PREP BOYS BASKETBALL: Kootenai to play for district title

COEUR d’ALENE — Senior Chris Moore scored 24 of his 35 points in the first half, leading the second-seeded Kootenai Warriors past the third-seeded Mullan Tigers 70-27 in the loser-out semifinal round of the 1A District 1 boys basketball tournament Tuesday at North Idaho College. 

Riley Ausman added 10 points for Kootenai (4-13), which will play top-seeded Coeur du Christ (12-8) on Thursday at 5:30 at NIC for the district title, and a berth in a Saturday state play-in game.

Moore hit three of his four 3-pointers in the first half for the Warriors. 

“Boys played great tonight,” said Kootenai acting head coach Jason Strobel, subbing for head coach Tom Tucker, who is recovering from recent quadruple bypass surgery. “Starters were on point. Bench came in and played huge as well.” 

Junior Colten Imes scored 10 points for Mullan. 

Mullan    6    4    9    8    —    27 

Kootenai     16    21    22    11    —    70 

MULLAN — Sala 6, Imes 10, Calvert 2, Ullrich 2, Morgan 4, Bosson 3. 

KOOTENAI — Addington 0, Derry 3, Braz 8, Strobel 6, Ausman 10, C. Moore 35, J. Moore 2, Berkshire 0, Gentry 6. 

Genesis Prep 69 

Wallace 51 

COEUR d’ALENE — Senior Griffin Earley scored all 11 of his points in the second half, and the third-seeded Jaguars pulled away from a 27-all halftime tie to eliminate the second-seeded Miners in the 2A District 1 tournament at North Idaho College. 

Spencer Farrell scored seven of his 11 points after intermission for Genesis Prep (11-13), which will play top-seeded Lakeside (14-5) in the championship game Thursday at 7 p.m. at NIC. Lakeside handed Genesis Prep its first loss of the tourney last week, so Genesis Prep would need to win Thursday to force a deciding championship game Saturday in Plummer. If Lakeside wins Thursday, the Knights advance to state. 

Senior Gabe Meyer scored nine of his 14 points in the first quarter for Genesis Prep, which won at Wallace in the first round last week. Emmaus Nichols added 11 points for the Jaguars. 

Julian Davis scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half for Wallace, which finished 14-9. Cooper Miller added 12 points for the Miners. 

Wallace     13    14    13    11    —    51 

Genesis Prep     13    14    20    22    —    69 

WALLACE — Miller 12, Davis 25, Guardipee 5, Larsen 4, Myles 3, Williams 2, Strange 0. 

GENESIS PREP — Nichols 11, Tosh 7, Martin 4, S. Bateman 6, Earley 11, Meyer 14, I. Bateman 3, Farrell 11, Swanson 2. 

Lewiston 66 

Sandpoint 45 

LEWISTON — The top-seeded Bengals (19-4) cruised past the visiting Bulldogs (11-11) in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series for the 5A Region 1 title, and the region’s lone berth to state. 

Game 2 is Thursday in Lewiston; Game 3, if necessary, would be Saturday in Lewiston.