5A REGION 1 BOYS BASKETBALL: 'Surreal' — Coeur d'Alene qualifies for state for first time since 2012, wins first regional title since 2011

By MARK NELKE

Sports editor

COEUR d’ALENE — With 23.1 seconds left and the deficit at 11 points, the opponents backed off and the Coeur d’Alene Vikings could finally celebrate for the first time in more than a decade.

The top-seeded Vikings fended off the third-seeded Post Falls Trojans 57-46 in the 5A Region 1 boys basketball championship game Tuesday night at Viking Court, qualifying for state for the first time since 2012 and winning a regional title for the first time since 2011.

“It was just surreal,” Coeur d’Alene senior forward Gunner Larson said. “You looked back at the bench; everyone’s just happy for you. You look back at the parents … just everything you worked hard for all season, it’s finally paying off and we’re going to state.”

“It means a lot,” senior guard Logan Orchard said. “I’ve been here for four years; we haven’t had a berth to state in like a decade, and it just feels great to finally get a team to go to state. Now we’ve got to do something at state, and prove we belong out there.”

Coeur d’Alene (20-3) advances to state Feb. 29-March 2 at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. The Vikings won’t find out their first-round opponent likely until Sunday, as the final MaxPreps rankings after the last state-qualifying games are used to seed the eight teams to state. As of this week, Coeur d’Alene is ranked third, and the top two teams, Owyhee and Timberline, have already qualified.

Post Falls (14-8) will travel to second-seeded Lake City (14-9) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the second-place game, for a spot in a Saturday play-in game at Grangeville. Lake City eliminated fourth seed Lewiston (14-9) 68-55 on Tuesday.

Coeur d’Alene 57, Post Falls 46: The Trojans, bidding for their first trip to state since 2020, gave the Vikings a battle until the hosts began to open it up in the third quarter.

Post Falls led took a 25-21 lead with 3 minutes left in the first half when senior Alex Shields, who led the Trojans with 13 points, scored on the press break.

But Coeur d’Alene closed the half on a 9-2 run. Orchard banked in a short fallaway jumper from the left at the buzzer to send the Vikings into the locker room with a boost.

Coeur d’Alene then outscored Post Falls 17-9 in the third quarter, and led by as much as 13 in the fourth.

“It was our defense,” Orchard said. “We held them under 50, and if we can hold teams under 50, we’re probably going to win that game. We were just scrappy the whole second half.”

“We did a good job of limiting them in the post, and forcing bad shots,” Larson added, “and we also hit some big shots.”

Sophomore Caden Symons scored nine of his game-high 15 points in the second half for Coeur d’Alene. Larson scored nine of his 13 in the first half.

“It feels like a long time coming,” fourth-year Coeur d’Alene coach Jon Adams said. “My fourth year, having to go through that Lake City group for three years. I was talking to (junior forward) Tucker Booth before this game, and even though it may not have shown on the floor, I said ‘Man, I feel really calm all of a sudden; I’m really at ease.’

“He said ‘Yeah, me too.’

“It is because we’ve done all the work, everything to get to this point … we just had to go out and prove it.”

Trenton McLean added 10 points for Post Falls, which won at Lake City last Friday in the first round.

Post Falls    16    11    9    10    —    46

Coeur d’Alene     18    12    17    10    —    57

POST FALLS — Lysne 0, McLean 10, McCarthy 8, Cameron 2, McKeown 0, Carver 8, Blake 5, Shields 13.

COEUR d’ALENE — Larson 13, Orchard 9, Rupp 7, Nipp 0, Entzi 7, Wheeler 6, Symons 15.

Lake City 68, Lewiston 55: Junior Cason Miller hit two 3-pointers in the third quarter to spark the second-seeded Timberwolves to 28 points in the period, en route to eliminating the fourth-seeded Bengals at Lake City High.

“I was pleased with how the ball moved all night,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “We had a huge third quarter, which was big for us and gave us a lot of momentum when we kind of lost it going into the half.”

Lewiston closed the second quarter on a 9-0 run to cut a 29-18 deficit to 29-27.

“We needed a big response coming out of the locker room and we got it,” Anderson said. 

Sophomore Josh Watson had 12 points and six rebounds, junior Reese Strawn 22 points for Lake City (14-9), which hosts Post Falls in the second-place game on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Senior Jordan Bramlet scored 27 points for Lewiston (14-9), which drops a division and joins Lakeland, Sandpoint and Moscow in the new 5A IEL next year.

Lewiston    14     13     16     12    —    55

Lake City     16    13    28    11    —    68

LEWISTON — Gomez 10, Bramlet 27, Walker 2, Fisher 6, Torpey 1, Bogar 0, Hottinger 9, Hepburn 0.

LAKE CITY — Parker 0, Strawn 22, Miller 13, Watson 12, Kloos 2, Arrieta 3, Williams 0, Meredith 3, Carlson 13.

    MARK NELKE/Press Gunner Larson (0) of Coeur d'Alene goes up for a shot as Alex Shields of Post Falls defends during the 5A Region 1 championship game Tuesday night at Viking Court.
  

    MARK NELKE/Press Coeur d'Alene coach Jon Adams celebrates after cutting down the last piece of the net after the Vikings won their first 5A Region 1 championship since 2011 on Tuesday night at Viking Court.