PREP BASKETBALL: Post Falls boys prevail in OT

• BOYS

POST FALLS — A cutting Cooper Craig caught a pass in traffic and the sophomore scored the go-ahead basket on a layup with some 30 seconds left in overtime, and the Post Falls Trojans went on to beat the Mead Panthers 66-63 on Saturday night at The Arena.

Junior Jayden Butler knocked down both ends of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left, and Post Falls (2-2) survived a desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer by Mead (1-4).

“For a team with as little varsity experience as we have, to step up and make plays in overtime, I’m very, very happy,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “Everybody contributed who played.”

Jack Sciortino totaled 20 points, nine assists, nine rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot for Post Falls.

After Zack Reighard of Mead hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in regulation to put the Panthers up 60-58, Sciortino scored on a driving layin with 7 seconds left to force overtime.

“I’ve never seen Jack play a better all-around game than he did tonight,” McLean said. “He did a very good job early in the game breaking down defenders and finding shooters. Mead had to close out on shooters, and that allowed Jack to drive.”

Craig finished with 17 points for Post Falls, which plays Minico of Rupert on Thursday at 4 p.m. PST in the first round of the Owyhee Holiday Invitational.

Luke Russell scored 18 points, Reighard 17 for Mead.

Mead 11 20 14 15 3 — 63

Post Falls 15 14 11 20 6 — 66

MEAD — Braun 1, Danielson 0, Bumpas 0, Bittle 0, Sands 6, Russell 18, Gardner 10, Blanchat 5, Mount 6, Reighard 17.

POST FALLS — Sciortino 20, Naylor 0, Shields 0, McCarthy 9, Summers 0, VonBruck 3, Craig 17, Bowie 4, Blake 11, Butler 2.

St. Maries 76

Bonners Ferry 67

BONNERS FERRY — Senior guard Coleman Ross had 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals for the Lumberjacks in a nonleague win over the Badgers.

“We’d kind of been teasing him a little about his matchup with (Bonners Ferry’s Braden) Blackmore and how tough it was going to be,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said. “And he took it to heart. Coleman really wanted to get it going tonight. He’s been averaging eight points per game, but shot the ball really well and was aggressive attacking the rim.”

Colby Renner scored 14 points for St. Maries, which shot 17 of 24 from the free throw line.

Ethan Hubbard and Charles Henslee scored 13 points each for Bonners Ferry (3-3).

St. Maries (2-1) hosts Lakeland on Monday.

St. Maries 17 13 25 21 — 76

Bonners Ferry 11 18 21 17 — 67

ST. MARIES — Gentry-Nelson 12, Sands 5, Badgett 0, Ross 26, Wolfe 0, Elliott 11, T. Renner 3, Wicks 3, C. Renner 14, Hill 2.

BONNERS FERRY — Peterson 3, Rice 11, Henslee 13, Petsch 2, Williams 11, Th. Bateman 2, Hubbard 13, Tr. Bateman 5, Blackmore 7.

Kellogg 57

East Helena 41

FRENCHTOWN, Mont. — Kolby Luna had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats in a win over the Vigilantes in the Frenchtown tournament.

“Overall, I was pretty pleased,” Kellogg coach Mike Martin said. “Playing seven games in 12 days was a grind, but closing it out with three straight wins in three days was big. We played a little loose in the fourth quarter, but had enough of a cushion so it didn’t hurt us too much.”

Luke Frohlich had 10 rebounds and Tanner Groves 11 points for Kellogg (5-2), which plays at Wallace on Dec. 20.

East Helena is 1-2.

Kellogg 13 12 18 14 — 57

East Helena 12 7 7 15 — 41

KELLOGG — Miller 2, Whatcott 2, R. Luna 7, K. Luna 22, McLean 4, Groves 11, Maciosek 0, Frohlich 5, Walker 4, Hendrix 0, Bristow 0.

EAST HELENA — Hagen 0, Spencer 3, Charlesworth 7, Nelson 0, Held 2, Sager 10, Pelty 4, Mergenthaler 15.

Priest River 65

Newport 47

PRIEST RIVER — Trentyn Kreager hit six 3-pointers and finished with 32 points, leading the Spartans past the Grizzlies in a nonleague game.

“He’s an unbelievable player,” Priest River coach Jaden Barrett said. “Half the shots he made tonight, I’m just shaking my head at, and that’s just pure skill. I thank God that I have him. I’d hate to play him.”

Blake Barrett scored 15 points and Jace Yount had eight points and six rebounds for Priest River (2-1), which hosts Lakeland on Tuesday.

Newport 15 8 8 16 — 47

Priest River 17 24 16 8 — 65

NEWPORT — Smith 4, C. Loosier 5, Ross 1, Balazs 13, N. Loosier 4, Becker 7, Sherman 10, Pierson 3.

PRIEST RIVER — Mathews 2, Butler 5, Kreager 32, Marinello 0, Gleason 0, T. Engelson 0, Barrett 15, Z. Engelson 0, Berns 2, Thompson 1, Gamber 0, Yount 8.

Timberlake at

Orofino, ppd.

OROFINO — The nonleague game was postponed due to slick roads.

No makeup date has been announced.

• GIRLS

Mead 55

Post Falls 29

POST FALLS — The matchup between unbeatens turned into a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore guard Teryn Gardner scored 13 of her 20 points in the first half as the Panthers (5-0) handed the Trojans (6-1) their first loss at The Arena.

Mead jumped out to a 29-15 halftime lead, and boosted its lead to 51-21 after three quarters, triggering the running clock in the fourth.

“Well, one team showed up ready to play, one team showed up ready to play physical and aggressive, and play fast, and one team didn’t,” Post Falls coach Marc Allert said. “Unfortunately, it’s been a role reversal of what our games have been like lately. Mead’s a very good team; they took us out of some stuff and really exposed some things today. I was a little disappointed in the way we battled back and handled adversity. We were hoping for a good game, and hopefully in the long run this will help us; it remains to be seen whether we’re going to learn something from it, or we’re just going to back down from that challenge. Hopefully we learn something from it; we move on, we move forward and it makes us better.”

Capri Sims had 13 points, seven rebounds and two assists for Post Falls, which returns to action Friday at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.

Mead 13 16 22 4 — 55

Post Falls 7 8 6 8 — 29

MEAD — Smith 1, Suggs 6, Hoard 4, Petragallo 0, Braun 8, Moore 8, Brown 4, Gardner 20, Cyr 0, Sterner 0, Burns 4, Allen 0.

POST FALLS — McLean 3, Nichols 0, Heath 0, Grant 0, Brennan 2, Sims 13, Berg 3, Asper 2, Crane 2, Walton 2, Christensen 2.

Priest River 47

Newport 17

PRIEST RIVER — Lilly Freitas and Samantha Pound scored 13 points apiece for the Spartans in a nonleague win over the Grizzlies at Priest River High.

Priest River (2-3), which lost 50-14 to Timberlake on Friday in the Intermountain League opener, outscored Newport 29-3 in the second half.

“I switched from a man defense to zone,” Priest River coach Gary Stewart said. “And just said, ‘let them make the mistakes and don’t put them on the foul line like we did in the first half.’ That’s all it was.”

Allyson Barton had nine points and eight rebounds, Marley Burgess-Duquette six rebounds for Priest River, which travels to Wallace on Tuesday.

Newport 8 6 1 2 — 17

Priest River 9 9 16 13 — 47

NEWPORT — Jurgens 10, Lawrence 0, Goodman 0, Pack 0, Whitaker 0, Garcia De Saez 0, McDaniel 0, Hoffman 2, Reedy 2, Guest 3.

PRIEST RIVER — Burgess-Duquette 4, Pound 13, Freitas 13, Thompson 2, Humphrey 2, McCracken 0, Kingery 4, Barton 9, Rhine 0.

Deary at

Lakeside, ppd.

PLUMMER — The nonleague game was postponed due to slick roads.

No makeup date was announced.

St. Maries at

Bonners Ferry

No report was received.