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THE FRONT ROW WITH BRUCE BOURQUIN: March 7, 2014

| March 7, 2014 8:00 PM

Post Falls boys basketball coach Mike McLean has reached the state 5A tournament for each of the past six seasons, and in different ways.

McLEAN, WHO also teaches physical education and health at Post Falls High, won the state tournament in the 2009-10 season with stars such as Connor Hill, Shawn Reid and the Colbert brothers - Marcus and Malcolm - all of whom continued their playing careers at the college level.

Hill, a guard who plays for the University of Idaho as a junior, and was second on the Vandals with 14.1 points per game as of Wednesday. He was named the 2011 state Player of the Year after averaging 21.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game as a senior at Post Falls.

The championship was the program's first since 1964, with senior guard Reid at the helm. Reid went on to become the second-leading scorer at Montana State, before transferring to Seattle Pacific, a NCAA Division II school. Reid was a two-time 5A Inland Empire League MVP at Post Falls, and was also Player of the Year on the 5A All-Idaho team. Malcolm Colbert, another senior on that team, went on to play for Division III Puget Sound.

A sophomore on that 2010 team, Marcus Colbert, went on to score 1,047 points for the Trojans, and is now a sophomore at Montana State. As of Wednesday, Colbert was third on the Bobcats at 9.6 points per game. Colbert, who was named the state 5A Player of the Year as a senior in 2012, helped the Trojans finish as runner-up that year.

"It's a little bit different," McLean said last Saturday, comparing this year's team with previous years. "We had three years where we've had the player of the year in the state. We were the favorites for a long time in the state. There's a different type of pressure, where everyone expects you to win.

You take everybody's best shot. You take the difference between those three years (2010-12) and these past two years (2013-14), we haven't been everybody's favorite. That's where we've had our success, our best players are our hardest-working players, which instills more about what we need to do to be successful. Shawn Reid was our hardest-working player, Connor Hill was our hardest-working player, so was Malcolm Colbert and Marcus Colbert."

WITH A career record of 116-57 and a 15-8 record this season, prior to Thursday's state 5A tournament opener against Rocky Mountain, it's not like McLean has a shortage of stars this season. They're just not your usual 5A player of the year-type of products.

Post Falls qualified for the state tournament after last Saturday's 76-55 romp at Coeur d'Alene, the No. 1 seed in regionals in the second-place game of the Region 1 tournament.

McLean has senior point guard Nick Hall and senior post Corey Koski, who were both named to play in the 11th annual Idaho High School All-Star Game on March 15 at North Idaho College.

Plus Post Falls has seen the emergence of Max McCullough, a sophomore guard who can fill up the scoring sheet at a moment's notice, and junior guard Dalton Thompson, who can also play post, as additional scoring threats.

"We didn't have that superior basketball player, but we've had kids who work really hard, who've improved their skill level, they work hard getting their shots up, just getting better," McLean said. "It's just different, these kids have different expectations of themselves. I'm just as proud of this team going as those other teams."

DESPITE HAVING a 5-foot-6 Hall who can at times score more than 20 points and was the MVP at the Coeur d'Alene Inn-vitational two months ago, and a 5-8 guard in McCullough who is often the team's leading or second-leading scorer, McLean is confident in their abilities to score and distribute.

"Do I think this team overachieved? No," McLean said. "Are we as physically big as those teams used to be? Probably not. I think this team really represents what I want this program to be. Our gimmicks are we play really hard defense, we execute on the offensive end and we take away your first or second option. If you're going to beat us with your third option, fine. I truly think that epitomizes what our school's all about."

There are some other secrets to Post Falls' extended success.

"Our kids really like each other," McLean said. "We have really high-character kids who do the right thing and hold each other accountable the right way and they demand excellence from each other and they don't let each other float by."

The accountability factor has been among McLean's ingredients to the Trojans' success.

"You've got to do your job and that's something the last seven years we've really worked to develop that mentality," McLean said. "It's the fact these kids hold each other accountable whereas I as a coach, don't have to worry about it. If someone takes a shot we're not happy with, they'll say to each other, 'Hey, that's not a good shot.' You can't overlook that."

McLEAN TALKED about the Post Falls parents and fans that came in droves last Saturday to Coeur d'Alene, to blanket the visitors' side in the Trojans' orange and black school colors.

"The key to all of the success we've had, for our kids, is they come from dynamite families," McLean said. "They come from families who are very supportive. They sacrifice a lot, maybe not go on a vacation ... the sucess we've had comes from our players, their families and my coaching staff, Brian Carlson and Wade Engelson."

To the rest of the state, Post Falls is not a big secret. But this team has carried the torch in the program's tradition of playing for state championships.

Bruce Bourquin is a sports writer at The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2013, or via email at bbourquin@cdapress.com Follow him on Twitter @bourq25