THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE, March 12, 2015

You can't win a state championship the first night, "but you can sure as heck lose one," Post Falls High boys basketball coach Mike McLean said the other night.

And if not for a little attitude adjustment at halftime of the Trojans' first-round game vs. Nampa, Post Falls might not have been hoisting the state 5A championship trophy Saturday night at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

And the bulk of that inspiration came from an unlikely source.

"We have an undisputed leader in Dalton Thompson, who tells them what they need to do," McLean said Friday night, after Post Falls defeated Capital of Boise in a state semifinal. "And somebody else, who might surprise you, in the locker room at halftime yesterday, when things weren't going very well, no one from my staff jumped anybody, we didn't get real upset, and scream and yell.

"But maybe a real turning point was Anthony King, our director of basketball operations, stepped up and challenged the seniors not to go out this way - this is not the way you want to do it. Anthony, he's A-Train, he does his deal. And when he steps up, and he points at seniors and challenges them, and says this is not the way you're going out, I can't say anything to match that. Because he loves those guys like brothers, and he loves Post Falls. When he steps in, and he says that, we'll be OK."

After having to beat Nampa, the fourth-place team out of District 3, 52-51, Post Falls toppled defending champion Capital in the semifinals, then beat Highland of Pocatello in overtime in the title game.

RUSH TO JUDGMENT: Capital coach Paul Rush had high praise for Post Falls after his Eagles lost to the Trojans in the semis.

"I thought this just watching them - this is the first time I've ever coached against them - they're one of the best offensively coached teams around," Rush said. "Their execution, their spacing, the stuff they run ... Mike (McLean) does a heckuva job."

"They're really good offensively, with multiple actions," Rush added. "It's hard to guard."

ST. MARIES SHINES: The St. Maries High boys basketball team was just a few points shy of winning its semifinal game, and playing for its first state title since 1960. Still, the Lumberjacks' third-place finish in 2A was the program's best in ... decades.

"I'm so proud of these seniors for setting that bar so high this season," first-year St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said.

Several sophomores and juniors also received key experience, something Chase hopes pays off next season.

"It's always more physical down here than we're used to playing all season long," said Chase, who took St. Maries girls teams to state in 2000 and '02. "I think our seniors adjusted well, but I don't think our sophomores ... finally figured it out (until the third-place game). They are going to reach, and they are going to bump you, and you better be ready for it, because they're not going to call it. The adjustment to the physicality was a big thing."

At state, St. Maries was relentless. The Lumberjacks were constantly on the attack, offensively and defensively - and it paid off with a trophy from state.

"I think we left a good example," said St. Maries guard Matthew Smith, one of the team's four senior starters. "Hard work beats talent when talent won't work hard."

NOT QUITE AS EXPECTED: After making it to state for the first time since 2004, Lakeland's boys were a little disappointed at their two-and-out in the 4A tourney. Afterward, Hawks coach Dave Stockwell tried to put things into perspective.

"The one thing that is there and has always been there is, the kids work hard," said Stockwell, in his fourth season as Lakeland coach. "They're teammates, and they'll carry this trip the rest of their lives, so what's more important than that? Granted, you want to come down here and win some games, but that doesn't always work out."

Stockwell then spoke of team rules that had to do with basketball, like doing the best they could do, and rules that had little to do with basketball, such as treating people how they would like to be treated.

"And that'll make 'em good human beings, and isn't that really what we're after?" Stockwell said.

Reserve guard Kenny Cooper, one of eight Lakeland seniors, said the Hawks have set the bar high for future Lakeland teams.

"To get down here, and not to be that team that's always losing to Moscow, or Sandpoint, but to come down here and be a successful basketball team," Cooper said.

MUTUAL ADMIRATION: Post Falls senior Dalton Thompson and Highland senior Stefan Gonzalez played together on an Idaho Select AAU team the summer before their junior years.

In Saturday night's championship game, Thompson guarded Gonzalez, and Gonzalez guarded Thompson over the final three quarters.

Gonzalez finished with 31 points and five assists for Highland, and was one of two players who had to carry the scoring load for the Rams.

Thompson had 16 points and eight rebounds for Post Falls, and was part of a balanced Trojan attack.

Thompson's biggest play might have been an offensive rebound on a free throw in the closing seconds of overtime, where he was fouled and sank two free throws to help seal the game.

"He's a great player; I'll watch him on TV someday," Thompson said of Gonzalez, who has signed to play at Saint Mary's.

"Dalton's a good shooter, a great player," Gonzalez said. "He's a nice kid, too. Congratulations to him on a state championship. And maybe I'll see him playing somewhere else someday."

STARS ON DISPLAY AT NIC: Thompson and Gonzalez could end up guarding each other again on Saturday. Thompson is on the North roster, Gonzalez the South, for the 12th annual state high school all-star basketball games, scheduled for Saturday at North Idaho College (girls game at 1 p.m., boys game at 3:30).

Malek Harwell, a Boise State signee who led Century of Pocatello to the consolation title in 4A, is also on the South roster. So is JD Schutt of Nampa, who played against Post Falls in the first round, and Derrick White of Capital, who played against the Trojans in the semis.

Highland coach Chris Frost is the South boys coach.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.