Trojans rally, but fall short in Vegas
LOREN BENOIT/Press Timberlake’s Colton Counts goes for a layup against Sandpoint’s T.J. Davis during Friday night’s game at Timberlake High School.
Jordan Hardy, right, of Timberlake, tries to steal the ball from Sandpoint’s Ben Wikoff during Friday night’s game at Timberlake High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Timberlake Head Coach Michael Scott gives instructions to his team as they play Sandpoint. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Timberlake’s Jordan Hardy passes the basketball to a teammate during Friday’s game against Sandpoint. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Sheldon Kistler (34) of Timberlake goes for a layup against Sandpoint during Friday night’s game at Timberlake High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Timberlake defenders Jordan Hardy, left, and Sheldon Kistler apply pressure on Sandpoint’s Ben Wikoff during Friday night’s game at Timberlake High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Jordan Hardy of Timberlake goes to the basket on a fast-break during Friday night’s game. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Colton Counts of Timberlake dribbles the ball into the Sandpoint defense during Friday night’s game at Timberlake High School. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Timberlake’s JT Wilfong cheers on his team as they play Sandpoint. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Timberlake’s Chase Gardom drives to the basket against Sandpoint’s Max Thielbahr during Friday night’s game. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
LAS VEGAS — It wasn’t the finish that cost Post Falls in Friday’s matchup in the Tarkanian Classic — the Trojans actually closed nicely.
But a sluggish first half was the difference against another talent opponent in the desert.
Jake Pfennigs had 21 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and two steals for the Trojans, but a 37-point day by 6-foot sophomore guard DJ Davis was the difference in Post Falls’ 78-66 loss to Centennial High of Corona, Calif., in a consolation-round game at Bishop Gorman High.
“They came out guns-a-blazing and we got in a hole early,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “Davis was a scoring machine and in the first half, we didn’t start the game shooting the ball really well.”
Post Falls trailed by 18 points eight minutes into the game before getting the deficit to single digits in the second half (games in this tourney are played in two 16-minute halves).
“It took us a bit to deal with that adversity,” McLean said. “But we persevered as a group and continued to believe in each other. We beat them in the second half and got it down to single digits, but couldn’t get enough stops. I was very happy with how we found a way to compete. I don’t know if I’ve seen Jake play any better than he did or at a higher level than he did today.”
Tanner McCliment-Call scored 21 points and Colby Gennett had 17 points and five rebounds for Post Falls (3-3), which concludes the tournament today against Chino Hills (Calif.).
“Both Tanner and Colby are truly rising to the occasion this week,” McLean said. “It’s been fun to watch them this week. All of our guys are learning that the window to make passes is smaller down here.”
Both Davis and Paris Dawson, a 6-foot sophomore guard who finished with 21 points for Centennial, are receiving interest from Pac-12 Conference schools UCLA, Utah and Arizona State, among others.
“We had a UCLA assistant coach come into the locker room after the game and told us how much he respected the way we played and what we’re doing as a program,” McLean said. “Having them say that, and he didn’t have to come in and tell us that, makes us think we’re going down the right path here. It’s pretty special for a guy to do something like that.”
Centennial 42 36 — 78
Post Falls 29 37 — 66
CENTENNIAL — Clark 3, Davis 37, Cash 2, Moffatt 0, Dawson 21, Parker 3, McBride 10, Novak 0, Machado 2.
POST FALLS — Gennett 17, Thompson 6, Buer 0, McCliment-Call 21, Walker 0, Bourgard 0, Ballew 0, Pfennigs 21, Morris 0, Desjarlais 1.
Lakeland 66
Cheney 51
RATHDRUM — Freshman Jalen Skalskiy led the way with 14 points and 11 rebounds as the host Hawks got 30 points off their bench in a victory over the Blackhawks in nonleague play at Hawk Court.
“Our bench did a great job,” said Lakeland assistant coach Bill Ryan, also lauding the play of Ben Zubaly and Josh Neilson, among others.
Josiah Haaland added 12 points and 10 boards for Lakeland (6-1).
Nathan Johnson hit both of his 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Hawks broke it open. With Lakeland up 5, Dylan Vahey got a steal and hit Skalskiy for a dunk, sparking a mini-run.
Justace Reiter and Nick Berman each scored 14 for Cheney (3-5).
Lakeland is next scheduled to return to action Jan. 2 at Lewiston.
Cheney 10 10 12 19 — 51
Lakeland 13 13 18 22 — 66
CHENEY — Cook 11, VerStrate 3, Omlin 6, Custler 3, Reiter 14, McPherson 0, N. Berman 14.
LAKELAND — Taylor 3, Zubaly 6, Munyer 0, Johnson 9, Knight 6, Vahey 4, Davis 7, Skalskiy 14, Neilson 5, Haaland 12.
Sandpoint 57
Timberlake 53
SPIRIT LAKE — Dawson Cramer rallied the Tigers in the second half, but a scoreless second quarter proved to be the difference for Timberlake in a nonleague loss to the Bulldogs.
“We had our four top scorers in foul trouble, and just couldn’t score with them out of the game,” Timberlake coach Michael Scott said. “We were kind of mismatched. They had a bit more size, but we made a run at the end. But that second quarter just hurt us.”
Cramer scored 13 points for Timberlake (3-6), which faces Tonasket in the West Valley tournament on Wednesday.
Alex Stockton scored 18 points for Sandpoint (4-2), which faces Davenport on Wednesday, also at the West Valley tournament.
Sandpoint 17 10 9 22 — 57
Timberlake 16 0 12 25 — 53
SANDPOINT — Vernon 8, Dalthorp 6, Niemela 0, Davis 4, Treadaway 0, Jones 8, Johnson 13, Van Den Berg 0, Stockton 18.
TIMBERLAKE — Hardy 7, Wilfong 8, Cramer 13, Simpson 0, Meijerink 0, Counts 4, Kluss 0, James 9, Gardom 4, Kistler 8.
Wellpinit 76
Lakeside 50
WELLPINIT, Wash. — No other information was available.