'A bunch of somebodies'

POST FALLS — Based on returning varsity players, the Post Falls Trojans weren’t the favorites in the 5A Inland Empire League boys basketball this season.

But the Trojans knew they had a talented team — they were just inexperienced at the varsity level.

Plus, their one returning player was a key one — junior Colby Gennett.

Gennett, a three-year starter, totaled 19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocked shots Tuesday night as top-seeded Post Falls defeated the third-seeded Coeur d’Alene Vikings 58-44 in the championship game of the 5A Region 1 tournament at The Arena.

“Since the beginning of the season, we were underdogs right off the bat, and we just wanted to go out and prove everyone wrong,” Gennett said. “We knew we could do it, and that’s just what we did.”

“Going into the season, I was giving these guys (his players) a bad time — ‘We’re Colby and a bunch of nobodies,’” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “Maybe now, we might be Colby and a bunch of somebodies.”

Post Falls (16-7) advances to state next weekend at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. The Trojans open next Thursday, Feb. 28, at 12:15 p.m. PST against the winner of Friday’s District 3 championship game between Rocky Mountain (21-2) and Borah (20-3).

Coeur d’Alene (13-7) will play Thursday in the regional second-place game for a berth in a state play-in game Saturday. Fourth-seeded Lake City (3-16) plays at No. 2 Lewiston (9-12) tonight at 6:30. If Lewiston wins, Coeur d’Alene travels to Lewiston. If Lake City wins, the Vikings host Lake City.

On Tuesday night, Post Falls had to overcome another quick Coeur d’Alene start, and its own massive foul trouble, to win its second straight regional title and qualify for state for the 10th time in 12 seasons under McLean.

Two starters (point guard Cole Rutherford and forward Gavven Desjarlais) sat long stretches in the first half with two fouls, and a key reserve (Terrell Mitchell) picked up his third before halftime. And all three had four fouls before the third quarter was over.

Gennett helped pick up the slack, scoring all nine of his first-half points in the second quarter. In the third quarter, he drove the right baseline for a two-handed dunk that hiked Post Falls’ lead to 35-24 with 3 1/2 minutes left in the quarter.

Still, McLean said, it was reserves like Josiah Shields, Tommy Hauser and Isaac Ballew — all sophomores — who helped the Trojans stave off the Vikings.

“We were in a tough spot for a while there, foul-wise, but we got it done,” McLean said. “If you watch us all year, we play 10 guys on a consistent basis. Tonight, we had guys maybe playing not in the situation we had designed, but it worked.”

Another sophomore, Alex Horning, hit three 3-pointers and added 13 points for the Trojans.

“I can’t say enough good things about Alex Horning,” McLean said. “(Coeur d’Alene forward Kale) Edwards just single-handedly got everybody in foul trouble. Alex is not our first choice to guard him, but sometimes out of necessity, that’s what you get.”

Still, Coeur d’Alene closed the deficit to 37-32 after three quarters, and took the momentum into the fourth.

However, Horning and Caden McLean — the coach’s son — nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 43-32, and the Vikings came no closer than nine points the rest of the way.

“Honestly, I really liked the way we battled,” Coeur d’Alene coach Tony Hanna said. “We had it to a five-point game in the third quarter, they were in some foul trouble, so we had the right guys on the floor for them, and they hit a couple of huge, timely shots. We had a couple defensive breakdowns, and their two best shooters got a couple of wide-open 3s and hit ’em both.

“The timing of those two shots was great for them, terrible for us.”

Desjarlais, one of only two seniors on the squad, scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter for Post Falls.

Post Falls needed a late rally to force overtime and beat Coeur d’Alene at home in the teams’ first meeting this season.

Coeur d’Alene then jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the rematch, then Post Falls took command in the middle two quarters, before the host Vikings made a late run, and had a chance to tie before turning the ball over in the waning seconds.

Devon Johnson and Connor King led Coeur d’Alene with eight points each.

Coeur d’Alene 7 10 15 12 — 44

Post Falls 13 13 11 21 — 58

COEUR d’ALENE — McLaughlin 2, Blakeley-Whittaker 7, Johnson 8, Friesz 6, King 8, Hostetter 2, Margo 2, Edwards 7, Linehan 2.

POST FALLS — Gennett 19, McLean 3, Hauser 0, C. Rutherford 4, Ballew 0, Shields 2, Desjarlais 9, Horning 13, J. Rutherford 0, Mitchell 8.