5A REGION 1 BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Pasquale pours in 25 for Lake City

COEUR d'ALENE - Shooting and ballhandling have been a couple of bugaboos for Lake City High at times this season.

But on Friday night, Joe Pasquale helped alleviate the shooting woes, and Michael Goggin took care of the ballhandling issues.

Pasquale hit 6 of 7 3-pointers, and scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half as No. 2 seed Lake City thumped the visiting and No. 3 seed Coeur d'Alene Vikings 62-42 in the first round of the 5A Region 1 tournament.

"We haven't had the best of years shooting the ball," Lake City coach Jim Winger said.

"When we've shot even decently well, we've played some pretty good basketball. Tonight Joe kind of eases the pressure of the game, of having to always rely on defense, and set plays. We picked a real good time to cut it loose."

Lake City (12-10) will play at top-seeded Post Falls (21-1) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. for the regional title and a berth to state. Post Falls, ranked No. 1 in the state 5A media poll, hammered No. 4 seed Lewiston 77-35 on Friday. Coeur d'Alene (14-8) plays host to Lewiston (9-13) on Tuesday at 7 in a loser-out game.

Lake City 62, Post Falls 42: Goggin, settling into the point guard role after the loss of starting point guard Jerry Louie-McGee to a broken kneecap in December, finished with nine assists. And against Coeur d'Alene's defensive pressure, the Timberwolves committed just 10 turnovers.

"I thought Michael did a really good job of leading us," Winger said. "As a team, it was just an awesome performance for us. We're doing a lot better at (handling the ball)."

Lake City, which took the lead for good with a 10-0 run late in the first quarter and early in the second, keyed by 6-foot-6 bigs Quinn Mitchell and Nick Hancock. Mitchell scored eight points, Hancock two in that run.

Mitchell had 11 points in the first half, and finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. Hancock had 12 points and seven boards.

"What we really did a nice job of, and it was our No. 1 goal, eliminate their transition points, and I thought we did a great job of that," Winger said.

Pasquale hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10 points in the third quarter, as Lake City stretched a 27-22 halftime lead to 45-32 after three. Coeur d'Alene never came closer than 12 in the fourth quarter as Pasquale buried three more 3s, one of those coming midway through the quarter on a 2-on-1 after the T-Wolves had beaten the Vikings' full-court pressure.

"When you're on a roll, you're on a roll," Winger said. "I think he missed his first one, then he went 6 for 6."

Colby Daniels hit three 3-pointers and led Coeur d'Alene with 18 points. Elliott Sparks added eight points, Joey Naccarato seven points and six rebounds, Tony Naccarato six points and eight boards for the Vikings, who were 13 of 59 from the field.

The teams had split a pair of overtime games during the regular season.

"I just thought we were soft tonight on the glass," Coeur d'Alene coach Kurt Lundblad said. "We were extremely impatient offensively, a lot of one-on-one, not what we had worked on all week in practice. The last few games I thought we've been playing well, and it sure wasn't the case tonight. I thought Pasquale was super for them, and we didn't have an answer for Joe. And I thought they just kicked our butts on the glass all night long."

Coeur d'Alene 8 14 10 10 - 42

Lake City 12 15 18 17 - 62

COEUR d'ALENE - J. Naccarato 7, Lundblad 3, Lynn 0, Daniels 18, Schuon 0, Sparks 8, Kluss 0, T. Naccarato 6.

LAKE CITY - Goggin 5, Dotson 4, Hunter 3, Pasquale 25, Colwell 0, Mitchell 13, Hancock 12.

Post Falls 77, Lewiston 35: One week after the Bengals pushed the Trojans to overtime, Post Falls bolted to a 48-18 halftime lead, and hit 10 3-pointers for the game.

"The last time we played Lewiston, I thought we allowed Lewiston to gain confidence," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "So we worked hard to not allow them to get any momentum going. Last week they dictated the pace, and this week we were able to dictate the pace and play at a pace they were not comfortable with."

Max McCullough hit three 3-pointers and led all scorers with 17 points for Post Falls. Wyatt Millsap added 12 points. McLean also noted the line of post Jake Blakney - eight points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Lewiston played without 6-foot-7 sophomore post Trystan Bradley.

Lewiston 5 13 10 7 - 35

Post Falls 20 28 13 16 - 77

LEWISTON - Urquhart 3, McLeod 1, Stamper 3, Jackson 2, Carter 0, Whitlock 2, Sager 4, Murphy 3, Merica 3, Ulrich 2, Wilson 8, Richardson 4.

POST FALLS - McLean 6, W. Millsap 12, McCullough 17, Anderson 8, Flaa 4, English 6, Pfennigs 0, Thompson 7, Hillman 4, J. Millsap 5, Blakney 8.