6A DISTRICT 1 BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP: T-Wolves built for this ... Lake City holds off Post Falls, advances to state for sixth straight year

By JASON ELLIOTT 

Sports writer 

POST FALLS — The start of the build to this district championship didn’t start overnight for the Lake City Timberwolves. 

Nor did it when the Timberwolves won the state 5A consolation title in 2024. 

This all started when the Timberwolves were coming off an unbeaten season in 2023, capped by the program’s first state title. 

“Two years ago, we didn’t return a ton of people,” said Lake City senior guard Reece Strawn, a four-year varsity player and a reserve on that title team. “Not a lot of people except us expected this to happen.” 

On Tuesday, it did for the top-seeded Timberwolves, who held off the second-seeded Post Falls Trojans 59-56 at The Arena to sweep the best-of-3 6A District 1 championship series 2-0, advancing to state for the sixth straight year. 

Strawn had 17 points and six assists, senior Cason Miller 12 points and five assists for Lake City.

“It’s really huge for us,” Strawn said. “We’ve believed in ourselves all year. It really goes back to the summer, doing workouts and playing in a summer tournament in Utah. We’ve been built for this all year. Two years ago, we came together and had the mentality to prove some people wrong.” 

Lake City (19-4), the projected second seed, opens at state next Thursday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Final rankings and matchups will be announced on Sunday. 

Post Falls (15-9) will play the fifth-place game from District 3 (Boise area), either Timberline of Boise or Ridgevue of Nampa in a state play-in game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Prairie High in Cottonwood. The play-in game was moved due to work being done on the gym floor at Grangeville. The Trojans are bidding for their first trip to state since finishing runner-up in 2020.

“I’m super proud of my guys,” Post Falls coach Mike McLean said. “All the credit to Lake City. They made the shots and the one thing I was the most nervous about was their offensive rebounding. And down the stretch, it seemed like they got three or four possessions, and we can’t let that happen there.” 

Lake City led 21-15 after the first quarter, hitting five 3-pointers — two from Miller. 

“I just came out ready to shoot,” Miller said. “My teammates got me open and when they get you open like that, you’ve got to hit those shots. Post Falls came out just like they do at home. It’s a great atmosphere and nice to get a win here. I’m just proud of this team.” 

Lake City won the first game of the series 69-57 on Saturday at Lake City after the teams split games in the regular season, both winning at home.

“This series thing, we knew it was going to be a war,” Lake City coach James Anderson said. “We knew it was going to be really difficult to win. They shot the ball really well, and we shot well too. It was just an incredible basketball game. I’m happy for our kids and hope Post Falls can take care of business on Saturday and get down there too, because they deserve it.” 

Lake City regained the lead at 49-48 on a 3-pointer by Strawn, who hit five of Lake City's 12 3-pointers. Miller hit three 3s, and Jordan Carlson and Jackson Bowman hat two each.

“They were huge,” Anderson said. “Cason was scorching hot in the first half and creates so many things. Reece hit so many hard shots. Since Day 1, when I took over two years ago, it’s been so much fun to work with them. It almost brings me to tears to think that it’s going to be over soon with those two, because they’re pretty special.” 

Post Falls junior Jaxon Lysne scored a game-high 23 points, including a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 56-54 with 3:37 remaining. Post Falls had a tying shot pop out of the rim with 12.5 seconds remaining. 

Junior Josh Watson had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Carlson, a sophomore, had 12 points and two blocked shots for Lake City.

Post Falls was without junior Connor Carver, who was sidelined with pneumonia. Cashton Bodman and Tyras Blake each scored 10 points for the Trojans.

"Early in the game, and a few times in the third quarter, Lake City had us flat on our back and a foot on our throat, but we rallied with some stops and executed,” McLean said. “I couldn’t have been prouder of the resiliency and the toughness our guys showed tonight.” 

Lake City defeated Capital 66-59 in the consolation championship game at state last year. 

"We played in five loser-out games last year and won them all,” Anderson said. “Having that confidence, being on that stage before with some of these other guys, it’s huge. We only lost one kid, so hopefully our experience comes into play. We travel well and we’ve got a great seed, so it’s on us to control the things we can control and do our best to keep advancing.” 

Lake City    21    14    16    8    —    59 

Post Falls    15    22    11    8    —    56 

LAKE CITY — Winey 2, Strawn 17, Miller 12, Watson 10, Kloos 0, Meredith 0, Pearson 0, Carlson 12, Bowman 6. 

POST FALLS — J. Ostlund 0, McLean 2, Lysne 23, Cameron 6, Bodman 10, Blake 10, McKeown 2, Dean 3. 

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Lake City forwards Josh Watson (11) and Jordan Carlson (34) battle with Post Falls guard Jaxon Lysne (5) for a rebound during the second quarter of Tuesday's 6A District 1 tournament game at The Arena.
  

    JASON ELLIOTT/Press Post Falls sophomore Cashton Bodman goes up for a layup as Lake City's Paxton Winey defends during the fourth quarter of Tuesday's 6A District 1 tournament game at The Arena.