5A REGION 1 BOYS BASKETBALL: Bronson's game-winner helps Cd'A topple Post Falls

COEUR d’ALENE — Bryce Bronson might not have been the No. 1 option on the play, but when he found himself at the top of the key, with the ball in his hands, the game tied and the final seconds ticking away, he figured he’d better do something.

So the 6-foot-3 junior drove to the left of the key, rose up and sank a 16-foot jumper with 3 seconds to go as the Coeur d’Alene Vikings, who let all of a 20-point second-half lead slip away, escaped with a 76-74 victory over the Post Falls Trojans in the first round of the 5A Region 1 boys basketball tournament Friday night at Elmer Jordan Court.

“I wasn’t the option — I just came free, I guess,” Bronson said. “With the clock situation, I just decided to take it in myself, and try to get a good shot off.”

No. 2 seed Coeur d’Alene (18-4) will travel to top-seeded Lewiston (13-8) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. for the regional championship game, and a berth to state. Lewiston held off No. 4 seed Lake City 39-35.

No. 3 seed Post Falls (14-8) will play host to Lake City (6-16) on Tuesday at 7 on a loser-out game.

Coeur d’Alene 76, Post Falls 74: Viking coach Kurt Lundblad joked Bronson might have been “probably our eighth option” on that play, but Coeur d’Alene’s No. 1 option had fouled out, and the Trojans took away the next two options.

“But I had him on the floor for a reason,” Lundblad said of Bronson. “Bryce is such a hard worker and such an unselfish, good kid. He earned that, and he deserved that.”

Post Falls called timeout with 2.1 seconds and the ball under the Coeur d’Alene basket. The Trojans threw a pass to Jake Pfennigs at midcourt, who dished off to Max McCullough, whose 25-footer from the top of the key bounced off the rim as time expired.

“We knew they wouldn’t go away,” Lundblad said. “The last couple games, we haven’t done a great job of finishing, I thought we kind of lost our composure a little bit, and then credit to them — they hit a bunch of shots in the fourth quarter late. We weathered quite the storm there, and the only thing that matters at the end of the day is getting the ‘W.’”

Coeur d’Alene built a 53-33 lead midway through the third quarter. Moments later Joey Naccarato, who scored 18 of his 23 points in the first half, was whistled for his fourth foul. The Trojans, whose full-court pressure was unsuccessful early in the game, went back at it and started chipping away. When Naccarato returned midway through the fourth quarter, Post Falls had pulled within 65-52. Naccarato fouled out with 2:53 left and the Vikings up 67-56 but Post Falls kept pushing.

McCullough scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, including a spinning move that led to a short bank shot that tied the game at 74 with 32 seconds left.

Coeur d’Alene ran the clock down, Post Falls deflected a pass out of bounds, and the Vikings called timeout with 7.6 seconds left to set up the final play.

Brody Lundblad, who didn’t play the first quarter, finished with 20 points, six assists and four steals for Coeur d’Alene, which shot 31 of 55 (56.4 percent) from the field. Austin Lee added nine points and six rebounds off the bench, and Naccarato and Bronson each had six boards.

Bronson scored six of his eight points in the first quarter, and Will McElver scored five of his seven, as the Vikings zipped through the Trojans’ pressure for a 20-15 lead. Coeur d’Alene shot 60 percent (18 for 30) in the first half and extended its lead to 44-27 at halftime.

“Just proud of the kids,” Kurt Lundblad said. “They were fired up from the start ... what we worked on in practice all week was, let’s attack, be aggressive and score buckets out of it. We didn’t finish as strong as we’d like, but we made enough plays to win the game.”

For the second time in two weeks, the Trojans trailed by at least 20 points at Coeur d’Alene before making things interesting at the end.

“Obviously we’ve proved a point — we can’t spot Coeur d’Alene 20 points and expect to come back,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “But I can’t be more proud of my guys ... our kids never wavered.”

Great comeback aside, McLean said the game was lost in the first half.

“I thought Coeur d’Alene did a good job of getting in the lane and finding the open guy,” McLean said. “And we hurt ourselves with our impatience, and we went away from some things that were working.”

After going 6 for 17 from the field in the first half, Post Falls was 15 of 24 in the second half.

Pfennigs added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Trojans. Wyatt Millsap had 15 points, and Blake McLean scored 13 of his 14 points in the second half.

“That’s a pretty good high school basketball game if you were here to watch,” McLean said.

Post Falls 15 12 17 30 — 74

Coeur d’Alene 20 24 13 19 — 76

POST FALLS — McLean 14, Millsap 15, McKeown 0, McCullough 23, Haines 0, Bourgard 1, Pfennigs 18, Hillman 3.

COEUR d’ALENE — Lee 9, Lundblad 20, Lynn 2, Matheson 7, Yankoff 0, Bronson 8, McElver 7, Naccarato 23, Kofmehl 0.

Lewiston 39, Lake City 35: At Booth Hall in Lewiston, the Timberwolves held the ball in the first half, but only hit 2 of 14 from the floor and trailed 18-4 at half before nearly making it all the way back with a second-half rally.

Lake City trailed by 22 points in the third quarter before pulling with 38-35, with possession, in the closing minutes.

“The fourth quarter, we finally made some shots,” Lake City assistant Kelly Reed said. “The kids executed the game plan, trapped and caused turnovers. We made a great run, but putting the ball in the basket has been a struggle.”

Kenny Louie-McGee hit three of Lake City’s seven 3-pointers and led the Timberwolves with 11 points.

Braeden Wilson scored 13 points, Trystan Bradley 12 for Lewiston.

Lake City 2 2 11 20 — 35

Lewiston 8 10 16 5 — 39

LAKE CITY — Louie-McGee 11, Kolden 4, Womelduff 0, Butler 2, Hartz 3, Schaffer 0, Carlson 8, Manzardo 7.

LEWISTON — Stamper 2, Driskill 0, Ahlers 0, Wilson 13, Way 7, Clarke 3, Baerlocher 0, Bradley 12, Richardson 2, Hewett 0.