PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Post Falls, Sandpoint, Timberlake come up short

GRANGEVILLE — The difference in Capital High of Boise’s 70-52 win over the Post Falls Trojans can be found from beyond the 3-point line.

Capital made 8 of 14 from 3-point line.

Post Falls went 3 for 22 and had 16 turnovers.

“They didn’t allow us to penetrate to the basket and didn’t really allow us to shoot,” ninth-year Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “We were getting shots, but they just weren’t going in. They, as a team, and the size they’ve got, are the teams we’ve struggled with this season. They were bringing solid athletes off the bench and took away our cuts to the basket and contested our shots. And we just didn’t make those today.”

Post Falls — which had advanced to state in seven straight years, including winning last year’s championship — finishes 16-9.

Seniors Max McCullough scored 21 points and Zach Hillman added 13 for Post Falls.

“All of our guys battled today, and all week,” McLean said. “There’s been a lot of ups and downs, and it was really hard relying on the jump shots to get it done. They had a wise gameplan on how to beat us, and we’ve shot good enough to win those games, but we didn’t today. Those seniors we’re losing (McCullough, Hillman and Blake McLean, the coach’s son), they’re going to be hard to replace. Not just on the court, but off of it. They’re great students and have bright futures ahead of them. Just the way they come into the gym prepared to come to work is going to be missed.”

Justin Saunders scored 26 points for Capital (14-12), which opens the state 5A tournament against Borah (21-2) on Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center.

Capital 14 21 16 19 — 70

Post Falls 16 8 14 14 — 52

CAPITAL — Saunders 26, Wilcox 4, Daron 13, Kruger 0, Zmuda 2, Ashby 16, Lindsey 5, Godeny 4, Brixey 0.

POST FALLS — McLean 2, Millsap 11, McKeown 0, McCullough 21, McCliment-Call 0, Bourgard 2, Pfennigs 3, Hillman 13.

Caldwell 44

Sandpoint 40

GRANGEVILLE — A tough fourth quarter proved costly, as the Bulldogs saw their season come to an end with a loss to Caldwell in the 4A state play-in basketball game at Grangeville High.

After both teams struggled to find much offense in a first half that ended tied at 16-16, the Bulldogs (7-16) scored the first 11 points of the third quarter to build a double-digit lead and seize momentum. The run was keyed by three buckets from Matt Curtiss, who scored six of his eight points during the run, and Davan Norris, who scored five of his team-high 19 points to stake the Bulldogs to an 11-point lead.

Caldwell (14-12), playing in its fourth game in a five days, called a timeout and switched to a 1-2-2 half court trap for the remainder of the game, a move that proved pivotal.

“We had just enough turnovers and missed layups to lose,” lamented Bulldog head coach Kent Leiss, noting the game was tied at 40-40 with under a minute left. “We were in a position to win, but had five turnovers and three missed layups in the fourth quarter.”

Carlos Collado added six points, Paul Sundquist five and Kyle Perry two to cap the scoring for the Bulldogs, whose stingy defense was almost enough to punch their ticket to state. The Bulldogs hit the offensive glass hard, one of the team’s goals, finishing with 13 offensive boards, with four each by Sundquist and Collado.

As it did during the regional championship against Lakeland, Sandpoint simply didn’t have enough offense to complement the strong play on the other end of the floor.

“We played great defense. The kids executed the game plan perfectly,” said Leiss, praising his team’s effort. “We played hard, we were diving on the floor.”

Sandpoint was bidding for its first trip to state since 2009.

Fruitland 72

Timberlake 54

CRAIGMONT — After playing three elimination games in four days, the legs of the Timberlake Tigers finally had nothing left.

Conner Benear had 20 points for the Grizzlies in a win over the Tigers in a state 3A play-in game at Highland High.

“It’s been a real emotional week for us,” said fifth-year Timberlake coach Tony Hanna, whose team played on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. “We felt we could have played for a district title, but we started to play really well and got a chance to play for a couple more days. I’m really proud of these guys. I don’t think anyone would have thought we could have been in this position. We really finished the season strong.”

Brayden Menti scored 15 points for Timberlake, which finishes 8-16.

Conner Benear scored 20 points for Fruitland (15-11), which opens the state 3A tournament against Snake River (20-2) on Thursday at Meridian High.

Fruitland 12 19 23 22 — 72

Timberlake 6 12 14 22 — 54

FRUITLAND — Smith 10, Benear 20, Weatherall 19, Murphy 3, Whaley 4, Ja. Richins 3, Eggers 0, C. Eiguren 0, German 1, T. Eigueren 3, Hershey 4, Jo. Richins 3, Dennison 2.

TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 3, Dickson 0, Smith 10, Hofer 2, George 2, Kistler 0, Sommers 0, Ostler 1, Hauck 6, Menti 15, Suko 0, Jessen 0, Nowlan 4, Hausladen 11, Counts 0.