Trojans just too good
<p>Max McCullough of Post Falls High, drives passed Lake City's Joe Pasquale at the 5A Region 1 District Tournament Championship game on Tuesday at The Arena.</p>
<p>PFHS Senior, Triston Valente waves the victory flag as Post Falls wins the championship and is now on to state, Tuesday at the PFHS Arena.</p>
POST FALLS - Pick your cliche.
The Post Falls boys basketball team was "firing on all cylinders" Tuesday night.
Or the Trojans were "a well-oiled machine."
Or maybe, Post Falls shot "lights out."
Whatever the phrase, Post Falls was impressive, particularly on the offensive end, in rolling to a 69-56 victory over the Lake City Timberwolves in the championship game of the 5A Region 1 tournament at The Arena.
"It makes me feel good as a coach," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "This time of year, we really start breaking down our opponents, really looking for ways to attack them. And it makes me feel good as a coach, and very proud of my guys, that we talk about things, we see things on film, and then it carries over to the game when there's this kind of atmosphere, and still be able to execute. It's just a sign of a mature team who's playing with a purpose right now."
Junior guard Max McCullough scored 13 of his 21 points in the first quarter, and senior post Jake Blakney added 17 points, six rebounds and two assists to lead a well-balanced effort.
Post Falls (22-1), winners of 13 straight, advance to the state tournament March 5-7 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. The Trojans will open against the Nampa Bulldogs (13-12), the fourth-place finisher from the District 3 tournament, March 5 at 5:15 p.m. PST.
see TROJANS, B2
Lake City (12-11) will play host to Coeur d'Alene (15-8) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the region's second-place game. That winner will advance to a state play-in game Saturday at Grangeville.
Coeur d'Alene eliminated Lewiston (9-14) with a 65-49 victory at home.
Post Falls shot 25 of 49 from the field, including 10 of 21 from 3-point range. Lake City didn't play badly, but just couldn't keep up.
"I have nothing but the highest praise for Mike and his team," Lake City coach Jim Winger said. "I'm not just trying to be a gracious loser, I really mean it - that is a well-oiled machine. We tried everything; we didn't play perfect, but what do you do? It was like running into a truck - the truck's going to win.
"We tried to take the dribble-drive away by extra help - they took that away. They skipped it over. Every kid made their 3. We tried to go to a 3-2 zone with all perimeter pressure. And Blakney, I thought was the key. Blakney was possessed. We just had no answer for him.
"Then we go to (a 2-3 zone) to try to plug the other part of the dam, and they take advantage of the weakness of that. They took advantage of the weakness in our 1-2-2, they took advantage of the weakness in the (2-3), they took advantage of our overplay, they took advantage of our over-help. They just played magnificent ... I'm just going to say, congratulations to Post Falls; they deserve it. They're a great team, and everything they're doing is perfect."
Lake City started in a man-to-man defense, then switched to zone, but neither contained the 5-foot-9 McCullough, who hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter. He finished 8 for 13 from the floor, including 5 for 8 from 3-point range.
The lefty shooting Blakney scored seven of his 17 points in the third quarter, including a foul-line jumper at the buzzer off a feed from Wyatt Millsap that capped a 26-point third quarter for the Trojans.
"I told him during the game, 'they're not guarding you, so that's almost a sign of disrespect,'" McLean said. "'They're not going to guard you, and they're going to guard everybody else. So you get the ball at the high post, and you attack.' He's a rarity in today's sports - he's a guy I have to tell to shoot more."
"They were yelling 'back off,' so I tried to take advantage of it," Blakney said. "They were leaving the high post wide open."
Others were open as well. Luke Anderson added eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the third quarter to stretch the Post Falls lead to 44-31.
Zach Hillman had 10 points, including a three-point play late in the third quarter after Millsap stole the inbounds pass and fed him for a basket and foul. That hiked the Trojans' lead to 16.
Post Falls led by as much as 21 early in the fourth quarter.
Post Falls qualified for state for the seventh straight year. McLean, in his eighth year as coach, challenged his team to do what none of his others did - win the outright league title and the regional tournament in the same season.
Lake City shot 21 of 39 from the field, including 7 of 14 from 3-point range, to stay within range for a while.
Collin Hunter hit 3 of 3 3s and led the T-Wolves with 13 points. Joe Pasquale added a pair of 3s and scored 11, and Brandon Dotson hit two 3s and scored 10.
"I told them, 'flush this one, they are a deserving champion, and we've got to get ready to play basketball Thursday," Winger said.
Lake City 16 8 17 15 - 56
Post Falls 21 12 26 10 - 69
LAKE CITY - Stapleton 0, Goggin 2, Dotson 10, Hunter 13, Hughes 4, Pasquale 11, Colwell 0, Mitchell 8, Hancock 8.
POST FALLS - McLean 0, W. Millsap 0, McCullough 21, Anderson 8, Flaa 0, English 0, Pfennigs 6, Thompson 2, Hillman 10, J. Millsap 5, Blakney 17.