Post Falls, Lake City win on first day
Post Falls’ Alex Horning (24) and Cole Rutherford double-team Drew Iversen of Rogers-Puyallup in a Lake City Invitational game on Thursday. LOREN BENOIT/Press
Coeur d’Alene’s Brayden Bengtson shoots a 3-pointer with Marcos Diaz defending in a Lake City Invitational game against Heritage on Thursday. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Post Falls’ Colby Gennett dunks the ball in a Lake City Invitational game against Rogers-Puyallup on Thursday. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Post Falls’ Caden McLean shoots a three while defended by Roger Puyallup’s Nate Hansen in a Lake City Invitational game on Thursday. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Coeur d’Alene’s Alex Karns scores on a layup in a Lake City Invitational game against Heritage on Thursday. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
COEUR d’ALENE — Rogers of Puyallup, Wash., gave Post Falls all it wanted — and a little more — in the first half of their matchup in the Lake City Invitational on Thursday.
The Trojans responded in the second half, outscoring the Rams 41-19 on the way to a 60-52 win at Lake City High.
“Give Rogers credit, they came out with energy and focus, and took the fight to us in the first half,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “I was impressed with their players and staff and was really impressed with how they were able to dictate their will to us. For us, we have yet to put together a good four quarters this year. We need to continue to find ways to get better and put four quarters together.”
Colby Gennett had 29 points and Cole Rutherford eight points and seven assists for Post Falls (9-2), which faces Columbia River (4-2) today at 2 p.m. Columbia River, which beat North Central (1-8) 65-46 earlier Thursday behind 35 points from Dylan Valdez.
Jace Barrett scored 22 points for Rogers (2-5), which faces Lake City tonight at 7.
Rogers 13 20 12 7 — 52
Post Falls 10 9 20 21 — 60
ROGERS-PUYALLUP — Johnson 2, Turco 3, Rios 12, Ni. Hansen 3, Iverson 0, Brannan 0, Barrett 22, Na. Hansen 6, Looker 4.
POST FALLS — Gennett 29, McLean 4, Rodriguez 0, Rutherford 8, Ballew 6, Lee 0, Horning 13, Shields 0.
Lake City 65, Mead 53: Kolton Mitchell scored 15 points, Jack Kiesbuy 14 as the host Timberwolves broke away from a halftime tie to beat the Panthers at the Lake City Invitational.
“The first half we didn’t shoot well, and the second half we shot it great,” Lake City assistant coach Kelly Reed said. “In the second half we were more intense on the defensive end. When we’re good offensively, generally it’s because we’re good on defense.”
Chris Irvin added eight points and five rebounds for Lake City. Mitchell and Kiesbuy each hit two of the T-Wolves’ six 3-pointers.
Sam Wenkheimer scored a game-high 15 points for Mead (5-3).
“Mead’s solid; that’s a good win for us,” Reed said.
Lake City faces Rogers of Puyallup, Wash., tonight at 7.
Mead 14 9 13 17 — 53
Lake City 12 11 22 20 — 65
MEAD — Ty. Rogalette 12, Mulder 4, Gardner 7, Lindsey 0, Shoff 6, Tr. Rogalette 0, Wenkheimer 15, Mount 3, Reighard 0, Lorenz 0, Allen 0.
LAKE CITY — Irvin 8, Janke 4, Kiesbuy 14, Spellman 0, Johnson 9, Hanson 6, Mitchell 15, Sundstrom 2, Meredith 7.
Heritage 65, Coeur d’Alene 60: Facing a zone defense for the first time, the Vikings looked sharp at times against the Timberwolves of Vancouver, Wash.
But Heritage held Coeur d’Alene scoreless in a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter, holding off a late rally by the Vikings for the win.
Mayson Whittaker scored 15 points for Coeur d’Alene (4-4), which took the lead at 52-50 on a 3-pointer by Luke McLaughlin with 6:15 remaing. Coeur d’Alene didn’t score again until McLaughlin’s jumper with 1:28 remaining.
“I think a lot of times it’s easy when a team is playing a zone to just settle for jumpers,” Coeur d’Alene coach Tony Hanna said. “We’ve got to do a better job of attacking the seams and getting it to our post players. When we got their posts outside, we knocked down some shots. But when we settled for moving it around the perimeter, and didn’t square them up, we didn’t knock a lot of them down.”
Coeur d’Alene finished 9 for 19 from the free-throw line.
“Day to day, we’re still improving,” Hanna said. “There’s some things we need to continue to get better at. But I saw some really good things from our guys. We don’t see a lot of teams that run a zone against us, and it’s hard for us to show that kind of pressure in practice when we’re going up against each other. It’s nice for another team to give us that look, but know we’ve got to improve shooting the ball and need to knock down some free throws.”
Seniors Eastyn Culp scored 21 points and Conner Childs, son of coach Brian Childs, scored 19 points for Heritage (5-4).
“They’re an athletic team and just keep coming after you,” said Brian Childs, the former Lake City assistant and Coeur d’Alene Charter head basketball coach. “Coeur d’Alene is big, pretty strong, and we knew they went to the boards hard. It was kind of a physical game, a lot of fouls. But in the second half, I thought we weathered each run they made. It was important, and the guys know I worked here for a few years with (Lake City) coach (Jim) Winger. We were just thrilled to be able to come to this tournament.”
Heritage 10 20 20 15 — 65
Coeur d’Alene 13 17 17 13 — 60
HERITAGE — Johnson 16, Diaz 7, Hinton 2, Caston 0, Culp 21, Childs 19, Hart 0, Gray 0.
COEUR d’ALENE — Whittaker 15, Bengtson 12, C. Smith 3, Larson 2, Karns 9, Cope 1, O. Smith 1, Prka 7, McLaughlin 10.