Chiefs' playoff hopes take serious hit from Bombers

MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake boys' basketball team's playoff hopes were all but washed down the drain on Tuesday.

The biggest reason why? The Chiefs couldn't drain many shots.

Moses Lake shot 28 percent from the field, allowing the Richland Bombers to walk out of Chief Gym with a 55-44 victory. The loss makes the Chiefs' road to the postseason a much tougher one, as they must win at Pasco on Thursday and hope Davis loses its last two games. Davis could've eliminated Moses Lake on Tuesday, but lost 75-68 to Eisenhower.

"We weren't moving the ball well, we weren't getting guys open, and we just regressed and didn't play well," Chiefs head coach Rolland Hansen said. "We had a good first quarter and then things went stagnant. We missed a few shots and then they start forcing shots. You could see the lack of experience just in being a team."

The Chiefs (5-14 overall, 2-9 Columbia Basin League) were the aggressors early on, with Jarred Walker's seven points sparking a solid first quarter that ended with Moses Lake in front 15-14.

But Walker, who played well in wins over Davis and Eisenhower over the weekend, didn't score again, and no one stepped up to fill the void. Michael Olaniyan had a team-high 13 points, but was only 4 of 11 from the field and the only Moses Lake man in double figures. He also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.

"The kids played so well for three games," Hansen said. "I don't know if it's the pressure - I don't know what happened tonight. Some of the guys that have been playing well didn't have good games, and that effects everybody."

Moses Lake took its biggest lead of the night early in the second period after Casey Hudson scored eight straight points, including a pair of 3-pointers. But trailing 23-16, the Bombers quickly came to life.

Richland scored 15 of the next 17 points, a run capped by Jake Haworth's backdoor lay-up, that put the Bombers ahead 35-28 going to halftime. Haworth scored a game-high 20 points and added six rebounds.

The turnover bug bit the Chiefs hard in the third quarter as they desperately tried to catch up. Moses Lake only committed 13 turnovers in the game, but most of them came in the third period when they scored only six points.

"We tried to enter passes that weren't there," Hansen said. "It's hard to explain."

The Chiefs' defensive effort was there, keeping Richland to 45 percent shooting and only 10 percent from 3-point range. But Haworth found enough seams in the defense to make a dent, and the Bombers got balance from their other players - Joe Biddle scored 11 points, with Calvin Chunn adding nine and Ryan McKinney chipping in seven.

Hudson had nine points and four rebounds for the Chiefs, and Scott Moberg chipped in eight points, including a pair of treys.

The Bombers' cutting style of offense was something the Chiefs were ready for.

"We expected that - we know how they play," Hansen said. We prepared for them and prepared for them. When your offense isn't going and your defense starts to panic a little bit, it effects you.

"We started out pretty tough, did a lot of good things defensively," he added. "But we couldn't get our press going because we couldn't score. Our half-court defense was adequate but it wasn't enough to make up for our lack of offensive continuity."

The Chiefs will need to fix their problems quickly as they head to Pasco (12-7, 5-6) on Thursday, and the Bulldogs figure to be a bit peeved after a loss to Walla Walla on Tuesday. Forward Gavin Gilmore - the league's second-leading scorer and a favorite for Most Valuable Player honors - is Moses Lake's focus defensively.

"We need to take care of Gilmore - he's one of their main guns," Hansen said. "They've got plenty of shooters on their squad, so we've got to contest every shot and we've got to make sure that Gilmore doesn't dominate inside."