Hot-shooting trio powers Lions

MOSES LAKE - Good basketball teams usually prepare themselves for the league gauntlet with a daunting non-league schedule.

The Moses Lake Christian Lions are no exception. Coming off a 2006-2007 season in which they won the North Central League regular-season and district titles before placing eighth at the 1B state tournament, the Lions are hungry to do even better.

Moses Lake Christian moved its non-league mark to 3-2 on Saturday night with a 63-33 destruction of the Waterville Shockers, a 2B team. That came one night after the Lions hung tough with a talented La Salle squad, keeping things close before the Lighting pulled away to win 59-42.

The Lions have also played difficult non-league outings with Soap Lake, Prescott and Lind-Ritzville, games that head coach Lonny Brown felt will be beneficial down the road.

"Three out of our five games have been on the road, so I think we're getting ourselves prepared for league play," Brown said after Saturday's win over Waterville.

The Lions took command early on, scoring the game's first seven points and leading 15-4 after one period. After the Shockers rallied a bit and trailed by just eight at halftime, Moses Lake Christian removed all doubt from the final results with a 21-8 third-quarter burst.

While his team didn't pull out the win at La Salle on Friday, Brown said his guys gave a great effort.

"What was nice was they kept it going tonight, kept the energy going," he said. "We had a fast start, which was nice to see, and every kid did what we asked them to do."

A lot of the credit for Saturday's blowout went to 6-foot-2 junior guard Adrian Moffet, who scored a game-high 19 points on 8 of 15 shooting. Moffet has been the target of opposing defenses, something that might distract a less-savvy player.

Not Moffet.

"He's a little frustrated like I am," Brown said of the gimmick defenses the Lions have seen in efforts to stop Moffet. "He did a really nice job tonight of staying within himself, getting everyone else involved, and I think that's what has to happen."

Senior Jesse Bassett also had a huge all-around game against Waterville, scoring 18 points with three 3-pointers, and collecting eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.

"Jesse's our do-it-all kid," Brown said. He's my No. 1 defensive player - he's the guy that's going to get the tough challenge every night guarding the other team's best player.

"He's shooting the ball real well; he's running the team when we ask him to run the team," Brown added.

Senior Taylor Sandberg also stepped up to hurt the Shockers, scoring nine of his 12 points in the first half on a variety of drives and jumpers. He also had a team-high nine boards.

"It was really good to see Taylor Sandberg tonight," the coach said. "We've asked him to get a little more production. Tonight he came to life a little bit and got a few points."

The Lions forced 36 turnovers and held Waterville to 26 percent shooting in the second half. Only one Shocker, John Jorgenson with 10 points, scored in double figures.

On Friday at La Salle, a 2B tournament qualifier last year, the Lions were competitive in all aspects. But the Lightning gradually leaned on them and expanded their lead throughout the contest, finishing with a 21-point surge in the fourth period.

"They were nine or 10 deep and very physical," Brown said of La Salle. "Our kids battled but we didn't have quite enough."

Moffet hit 8 of his 17 shots and tied for the game-high with 18 points. Bassett added 10, but the Lions never harassed the Lightning the way they wanted - La Salle finished with just 11 turnovers.

La Salle's Jake DeGrooyer had 18 points and teammate Reece Jones scored 12. The Lightning had small edges in rebounds, turnovers and shooting percentage, all key aspects of the game.

Moses Lake Christian will try to rebound on Friday when it travels to Almira/Coulee-Hartline for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.