PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Ballew hits big hoop, and Post Falls battles past Lakeland
RATHDRUM — Isaac Ballew hit a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to give Post Falls the lead for good, and the Trojans survived a wild finish to beat the Lakeland Hawks 51-48 in nonleague play on senior night at Hawk Court.
Post Falls (13-6) added a free throw, then Jalen Skalskiy of Lakeland (8-8) scored on the drive and was fouled in the closing seconds. He missed the free throw that would have tied the game, and the Hawks fouled. Caden McLean, who hit three 3-pointers and scored a game-high 18 points for Post Falls, sank two free throws, and Lakeland just missed a 3 at the buzzer that would have forced overtime.
“It was a physical game; points were hard to come by,” Lakeland assistant coach Tyrel Derrick. “It came down to the wire; they just hit a couple shots at the end. But we were really proud of our seniors, taking the step up in intensity.”
Ballew finished with 12 for Post Falls.
Skalskiy had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and Noah Haaland had 12 points and 10 boards for Lakeland.
Lakeland travels to Moscow on Thursday to conclude 4A Inland Empire League play.
Post Falls visits Lewiston on Friday to open the 5A Region 1 tournament.
Post Falls 9 18 10 14 — 51
Lakeland 20 9 12 7 — 48
POST FALLS — Anderson 0, McLean 18, Hauser 0, Peterson 0, Rutherford 9, Ballew 12, Lee 2, Horning 10, Shields 0.
LAKELAND — Seay 9, Henry 9, Am. Munyer 6, Haaland 12, Skalskiy 12, Hocking 0, Roth 0, Waddington 0.
Lake City 66
Sandpoint 37
SANDPOINT — Sophomore Zach Johnson had 24 points, nine rebounds and three assists as the visiting Timberwolves wrapped up the regular season by rolling past the Bulldogs at Les Rogers Court.
Blake Buchanan tallied 15 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two steals for Lake City (14-6).
“What I’m liking is, different kids are stepping up each game,” Lake City coach Jim Winger said. “Other guys are stepping up. Our intensity was good. We just came off a big game with Coeur d’Alene, and we’ve got districts this Friday with Coeur d’Alene. I was hoping we wouldn’t look by this, and play to our level, and we certainly did that. Our intensity was good.”
Darren Bailey hit four 3s and scored 14 points for Sandpoint (4-14).
Lake City plays host to Coeur d’Alene on Friday in the first round of the 5A Region 1 tournament.
Sandpoint heads to Moscow on Saturday in 4A Inland Empire League play to wrap up the regular season.
Lake City 19 19 17 11 — 66
Sandpoint 10 2 13 12 — 37
LAKE CITY — Buchanan 15, Jones 0, Janke 5, Irvin 0, J. Kiesbuy 8, Spellman 2, Johnson 24, Weaver 0, D. Kiesbuy 2, Mitchell 6, Meredith 4, Bowman 0.
SANDPOINT — Roos 7, Pettit 2, Frank 0, R. Lee 0, VanDenBerg 3, Bailey 14, S. Lee 3, Lane 4, Butler 4.
Kellogg 49
Timberlake 47
SPIRIT LAKE — Junior Luke Frohlich’s only basket of the game — with two seconds left on a drive-and-dish from Riply Luna — lifted the Wildcats past the Tigers in Intermountain League play.
Logan Jerome scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed five rebounds for Kellogg (8-6, 2-2 IML), which trailed 31-8 in the first half. KJ Walker added four assists for the Wildcats.
Ethan Riley, who led Timberlake (5-13, 0-4) with 14 points, hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to put the Tigers up 47-44.
Kolby Luna tied it with a 3 for Kellogg with 45 seconds left, and the Wildcats got a steal off the press to get the ball back for the final possession.
Kellogg coach Mike Martin said his team has fallen behind several times this season before staging comebacks, and “these guys are making me age in dog years. Honestly, the resilience is admirable. Logan Jerome was huge tonight.”
“We started playing a little scared,” Timberlake coach Mike Menti said, “and we lost some faith in the offense. But we played our butts off in the fourth quarter.”
Tonight, Timberlake plays at Priest River, and Kellogg is home vs. Bonners Ferry.
Kellogg 4 18 14 13 — 49
Timberlake 18 14 3 12 — 47
KELLOGG — R. Luna 14, K. Luna 6, Groves 0, Frohlich 3, Walker 0, Jerome 26, Lonn 0.
TIMBERLAKE — Olivieri 8, Riley 14, Tay. Menti 10, Pasley 5, Yetter 6, Millsap 0, Higgins 4, Tan. Menti 0, Simpson 0.
St. Maries 71
Genesis Prep 46
ST. MARIES — Senior Randie Becktel scored seven of his game-high 15 points in a 31-point second quarter, and the Lumberjacks rolled past the Jaguars in nonleague play on senior night.
“It was nice; seniors had 48 of our 71 points,” St. Maries coach Bryan Chase said.
One of those seniors, Carson Wicks, chipped in eight points for the Lumberjacks (19-1).
Junior Tristan Gentry added 11 points and eight rebounds for St. Maries. Senior Brett Stancil had 10 points, senior Eli Gibson nine points, eight rebounds and four assists, and senior Justin Ledbetter had five steals.
Nathan Weeks and Joey Specht each scored eight points for Genesis Prep (2-10), which plays at Wallace next Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the first round of the 1A Division I District 1 tournament.
St. Maries is idle until hosting the 2A District 1-2 championship game next Wednesday at 6 p.m. The Lumberjacks will play the winner of Monday’s game pitting Orofino at Grangeville.
Genesis Prep 11 12 9 14 — 46
St. Maries 13 31 10 17 — 71
GENESIS PREP — Rubert 1, Schroeder 5, Daniels 5, Russworm 0, McCluskie 6, Weeks 8, Gonzales 6, Specht 8.
ST. MARIES — Sands 2, Wolfe 0, Ross 4, Becktel 15, Gentry 11, Badgett 0, Stancil 10, Elliott 0, Gibson 9, C. Wicks 8, T. Wicks 0, T. Renner 0, C. Renner 6, Ledbetter 2, McMasters 4.