Lions survive 'rain' in win
Alan Dale/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Moses Lake Christian Academy's Isaac Murrell checks out his options during the Lions' 71-63 win over Columbia Basin Secondary last night.
MOSES LAKE — Monday’s rain in the Columbia Basin didn’t disappear it just moved to the Moses Lake Christian Academy’s gym.
Tuesday, the Lions played host to a determined Columbia Basin Secondary squad which ‘let it rain’ with 12 three-pointers before a last-gasp comeback attempt fell short in a 71-63 loss to the Academy.
“It was threes galore,” Lions coach Duke Wood said. “We were trading threes for two. They just kept canning them. I was nervous at the beginning of the game and at the end you just pray they won’t go in. They were launching them and they were going in and that was the scary part.”
Moses Lake Christian Academy (5-2, 2-1 in 1B North Central Washington league play) trailed 8-4 early before finishing the first quarter on a 15-3 run to lead 19-11 after the game’s first eight minutes.
“They are bigger and stronger and more physical team than we are,” Columbia Basin Secondary coach James Shank said. “They brought it to us and we didn’t bring it to them. We are more of a finesse team. But I love the heart of these kids because they never gave up on the game.”
Wood felt his team turning up the full court pressure helped his squad’s cause in the first half.
“It was the best we played during the game because we had them flustered and they might not have been ready for the press,” Wood said. “I didn’t want to show it early. We didn’t just get turnovers from the press, we were scoring off of them.”
The Lions built their lead to 38-22 by halftime, washing away a sloppy start against the visiting Phoenix.
“My guys got caught off guard because they underestimated them,” Wood said. “I told them before the game that these guys are scary and that they can play. I think they’re is no doubt they are convinced now. After the game they were humbled. It was a gut and reality check.”
The Phoenix (3-3, 1-1) managed to stay within striking range by closing the gap to 53-38 with one quarter to go setting up the final act.
“We played them five times in the last three years and we’ve never been closer than 40 points,” Shank said. “I don’t think our guys went in thinking they could win. At halftime they started realizing they were a good team themselves and in the second half showed the resiliency we need to have. We’re not the little kids on the block anymore. We showed we can compete.”
The Phoenix’s David Cantu helped Wood’s nervousness along with four straight makes from behind the arc in the final quarter, to finish with 21 points. His teammate Eric Curtiss ended up with 16 points.
Moses Lake Christian Academy held off the late rally with timely baskets and being able to protect the ball as they ended up with a season low seven turnovers.
Johnny Roberts led the Lions with 19 points, 14 of which came in the second half, while Joe Timofeyev just missed a triple double with 17 points 10 assists and nine rebounds with only one turnover at the point guard spot.
Stefan McNamara added 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win,
“That coach Wood he’s got that Moses Lake Christian team playing and playing hard,” Shank said. “I don’t know what else to say about that guy. I have a ton of respect for him personally. He’s a heck-of-a good guy. It was a fun game.”
Wilson Creek 58, Thorp 27
THORP — After nearly a month off from the hardwood the Wilson Creek Devils were chomping at the bit to return to action and in the process took a large bite out of Thorp’s chances to compete.
Behind a 26-2 first quarter Wilson Creek recorded their first 1B North Central Washington league win of the campaign with a 58-27 win Tuesday night at Thorp.
“It feels good,” Devils coach Keith Jensen said. “Thorp is in a building stage and we haven’t played for almost a month and ended up playing good especially in the first and third quarters. We played sloppy in the others but overall it was good energy and you could definitely see some rust we had to shake off today.”
The Devils (2-3, 1-2) shook and shaked their way to the basket numerous times in the first half to lead 36-10 at halftime.
“We have some pretty good team speed so we were able to push the ball really well and force some turnovers to get some easy hoops,” Jensen said.
Austin Reyes led the Devils with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Derek Fredere contributed 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Josh Canode added 15 points.
Jacob Treat pounded the glass for 10 rebounds and Patrick Trepanier dished out seven assists to lead the Devils.