Lions win thriller over Soap Lake

MLCA 57, Soap Lake 54

SOAP LAKE — It was a playoff atmosphere in early December as Moses Lake Christian Academy battled back from an eight-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat Soap Lake 57-54 Friday.

The game wasn't decided until a Soap Lake 3-pointer rattled off the rim as time expired, allowing the Lions to complete a remarkable comeback in the non-league contest. The Eagles' miss on their final shot was unfortunate if for no other reason that it meant such an excellent basketball game had come to an end.

With the game tied at 54 and just 11 seconds left to play, MLCA in-bounded the ball in hopes of setting up the winning shot. The Lions' Taylor McNamara took a pass in the corner of the court, drove the baseline and hit a reverse layup with eight seconds remaining to put the Lions on top.

McNamara, who was fouled on the shot, calmly sank his free throw to put the Lions up by three. The free throw capped off a 9 for 9 shooting performance from the line in the fourth quarter by the Lions.

"We shoot free throws every day," said MLCA coach Lonnie Brown. "These kids have been in big enough games; they know what it takes."

It was not just shooting from the line, but also shooting from the perimeter that was a key to the Lions' victory.

Soap Lake effectively shut down the MLCA inside game with an active zone defense, forcing the Lions to get their points from outside.

"They're big and burly inside," said Brown. "We want to get the ball inside. They took that away from us."

"All the credit goes to Soap Lake," Brown added. "They took us out of what we want to do."

MLCA changed up their offense, at times playing four guards and moving the ball quickly around the perimeter in hopes of finding an opening in the Soap Lake defense.

Soap Lake, on the other hand, did a much better job of working the ball inside, with post players Derek Dailey and Micah LaPlante both having big games. LaPlante led all scorers with 22 points and had a game-high 12 rebounds. Dailey had 14 points and eight rebounds for the Eagles.

In the fourth quarter, Dailey's seven points and LaPlante's four points accounted for all of Soap Lake's scoring in the period. Not only did Dailey score from inside for the Eagles, he drew crucial fifth fouls on MLCA forwards Riggs Yarbro and Sam Baker.

While the situation didn't look good for the Lions with both their big men out of the game, Brown was confident his players could come through.

"I've got enough depth," said Brown. "I believe every kid on the team can step in and do their job."

With the inside game ineffective, the Lions' guards had to step up and make plays. MLCA's Daniel Timofeyev rose to the challenge in the fourth quarter, hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the key to narrow the Lions' deficit to 45-42 with 6:36 to play. McNamara had a key basket down the stretch that got MLCA to within two at 48-46. Casey Husdon, who led the Lions with 14 points, then gave MLCA a brief 48-47 lead with a pair of free throws.

From there, Dailey and Baker exchanged baskets before the Lions' Josiah Meiners tipped in a rebound of his own missed shot to tie the game at 52.

Earlier in the game, Soap Lake rallied from a 17-11 first-quarter deficit by outscoring the Lions 16-8 in the second quarter.

The Eagles took control of the game early in the second half, when Dailey made a basket inside and was fouled on the play. While Dailey missed the free throw, Soap Lake got the rebound and found an open Brad Hitzroth, who buried a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 7-point lead.