Moses Lake hoops ends season with loss at Davis

Davis 71, Moses Lake 55; Royal 44, Warden 41; Ephrata 84, Othello 56; Columbia Basin Secondary 43, Easton 23; Moses Lake Christian Academy 93, Thorp 14

YAKIMA — A great second quarter performance couldn’t carry over into a grand sequel in the second half for the Moses Lake High School Chiefs’ basketball team last night.

Despite leading 37-29 at halftime against Davis, Moses Lake couldn’t carry the momentum of a 21-10 second quarter into the game’s last 16 minutes and the hosts made them pay in a 71-55 win.

Moses Lake (3-17, 3-9) ends their season on a seven-game losing streak, while Davis (16-4, 11-1) goes into district playoff play as Big 9 Columbia Division champions.

“We played well in the first half,” Moses Lake coach Rolland Hansen said. “We were playing great defense and were moving the ball really well and pushing the ball up the floor and they couldn’t get back on defense to keep up with us.”

But in the second half, Davis turned on the jets and cranked up the pressure in making their comeback behind a 28-7 third quarter.

“They are very quick and they manned us up and we struggled to get into our offense,” Hansen said. “We had trouble beating their press and we had a lot of turnovers in the second half.”

Taylor LeGrave led Moses Lake with 13 points, while Gabe Porter and Matt Franz each had 11 points, and Bryce Perez finished with 10 points.

The Chiefs’ season ends without a post season appearance despite starting Big 9 play at 3-2.

“We were a very inexperienced team that worked hard to be competitive,” Hansen said. “The guys kept playing hard and for the love of the game. It’s heartbreaking not to get into the playoffs. We’re young with only four seniors and we started four underclassmen. We had our building year and this was the stepping stone for the younger kids and they really played well. The seniors did a good job playing hard and staying focused in a tough season.”

Royal 44, Warden 41

ROYAL — Two rivals came together for a good old-fashioned down-to-the-wire barn-burner and the team with less to gain ended up with the most to celebrate.

Despite being knocked out from SCAC East district playoff contention the host Royal Knights found a way to scrape out a 44-41 win over the Warden Cougars (10-9, 7-4) and halting the visitors chance to celebrate the clinching of a top two seed.

Royal (7-11, 4-7) trailed 36-29 going into the final quarter before mounting a furious comeback and holding on for the win when a last-second three-pointer by Warden rimmed out of the hoop and the Knights escaped overtime and with a victory.

“It was a tough game,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “We just couldn’t hit a shot in the fourth quarter. We went cold and shot only three-for-12.”

Richins learned that his squad was still tied with Columbia-Burbank for second after they had lost at River View on Tuesday.

Warden holds the tiebreaker for second and plays host to Wahluke (2-17, 0-11) on Thursday with a chance to cement the second seed at the district tournament next week.

Nathan Brown led Warden with 20 points and Ty Jesse added 14 points.

Marc Albertson sparked Royal with 19 points while Trevor Iverson chipped in with 12 points.

Ephrata 84, Othello 56

EPHRATA — A huge first quarter and a 50-point first half were enough to propel Ephrata to an 84-56 rout of visiting Othello on Tuesday night.

The Class 2A second-ranked Ephrata Tigers led 26-6 after the first quarter and 50-21 by halftime.

“The guys came out with some great defensive intensity,” Ephrata coach Brandon Evenson said. “Them knowing we have two chances left to play at home I think they wanted to put on a show for the home crowd. I think the crowd got into it very well watching this performance.”

Patrick Simon led Ephrata (15-1, 14-1) with 22 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, and four blocked shots. Ross Buchert chipped in with 21 points on eight-for-11 shooting from the field, while Randall Tupling knocked in 14 points.

“I think we are hitting our stride because we are shooting the ball very well right now,” Evenson said. “We shot 46 percent overall. We are starting to get our legs and we make that extra pass and getting the tempo where we like it.”

David Charles led Othello (5-12, 3-12) with 19 points while Caleb Garza added 10 points for the Huskies who hold on to a slim lead for the eighth and final district playoff spot out of the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC).

Ephrata, which had assists on 25 of their 31 made shots on Tuesday, need to win two out of their last three regular season games to clinch the CWAC title.

“I feel good and I think the boys feel good,” Evenson said. “We are starting to feel that we know what we want to do to everybody every night. That’s the play our game and understand what we can do.”

Columbia Basin Secondary 43, Easton 23

MOSES LAKE — Senior Night didn’t deter the Columbia Basin Secondary Phoenix’s continued march toward a potential first ever Class 1B state playoff berth on Tuesday.

The Phoenix came out strong in the first half against visiting Easton, building a 28-10 lead and methodically held on for a 43-23 win to maintain second place in the 1B North Central Washington League.

Columbia Basin Secondary (12-5, 11-2) could clinch second place with a win against Pateros Friday night. Any combination of a win by the Phoenix or a loss by Moses Lake Christian Academy would give the Phoenix second place.

Brett Strong led the Phoenix with 11 points and 15 rebounds and Kayleb Jensen chipped in with 10 points.

“Senior night gave our guys some extra juice and they played hard and never quit,” Phoenix coach James Shank said. “We were able to take advantage of our quickness to score and attack the rim. I am very proud of the young men of Phoenix Nation and hope we continue to grow and mature as the playoffs near.”

Moses Lake Christian Academy 93, Thorp 14

MOSES LAKE — In the last four days of play, the Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions have averaged 102.5 points-per-game.

Following Tuesday’s 93-14 win against Thorp on Senior Night, Lions coach Duke Wood doesn’t expect the trend to continue much longer but just hopes his squad can take something from this win and Saturday’s 112-point performance against Easton.

“The only thing that it helps us with is our confidence in shooting since we struggled all year,” Wood said. “We really shot well from all over the floor.”

Facing a second consecutive match up against an overwhelmed opponent, Wood was able to substitute liberally and saw his second and third string players occupy most of the game’s minutes on the floor.

“I knew we still have to play Mansfield on Friday and they blitzed Cascade Christian tonight,” Wood said. “So I was thinking that we still have a game Friday and that will be a good lead up right before districts. So I could pretty much take it easy with my starters tonight. It will be a test on Friday.”

The Lions (13-5, 10-3) led 24-6 after the first quarter and 50-10 at halftime and saw the return of senior post player Stefan McNamara.

McNamara finished with 20 points and nine rebounds in his first action in over five weeks after being ineligible due to academics.

“Stefan’s been gone a long time so our goal is to get him back with the team and gelling,” Wood said. “Friday will be a good test for him but he was upbeat tonight and the players were glad to have him back. He’s a big part of this team.”

Jonny Roberts chipped in with 13 points and nine rebounds, Tevyn Kagele added 10 points and Connor Webb recorded eight rebounds and five assists for the Christian Academy.

The Lions play at Mansfield Friday night at 7:30 p.m.