PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: An interesting ending ... Lake City downs IEL-leading Post Falls, but Trojans keep tiebreaker late

COEUR d’ALENE — When is a win not quite what you were looking for? 

On Friday, the outcome was great for Lake City. 

But in the overall scheme of things, it wasn't quite what they were hoping for.

Senior Reese Strawn scored a game-high 19 points for the Timberwolves, who held off the Post Falls Trojans 58-56 in an Inland Empire League game on Friday at Lake City High. 

Post Falls (13-6, 5-1 IEL) holds the tiebreaker with Lake City (14-4, 5-1) with a 61-56 win over the Timberwolves on Jan. 14 at Post Falls High. 

“We’ll enjoy the win and it was fun to see the seniors off and do this,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “It’s all good stuff there. We got behind and Post Falls shot the ball really well. We knew they’d come in fired up and knew they were in a pretty good spot, and wanted to keep it.” 

“It’s a testament for both teams,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “Both teams play hard and are easy to root for. This is the kind of game I’ll miss. Lake City plays hard and executes so well and we just tried to match that intensity.” 

Post Falls led 32-25 at halftime before Lake City roared back to take a 45-44 lead after the third. 

“They put us down seven points at halftime, but our kids came out and fought,” Anderson said. “They didn’t want to lose that game, and I’m proud of them showing that in that situation and getting it done.” 

Junior Connor Carver scored 15 points, senior Tyras Blake added 13 points for Post Falls, which travels to Lakeland on Tuesday. 

“I thought our kids did a good job,” McLean said. “Lake City ran a zone at us, and I’ll be honest, I’ve got to do a better job because we weren’t ready for how they flattened that zone against us. That’s something we’ll have to look at. We played 10 guys tonight, but each of them did something that helped us. Tonight, we didn’t shoot that well, and that’s a testament to Lake City’s defense, but we found a way. They made a couple of runs on us, but our guys, and I told them this after the game, that there’s no team I’d rather go down a dark alley with.” 

Lake City visits Lewiston next Thursday. 

“Lewiston’s very good and both us and Post Falls have to play them on the road,” Anderson said. “We want to take care of our end.” 

Lake City stretched the lead to 58-54 with 58.9 seconds remaining, but Post Falls cut the deficit to 58-56 on a jumper from Carver with 22 seconds remaining.  

Lake City attempted a 3-pointer, and was called for a foul with .2 seconds remaining, but failed in its attempt to force overtime. 

In the event Lake City and Post Falls end up tied in the league standings, the first tiebreaker is point differential, which remains with the Trojans. Had Lake City won by six points, they'd be the top-seed.

“We’ve seen this before and it’s a weird spot to be in,” Anderson said. “I’ve had this happen in Lewiston with the girls and other situations and even again in Lewiston with the boys last year. The way in these small leagues, it matters a lot. To put it in our control, we had to win by five or more, and decided to try to keep the game going and give ourselves a chance to win by five. Obviously there’s some 5A games left that could impact it, but being in the driver’s seat is a better spot to be. Good for Post Falls, they’re there. And we’ll see what happens.” 

Post Falls    18    14    12    12    —    56 

Lake City    14    11    20    13    —    58 

POST FALLS — Naylor 0, Ostlund 3, McLean 6, Lysne 11, Cameron 3, Bodman 7, Carver 15, Blake 13, McKeown 0, Dean 0. 

LAKE CITY — Parker 0, Winey 0, Strawn 19, Miller 7, Watson 18, Kloos 2, Bowman 2, Meredith 2, Carlson 6. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City senior guard Reese Strawn attempts to drive through a host of Post Falls defenders during the fourth quarter of Friday's Inland Empire League game at Lake City High.