Defense does it

No Inland Empire League boys basketball team plays better defense than Coeur d’Alene. Especially man-to-man defense.

So it was appropriate that the Vikings clinched the conference championship by playing some of the best defense they’ve played all season Wednesday.

Coeur d’Alene pressured the ball from all angles in the half court as the Vikings stymied Post Falls 55-37 at The Arena.

The victory also means the Vikings will play host to the 5A Region I tournament, which begins Feb. 16.

There were a couple of scenarios in which Lewiston could have caught CdA for a share of the league title and forced a coin flip for the right to host the regional tourney. But the Vikings slammed the door on that talk.

CdA coach Kent Leiss gave his team the top marks possible for its defense.

“I just told our guys that I thought we were an A+ on defense and rebounding,” Leiss said.

On the offensive end, though, Leiss said his team has plenty of room for improvement before the regional tourney. He told his team it should have scored 70 or more points.

CdA (15-4 overall, 10-1 league) started to separate itself from the Trojans (9-10, 4-7) just before halftime. Leon Duplessis hit his second 3-pointer of the period to give the Vikings a 30-21 lead going into intermission.

The Vikings opened the second half with a 12-0 run, doubling up Post Falls when Andrew Prohaska got a steal and layup for a 42-21 lead with 2 minutes left in the third quarter.

Nate Clinton hit his third and final 3-pointer with 6:18 to go in the fourth quarter, extending CdA’s lead to 49-25.

Post Falls scored 12 points in the final 6 minutes to keep the outcome from being much more lopsided.

“Offensively, we’d have one good possession and one impatient possession,” Leiss said. “That’s something we have to iron out in the next week because we’ve got to be a lot more smooth on offense and not be in such hurry. We don’t have to be in a hurry.”

Prohaska guarded the Trojans’ leading scorer, Spencer Pingel. Pingel got loose in the first couple of minutes for two uncontested 3-point shots. But after that, Prohaska allowed just six more points as Pingel finished with a team-high 12.

“He was cherry-picking and we didn’t really expect that at first,” Prohaska said. “It was tough trying to get in there and rebound and get back as fast as I could. But I had to because I knew he was waiting on the other end.”

It was CdA’s seventh straight victory. During that stretch the Vikings have won by an average of 19.3 points.

It was the Trojans’ lowest point total by 10.

Clinton led the Vikings with 15 points and Austin Heleker had 11.

The teams will face each other in a regional opener. The loss solidified the No. 4 seed for the Trojans. Lewiston and Lake City will meet in the other regional opener.