PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Burgess directs Coeur d'Alene past Post Falls

POST FALLS — Point guard Steven Burgess scored 24 points as the Coeur d’Alene Vikings defeated the Post Falls Trojans 69-58 in Inland Empire League play Thursday night at The Arena.

Burgess made 10 of 12 free throws for Coeur d’Alene (10-4, 4-2 IEL), including 8 of 10 in the fourth quarter.

“Steven dominated the game; he got into the lane pretty much at will,” Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said.

“We really went to what works for us; we were scoring a lot of points at the basket,” Adams added, noting the scoring of Alex Nipp (10 points), Cameron Cope (9), Sam Entzi (7) and Gunner Larson (4) inside.

“They hurt us on the pick and roll,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “The hardest thing to play against is a point guard that plays with pace. Burgess is one of those guys that plays with such pace on the pick and roll, and it causes problems.”

Neil McCarthy led Post Falls (3-13, 0-5) with 17 points, and Jack Sciortino and Tyras Blake added 10 each.

Coeur d’Alene was 21 of 36 from the line, Post Falls 10 of 14.

“We had 18 turnovers, and that really hurt us,” McLean said, pointing to one flurry of turnovers in the first quarter, and another in the third when Post Falls was trying to climb back into the game. “Sometimes we’re trying too hard, trying to make something happen. We just have to take better care of the ball.”

“I could see they were much better than the last time we played,” Adams said of Post Falls, which lost 34-24 at Coeur d’Alene on Jan. 14. “Mike’s a great coach; he knows how to make the other team not play well.”

On Tuesday, Coeur d’Alene travels to Lewiston, and Post Falls visits Lake City.

Coeur d’Alene 16 16 20 17 — 69

Post Falls 11 14 14 19 — 58

COEUR d’ALENE — Degraw 0, Entzi 7, King 0, C. Larson 8, Wellsandt 0, Nipp 10, Cope 9, Burgess 24, Orchard 7, G. Larson 4.

POST FALLS — Sciortino 10, Naylor 4, Shields 4, McCarthy 17, VonBruck 3, Craig 7, Bowie 0, Blake 10, Butler 3, Cooper 0.

Mullan 64

Kootenai 23

MULLAN — Luke Trogden, the Tigers’ lone senior, scored 14 points and had seven steals and four assists on senior night as Mullan beat the Warriors in North Star League play.

“It’s always nice to send off your senior on a good note,” Mullan coach Paul Elston said. “It was a good team effort; they were really trying to share the ball tonight.”

Alex Trogden also scored 14 points for Mullan (2-9, 2-2 NSL), and also had eight rebounds. Floyd Nelson had seven points and seven steals.

Kootenai (0-9, 0-4) returns to action Feb. 5 at Nezperce.

Mullan plays host to Genesis Prep on Monday.

Kootenai 3 6 8 6 — 23

Mullan 23 17 16 7 — 64

KOOTENAI — Defoort 3, Duford 6, Lupo 0, Hysell 2, Addington 1, Moore 4, Coppa 2, Hodges 0, McGann 0, Tiller 2, Anderson 3, Zavala 0, Chaffey 0.

MULLAN — L. Trogden 14, A. Trogden 14, Nelson 7, A. Zingler 13, S. Petit 4, Rupp Connors 7, T. Zingler 4, L. Petit 0, Appiah 0.