Cougars lose playoff thriller to Naches Valley

WARDEN — If only a play here or there could have gone any other way than the ones they did.

If so it could be the Warden Cougars speaking about how they won an epic double-overtime thriller in their South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) district playoff opener on Tuesday night.

Instead the Rangers of Naches Valley walked out of Grant County with a 54-45 win in a game which could have gone either way.

“The crowd tonight was awesome and it was the best basketball atmosphere I’ve ever seen at Warden High School,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “It was intense, it was so exciting. It was beautiful. If we could have won the game it would have been a perfect evening.”

For most of the game it appeared Warden (11-10) would be able to give the raucous crowd what they came to see.

The Cougars — SCAC East No. 2 seed — led 12-7 after one quarter and maintained a five-point lead at halftime after each team scored 10 points in the second quarter.

Key for the Warden lead was holding the Rangers’ Wes Parker to only two first-half points.

“We did a good job of knowing where Parker was,” Richins said. “Our shot selection was good. Naches were sitting in a 2-1-2 zone and we were moving the ball around very well. It was pretty good first half.”

However in the third quarter Warden held on to the lead thanks to the support of the crowd, despite an early red flag rearing its ugly head — foul trouble.

“We really fed off the crowd,” Richins said. “The crowd was intense and it was the biggest crowd we’ve had and we fed played off of it. But, we started getting some fouls and Parker started warming up.”

Still Warden held a 29-26 lead with eight minutes left in regulation.

It was there where the Cougars Ty Jesse and Parker began their own little shooting contest.

Jesse scored eight points in the fourth quarter while Parker hit two vital three-pointers for Naches Valley (14-7), the second of which tied the game at 41-41 with a minute to go.

The teams exchanged possessions and Warden had a chance to win it with about 30 seconds left.

With three seconds left Nathan Brown took a potential game-winning three-pointer for Warden but the shot fell out.

“We got the ball back went for one shot,” Richins said. “They were packing it in the zone and wouldn’t let us get it inside. Nathan has hit some big shots for us and it was a nice looking shot it just didn’t go in.”

The first overtime session was a battle to see who could score just one point as each squad took three shots and saw none go in as the game remained tied at 41-41 after five extra minutes.

“Naches had a chance to win it this time,” Richins said. “We did a real excellent job on defense in the second overtime.”

In the second overtime Naches finally broke through and past the Cougars getting out to a lead and then holding off Warden from the free throw line.

“They got up six points and we had to start fouling to extend the game,” Richins said. “They made their free throws. They scored 11 points of free throws down the stretch and that was it. It was a tough one. We get a break here and there, we win it.”

Jesse scored a game-high 22 points for Warden, while Brown chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Eric Bates added eight points and eight rebounds for the Cougars.

Parker led Naches — the No. 3 seed from the SCAC West — with 20 points, six of which came at the foul line in the second overtime.

Now Warden travel to Zillah High School on Friday for a 3 p.m. tip off against SCAC East rivals Connell (8-13) in a loser out contest.

Connell, which lost 69-61 at SCAC West top-seed Granger last night, split the regular season series with Warden.