'Tough on tough'

NAMPA — The sophomore-laden Post Falls Trojans grew up under the bright lights Thursday afternoon.

The Trojans took it to two-time defending champion Rocky Mountain early, weathered a growing rebound disadvantage in the third quarter, but hung in there and made some big plays in the fourth to knock off the Grizzlies of Meridian 54-50 in the first round of the state 5A boys basketball tournament at the Ford Idaho Center.

“We knew that they were going to crash the boards hard,” said Post Falls junior Colby Gennett, who finished with 15 points, 13 rebounds and three steals. “We knew that it was a man’s sport when we got down here, and that’s what we did — we took care of business.”

Post Falls (18-6) advanced to the semifinals for the third straight year, and will face Madison (24-3) of Rexburg tonight at 5:15 p.m. PST. Madison defeated Eagle (11-11) 55-45.

Rocky Mountain (21-4) plays Eagle in a consolation bracket game today at 12:15 p.m. PST.

“I definitely thought nearly everyone in this arena probably doubted us,” Gennett said. “Those first few minutes for us, as a young team, we knew we had to have those first few minutes on our side in order to get momentum and keep it up the rest of the game.”

Gavin Desjarlais, one of only two seniors on the Post Falls roster, scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the first half. He scored nine of those in the first quarter, repeatedly taking the ball at Townsend Tripple, one of Rocky’s two 6-foot-7 juniors. The 6-foot-5 Desjarlais was able to get Tribble in foul trouble early — he had three fouls in the first half, and fouled out with 3:11 to play.

“Coach and I talked about it before the game, that that’s what I would have to do if we wanted to win the game,” Desjarlais said. “It’s all about being tough against big, strong guys like that.”

Post Falls coach Mike McLean said one of his team’s objectives Thursday was to take the fight to Rocky Mountain — something that, as the rugged game unfolded, the Trojans had to do anyway to survive.

Gennett, the lone Trojan with previous state experience, had nine points and six boards in the first half. Post Falls opened up a 29-19 lead with 2:43 left in the first half, then weathered a 7-0 Rocky run to lead 31-26 at halftime.

Rocky, which enjoyed a slight height advantage, shot just 29.8 percent (17 of 57) from the floor. But the Grizzlies totaled 22 offensive rebounds and outrebounded the Trojans 41-29. Rocky especially worked the Trojans over in the third quarter, led 46-42 with 6 minutes to play, and had the momentum.

But Post Falls sophomore point guard Cole Rutherford sank two free throws, and junior reserve Terrell Mitchell stole the ball and scored to tie it at 46 with 4 minutes left.

Rocky, which started three juniors, a sophomore and a senior, took a 50-48 lead with 2:12 left on a three-point play by 6-7 junior Briggs Ranstrom, who has an offer from Idaho State. Ranstrom finished with 17 points.

But Rutherford zipped a pass to Caden McLean, who hit a 3-pointer from the right baseline — his only basket of the game — to put Post Falls back up 51-50 with 1:47 left.

After Gennett stole the ball when Rocky tried to dump the ball down in low, Mitchell drove the lane for a 53-50 lead with 1:01 left.

Post Falls, which started three sophomores, a junior and a senior, kept the ball out of the lane on Rocky’s last possession, and the Grizzlies missed a contested 3 in the waning seconds. Rutherford rebounded, was fouled and hit the first of two free throws with 5.5 seconds left to ice the game.

“I think our guys were confident we could hang with them,” said McLean, who was hoping the Trojans could keep the rebounding margin closer than it was. “I don’t think we’re the only team that’s played Rocky that’s had that challenge — they are just relentless, going to get the ball.

“We were just trying to stay in contact of that rebounding margin. The second one we wanted to limit was the ‘bad’ turnovers, where they just race down and get a dunk, and at the end of the first half we had two bad possessions like that. And then toward the end of the third quarter and early in the fourth, we had two others like that. I thought if we could slow them down in the half court, we’d have a chance.

“And the third thing was, we wanted to take the fight to them. We weren’t afraid to lose; we were going to go out and do what we wanted to do, and if that didn’t work out, so be it. No regrets; we were going to go right at the giants (Tripple and Ranstrom).”

Mitchell finished with 11 points for Post Falls, which shot 18 of 40 from the field.

“Those last two minutes (of the first half), they got more physical than us, and it definitely showed on the scoreboard,” Gennett said. “And at the end of the game, we had (sophomore) Josiah (Shields) come in, and he had one job — box out No. 2 (Brayden Hamilton, a 6-3 senior), and that’s what he did.”

“Tough on tough,” Desjarlais added.

“We watched film on them, and with their big guy (Desjarlais), we saw that he would take it to the hole,” said Tripple, who finished with 11 points and four rebounds. “And that’s exactly what he did; he had a phenomenal game.”

NOTE: Post Falls High School announced it will set up a viewing area in the commons and show the webcast of the Trojans’s semifinal game tonight. Fans are asked to enter through the gym entrance.

Rocky Mountain 9 17 17 7 — 50

Post Falls 15 16 10 13 — 54

ROCKY MOUNTAIN — Hansen 4, Hamilton 2, Telford 7, Harrop 0, Rogers 3, Frith 3, Sherle 3, Lamm 0, Ranstrom 17, Tripple 11. Totals 17-57 11-18 50.

POST FALLS — Gennett 15, McLean 3, Rutherford 3, C. Rutherford 3, Ballew 0, Shields 0, Desjarlais 19, Horning 3, J. Rutherford 0, Mitchell 11. Totals 18-40 13-20 54.