Great Max effort
<p>Post Falls High’s Max McCullough makes a move on Nampa’s Riley Brown before passing the ball in the second quarter of Thursday's state 5A tournament opener at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.</p>
<p>Post Falls High School’s Blake McLean battles with Nampa High School’s Kooper Wilcox for a loose ball in the first period of the state 5A boys basketball tournament Thursday at the Idaho Center in Nampa. To order prints go to http://cdapress.com/photojournalism.</p>
NAMPA - Depending on your perspective, the first half of the Post Falls-Nampa game featured either terrific pressing defenses by both squads, or sketchy execution against pressure.
But the fourth quarter was pretty obvious - it was Max McCullough time.
McCullough, a junior guard, scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Trojans fended off a game Nampa Bulldog squad for a 52-51 victory in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament Thursday night at the Ford Idaho Center.
"Max can score in bunches," Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. "I thought he got a lot of his points there, we finally tried to play a little defense - the way we've played it all year. And I thought, realistically, why he was able to get to the rim more down the stretch, I thought fatigue played a big part in it. I thought they looked really tired down the stretch. And Max doesn't need much of a window to get to the rim, and he finishes very well."
Post Falls (23-1) advances to play defending champion Capital (18-6) of Boise in the semifinals tonight at 7 PST. Capital defeated Skyline of Idaho Falls 59-39.
The Trojans, now winners of 14 straight games, were in danger of not advancing in the first half. Post Falls committed 14 of its 20 turnovers in the first half, many against a half-court trap of Nampa (13-13), and fell behind by as much as nine points, and trailed 30-23 at the half.
McLean said Thursday's game was as poorly as the Trojans have played all year. McCullough said Post Falls may have overlooked Nampa, which was the 10th seed in the District 3 tournament, but upset top-seeded Timberline of Boise en route to qualifying for state.
Post Falls, which trailed 30-21 late in the first half, tied it at 30 on a 3-pointer by freshman Jake Pfennigs with 5 minutes left in the third quarter. Pfennigs finished with eight points, and also made some big plays down the stretch.
Nampa led 40-34 on a putback by point guard Kooper Wilcox early in the fourth quarter. Wilcox finished with 17 points.
Then the 5-foot-9 McCullough went to work. He had back-to-back 3-point plays - the second after a Pfennigs steal - to tie the game at 40 with 7:27 left. McCullough's steal led to a basket by Pfennigs and a 42-41 lead. McCullough hit a 3 to put Post Falls up 47-44 with 3 1/2 minutes left, his steal and score increased the lead to five, and his two free throws with 1:47 left hiked the Trojans' lead to 51-44.
"I just wanted to be aggressive," McCullough said. "I thought I came out kind of flat, along with most of our team. We worked hard for this moment and I didn't want it to end right here in the first game."
JD Schutt, who finished with 12 points, hit a 3 with 4 seconds left to pull Nampa within one, but with the Bulldogs out of timeouts, Jack Millsap of Post Falls simply stood out of bounds and held the ball as the final seconds ticked off.
"Couldn't hang on," Nampa coach Trevor Morris said. "They (the Trojans) are a good team. Our boys, they played tough. All the credit goes to Post Falls. It (the Trojans' full-court press) didn't bother us all that much, it was just at crucial points, we just had mental lapses, and let it get to us a little bit. But I couldn't be more proud of the way my team played - coming in, I doubt if very many people thought that would be a one-point game."
"They did a good job of trying to jump our outlet passes, trying to slow us down," McLean said. "That's what a lot of teams try to do to us but tonight, for whatever reason, it was very effective."
McCullough guarded Schutt, Nampa's leading scorer at 15.6 points per game, most of the second half, holding him to three free throws until that final basket. Backup sophomore guard Wyatt Millsap held Wilcox to six points in the second half.
"Wyatt was playing awesome on the point guard - I thought he was a big key in the second half," McCullough said. "So I moved over to Schutt. Since Wyatt stepped up - he was getting under the point guard's skin ... so I switched over and did my best on (Schutt)."
Jake Blakney added 10 points and eight rebounds for Post Falls. Pfennigs also had eight rebounds, McCullough four assists.
After going two and out the last two years, Post Falls is back in the state semifinals for the first time since 2012, and is one win away from playing in the state title game for the third time in six years.
"I think all year, we've played with kind of an edge, like we have something to prove," McLean said. "I thought tonight, we didn't necessarily play like we had anything to prove. The hard part about our district is, we qualified over a week ago, and we've got all week for people to tell us how great we're going to be ... and I think we lost our edge a little bit. We've got to regain our edge and play with a purpose."
Nampa 15 15 8 13 - 51
Post Falls 9 14 11 18 - 52
NAMPA - Becker 0, Brown 6, Wilcox 17, Schutt 12, Gardner 0, Siguenza 0, Davenport 3, Roberts 13. Totals 19-45 9-17 51.
POST FALLS - McLean 0, W. Millsap 2, McCullough 19, Anderson 3, English 2, Pfennigs 8, Thompson 2, Hillman 0, J. Millsap 6, Blakney 10. Totals 18-44 13-19 52.