, Bilski 0.

POST FALLS - Allert 2, O. Ellison 4, A. Ellison 4, Brennan 9, King 8, McComb 4, Anderson 5, Kempton 19, Runkle 5, Reynolds 13.