Moses Lake doubles up on Warriors

MLCA 66, ACH 30

MOSES LAKE — The Lions look ferocious after a slow start against Almira/Coulee-Hartline Tuesday.

After winning the tip-off, Moses Lake picked up two quick fouls, sending ACH to the line for the second infraction. The Warriors were not able to convert the trip to the foul line and paid for it on the next play when Riggs Yarbro earned his first putback of the night for Moses Lake.

"Like the last three games the defense tonight was outstanding," said Moses Lake head coach Lonnie Brown. "It was just a great team effort. We've been preaching defense and 32 minutes of pressure and the kids are starting to buy it."

The Lions picked up another three fouls and sent Greg Giese to the line twice for the Warriors. Giese went 1-for-2 on his first trip and gave ACH its only lead of the game on the second trip when he went 2-for-2 to make it a 3-2 ball game.

ACH continued the scoring streak with a 3-ball by Travis McDonald but suffered a turnover on the next possession that resulted in a bucket for Yarbro.

"That is a fine ball club and they should be commended," said ACH head coach Scott Isaak. "We didn't come with any illusions about who we were playing, we knew who we were playing and had simple goals. And we didn't meet a darn one of them."

Yarbro's basket was followed by a layup by Adrian Moffet on an assist from Casey Hudson to tie the game.

From then on the Lions never looked back.

Yarbro continued to put on a scoring clinic, earning a bucket and drawing a foul to take a trip of his own to the line and buried the free throw to give the Lions a 3-point lead. He earned another 3-point play a minute later to extend the lead for Moses Lake.

Kyle Tucker was able to answer for the Warriors with a jumpshot to cut the Lions' lead to six. It did not stay there long.

"It's all good," said Isaak.

Moffet found Taylor McNamara for a layup to push the lead to eight. Sam Walker pushed it even further after going 2-for-2 from the line for Moses Lake.

Giese ended the first quarter with a 2-for-2 trip to the line for ACH.

McNamara opened the second quarter with a steal and bucket combination for the Lions to stretch the lead to 10 points and had the effort followed by a jumper from Josiah Meiners.

Moses Lake continued to pressure the Warriors, holding them to just nine points in the quarter. The highlight of the period for the Warriors was a 3-ball from McDonald — it was the last field goal of the half for ACH.

McNamara continued to shine for Moses Lake in the second quarter, earning a three of his own to give Moses Lake a 29-17 lead and then earning a steal and bucket two plays later. He also ended the half with a long jumper for the Lions.

Moses Lake came out pressuring the Warriors in the third quarter and held ACH to just four points during the eight-minute span while earning 12 points of their own. McNamara drained a long 3-ball at the buzzer to end the third quarter for Moses Lake and give them a 47-23 lead.

Yarbro began the fourth quarter just as he began the first, with a putback. A few plays later McNamara found Daniel Timofeyev for a short jumpshot to increase the Lions' lead to 28.

Tucker scored the Warriors' first bucket of the period and had it followed by a putback from Giese for the Warrior's final field goal of the game.

Sam Walker answered for the Lions with a long two. McNamara then connected with Kameron Firouzi for layup to push the lead to 30. Moses Lake's final field goal came off a putback by Jesse Bassett.

Giese led ACH with 12 points and nine boards. McDonald earned six points for the Warriors.

Yarbro led the Lions with 17 points and 16 rebounds. McNamara had 16 points. Walker rounded out MLCA's stats with 12 points and eight boards.