PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Post Falls triumphs in tuneup for Cd'A clash

POST FALLS - In their tuneup for its Saturday 5A Inland Empire League game, the Post Falls Trojans came back from a slight halftime deficit to beat the Sandpoint Bulldogs 67-54 in nonleague play Thursday night at The Arena.

"It was senior night, so we had a lot of emotion," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "Sandpoint jumped on us early. I thought we were playing their game. In the second half, I thought we did a better job of executing our stuff and play at the style we play. I thought we were under control defensively and got back and defended better. We played better in the halfcourt on offense."

The Trojans (12-6), who won their fourth game in a row, made 15 for 16 from the free-throw line for a 94 percent clip.

Dalton Thompson led Post Falls with 24 points and five rebounds. Guards Matt Hillman and Max McCullough each had 13 points. Thompson hit four 3-pointers, and Hillman and McCullough each made three 3-pointers. Post Corey Koski finished with eight points, six rebounds and four steals.

Post Falls plays Saturday at league-leading Coeur d'Alene.

Jeremiah Gagnon scored 28 points for the Bulldogs (8-8).

Sandpoint 15 17 11 11 - 54

Post Falls 14 15 17 21 - 67

SANDPOINT - Jurenka 3, Rodriguez 9, Spalding 12, Schwartz 2, Edwards 0, Burgstahler 0, Gagnon 28, Collado 0.

POST FALLS - Hall 7, McKeown 2, Davenport 0, Pfennigs 0, Hillman 13, Gondo 0, Anderson 0, McCullough 13, Franklin 0, Thompson 24, Bowers 0, Koski 8.

Lakeland 80

Timberlake 58

SPIRIT LAKE - Tyrel Derrick scored 23 points, going 10 of 13 from the free-throw line, leading the visiting Hawks past the Tigers in a nonleague game.

"It was a pretty good game, but I know the final score doesn't show it," Timberlake coach Tony Hanna said. "Tyrel is a pretty good player and it was hard to keep him in front of us. They played a fast pace, and have some guys that can knock down shots."

Jake Plunkett scored 22 points for Lakeland (10-7), which hosts Priest River tonight.

Austin Allen scored 20 points and Keegan Scott had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Timberlake (5-11), which hosts St. Maries on Tuesday.

"I thought we played well," Hanna said. "Austin made four 3-pointers and we played well inside."

Lakeland 22 12 23 23 - 80

Timberlake 15 13 20 10 - 58

LAKELAND - Ram 6, Nosworthy 0, Cooper 3, Derrick 23, Henry 7, Dove 3, Bayley 12, Plunkett 22, Ray 4.

TIMBERLAKE - Cramer 8, Johnson 0, Austin 0, Menti 0, Scott 19, Jones 0, Malloy 0, Allen 20, Kistler 3, Cronnelly 2, Tonkin 6.

Kootenai 60

Cd'A Charter 38

HARRISON FLATS - Jake Pfeiffer had 21 points and six rebounds to lead the Warriors past the visiting Panthers in a nonconference game.

Anthony Ausman had 20 points and five rebounds for Kootenai (8-8), which travels to Wallace tonight.

"In the first half, it was a good back and forth, tight game," Kootenai coach Doug Napierala said. "Coeur d'Alene Charter did a good job on the defensive boards and held us to a lot of 1-and-done in the first half. In the second half, we did a better job on the boards and were able to get some second chances and did a great job of controlling the boards."

Kody Jones had eight assists for Kootenai.

Christian Johnson scored 21 points for Coeur d'Alene Charter (1-16), which travels to Valley Christian tonight.

Cd'A Charter 17 10 4 7 - 38

Kootenai 18 11 13 18 - 60

COEUR d'ALENE CHARTER - Pennings 2, May 0, Johnson 21, Valov 0, Adams 6, Whealon 4, Rubalcaba 0, Follini 5.

KOOTENAI - Shadley 2, H. Whipple 2, Keogh 0, Willms 7, Jones 0, Ausman 20, Pfeiffer 21, Schultz 8, J. Whipple 0.

Lakeside 86

Mullan 39

PLUMMER - The host Knights shot 15 for 31 from behind the 3-point line in the North Star League victory over the Tigers, and were 18 of 33 inside the 3-point line en route to their seventh straight win.

"We had a pretty good shooting night," Lakeside coach Chris Dohrman said. "Mullan was a little undermanned."

Marcus Pluff scored 21 points, and he was 7 for 10 from the 3-point line for Lakeside (14-3, 6-0 NSL) and Jordan Meshell added 18, including 4 for 6 shooting from 3.

T.J. Placencio scored 20 points for Mullan (4-9, 2-6).

Lakeside plays at Orofino on Saturday.

Mullan returns to action Feb. 24 in the 1A Division II District 1 tournament, playing Clark Fork at 6 p.m. at Lake City High.

Mullan 5 7 12 15 - 39 Lakeside 24 15 23 24 - 86

MULLAN - Kotschevar 2, Henderson 10, Dykes 1, Placencio 20, Johnson 6.

LAKESIDE - Stensgar 6, Pluff 21, Meshell 18, Schatz 8, Abrahamson 7, Kolar 8, Zahir 2, Daman 4, Nilson 6, Mitchell 4, Brown 2.

N.I. Christian 62

Christian Center 57

SPOKANE - Paul Connelly had 23 points and four assists for the Royals in a victory against the Lions in the opening round of the Mountain Christian League tournament at Bowdish Junior High.

Jeremiah Chersin had eight points and 11 rebounds, and Elijah Schreibeis had 10 points for North Idaho Christian (15-7), which faces the winner of the Kootenai Thunder-Christian Heritage game in the semifinals tonight at 6:20 at Valley Fourth Church in Spokane.

Chase Allen scored 21 points for Christian Center (4-12), which faces the loser of Kootenai Thunder-Christian Heritage tonight at 5 at Bowdish Junior High.

Christian Center 20 11 11 15 - 57

N.I. Christian 18 12 17 15 - 62

CHRISTIAN CENTER - Howard 14, Ryssel 2, Allen 21, Engels 2, Harryman 5, Hansen 13, Krause 0, Macumber 0.

NORTH IDAHO CHRISTIAN - Booth 7, P. Connelly 23, J. Connelly 7, Jesensky 7, Chersin 8, Stedman 0, Schreibeis 10, Burke 0.

Genesis Prep 63

Pullman Christian 50

SPOKANE - Ty Brearley had 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots for the Jaguars in a win against the Eagles in the first round of the Mountain Christian League tournament at Valley Fourth Church.

Clayton Gifford had 14 rebounds for Genesis Prep (9-8), which faces The Oaks tonight at 8 p.m. in a semifinal game at Valley Fourth Church.

Alec Mitchell scored 35 points for Pullman Christian.

Pullman Christian 5 12 11 22 - 50

Genesis Prep 16 15 9 23 - 63

PULLMAN CHRISTIAN - A. Mitchell 35, Holmbo 10, Greason 3, Hancock 2, Shull 0, D. Mitchell 0, Lindstrom 0, Hewitt 0, Neu 0, E. Mitchell 0.

GENESIS PREP - Brearley 11, Harris 10, Howard 9, Gifford 9, Miles 7, Chisum 7, Buer 7, Hash 3, Schroeder 0, Floyd 0.

RODNEY

from B1

Rodney had 37 saves for Tampa Bay last season, appearing in 68 games. He saved 85 games in two seasons for the Rays and will be reunited with new Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon. The pair was together in Detroit where Rodney pitched from 2002-09 and was one of the top relievers in baseball. After two down seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, Rodney revitalized his career with an All-Star season for the Rays in 2012 and another solid campaign in 2013. Rodney had a career-best 48 saves and a 0.60 ERA with the Rays in 2012.

Rodney will go into spring training with the chance to claim the closer role for the Mariners. It was a position of inconsistency a year ago with Tom Wilhelmsen starting the season as the Mariners closer before struggles led to Danny Farquhar getting an opportunity. Wilhelmsen finished with 24 saves but none after July 28 when he was sent down to Triple-A Tacoma and appeared in eight games. Farquhar took over as Seattle's closer in August and had 16 saves.

VANDALS

from B1

The Vandals were led by senior Stephen Madison, who poured in 24 points and added eight rebounds and two steals. Madison's 24 points move him into fifth-place on Idaho's all-time scoring list with 1,335 points, passing Steve Weist's (1973-76) 1,334 career points.

Freshman Sekou Wiggs came up one point shy of his career-high, finishing with 16 on 6-of-9 shooting, Mike Scott added 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Connor Hill added 10 points and three boards.

Idaho hosts Texas Pan-American on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cowan Spectrum.

"There's no question it's anybody's conference," Verlin said of the parity in the WAC. "I think the conference tournament is going to be anybody's ball game. Most of our games are on the road but who know what could happen. There's not a team that we can't beat in this conference and not a team I don't expect to beat."

NEW MEXICO ST. (17-8)

Eldridge 5-11 2-4 12, Ross-Miller 0-4 0-0 0, Nephawe 2-3 1-2 5, Mullings 9-18 2-4 20, Dixon 2-4 1-2 5, S. Bhullar 4-5 0-1 8, Baker 1-3 0-2 2, Aronis 4-9 0-0 12, Buovac 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 28-59 6-15 67.

IDAHO (9-14)

Hill 3-10 2-2 10, M. Scott 4-11 2-2 11, Seck 2-6 0-0 4, Madison 8-18 6-8 24, Kammerer 0-1 0-0 0, Dean 2-5 0-1 5, Wiggs 6-9 4-5 16, Callandret 0-0 0-0 0, Mpawe 0-1 1-2 1, Jiles IV 0-0 0-0 0, Egbert 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-63 15-20 73.

Halftime_New Mexico St. 36-32. 3-Point Goals_New Mexico St. 5-21 (Aronis 4-9, Buovac 1-2, Baker 0-1, Mullings 0-3, Eldridge 0-3, Ross-Miller 0-3), Idaho 6-18 (Madison 2-5, Hill 2-7, Dean 1-2, M. Scott 1-4). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_New Mexico St. 34 (S. Bhullar, Mullings 7), Idaho 38 (Madison 8). Assists_New Mexico St. 15 (Mullings 4), Idaho 8 (Dean, M. Scott 2). Total Fouls_New Mexico St. 16, Idaho 17. A_1,105.