Chiefs roll, as Jacks win first

Moses Lake 74, Pasco 58; Quincy 57, Othello 43; Ephrata 74, East Valley 50; River View 49, Warden 32; Columbia 41, Royal 32; Columbia Basin Secondary 71, Mansfield 51; Soap Lake 64, Waterville 56; Wilbur-Creston 55, ACH 53

MOSES LAKE — Running and gunning and gunning and gunning, the Moses Lake High School Chiefs shot Pasco out of the gym in a 74-58 win Friday night.

The Chiefs (2-9, 2-1 in the Big Nine Columbia Division) scored 25 points in the first quarter and led 35-24 at halftime despite the absence of leading scorer Matt Franz.

“The kids moved the ball well and got a lot of touches so it was  really fun for them,” Chiefs coach Rolland Hansen said. “We had much better execution on offense. We had five people in double figures and they played real well as a team.”

Pasco (0-11, 0-4) couldn’t make a dent in the second half as Moses Lake methodically pulled away and book ended the performance with a 23-point fourth quarter.

“In practice they were swinging the ball really well and we hoped it would transfer over to the game and it did,” Hansen said, “We ended up with 19 assists which is really good.”

Moses Lake was led by the double figure scoring of Taylor LeGrave (15 points), Tyler Raymond (14 points), Bryce Perez (13 points), Alex Todd (13 points) and Gabe Porter (11 points).

Perez also added 10 rebounds and four assists for the Chiefs which shot 48 percent from the field.

Hansen said his team did not take Pasco’s struggles for granted since they were essentially looking at a team with a relative mirror image.

“We definitely wanted to be on the positive side of that game,” Hansen said. “They’ve played some teams tough and they’re going to pick someone off so you have to be ready. We were also 1-9 coming in so we aren’t going to take anyone lightly.”

Franz will not be eligible to play for another week due to a violation of team rules Hansen said.

Quincy 57, Othello 43

QUINCY — Finally.

The Quincy Jacks broke into the win column by virtue of a resounding 57-43 win over the Othello Huskies on Saturday.

The host Jacks (1-7, 1-5 in Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) play), used a 17-6 second quarter to build a 26-14 halftime lead to get the ball rolling.

Othello (3-3, 3-3) shot 1-for-15 in the second quarter and 24 percent for the game.

“You aren’t going to win many games shooting like that,” Othello coach Pete Patitucci said. “It was just every one of the kids had an off night.”

Quincy was led by Luke Grigg’s 14 points and Jay Cedergreen’s 11 points.

“It was nice for the kids,” Quincy coach Wade Petersen said. “We were able to put four-quarters together of not playing scared and being aggressive. The night before we played not to lose and lost a similar lead. So it was nice to see them learn from the night before and it shows some growth.”

Othello was led by David Charles’ 14 points and Jeremy Cerrillo’s 12 points.

“Quincy played really well and that’s the best they’ve probably played,” Patitucci said. “I had been happy with how our kids have been playing and they even played really well on Friday. It was the first time we played in a back-to-back in a while so maybe that took our legs from us.”

Both teams headed into the showdown with a loss.

Quincy lost at home Friday to East Valley 46-40 despite 12 points by Grigg and 10 from Cedergreen.

The Jacks lost a 24-13 halftime lead.

Othello also lost at home that night, 79-68 to Wapato.

Jesse Espinoza scored 16 points, Preston Davis and Cerrillo each had 14 points, and Charles added 13 points.

“We knew we were really young and new and we wanted to use the first 10 games to learn their stuff,” Petersen said. “By the second 10 games we can hopefully get our game down before districts.”

Ephrata 74, East Valley 50

EPHRATA — The second-ranked team in boys 2A basketball calls Ephrata home.

This weekend they made sure to remind everyone why they are there.

The Tigers wrapped up a sweep of two home games this weekend with a 74-50 win against East Valley on Saturday.

Ephrata trailed 13-12 at the end of the first quarter before getting their ducks-in-a-row to the tune of a 26-11 second quarter run and a 14-point halftime lead.

“They came out in a triangle-and-two defense so it took us some time to get going,” Ephrata coach Brandon Evenson said. “Our defense got going and gave us a lot of easy shots at the offensive end. We held them to 20 percent shooting for the game and that’s the best ever since I’ve been around. Teams usually shoot well in our gym since we have a good shooting background but that may be the best defense I’ve seen.”

Ephrata was led by Ross Buchert’s 19 points while Patrick Simon added 10 points, 16 rebounds, and six blocked shots.

Bryce Todd contributed 12 points and Tyrone Prescod scored 11 points for Ephrata (8-0, 6-0).

Evenson believes his team is playing at a high keel due to varying positive factors.

“I think it’s having senior leadership and kids that are working hard,” Evenson said. “People are starting to figure that we are more than just Patrick and Ross.”

On Friday, the Tigers blew past Grandview 61-47.

Simon had 14 points and 17 rebounds as Ephrata outrebounded the visitors 50-21.

Mark Novik scored 17 points for Ephrata and Randall Tupling added 16 points against Grandview (5-3, 4-2) who is ranked fifth in 2A.

River View 49, Warden 32

RIVER VIEW — The Warden Cougars travelled to River View on Saturday and fell 49-32 to their hosts.

Eric Bates led Warden (5-7, 2-2) with 12 points.

River View broke out to 16-8 lead after the first quarter and 31-14 at halftime before cruising to the win.

Juan Contreras led River View with 19 points.

Columbia 41, Royal 32

ROYAL — A 15-9 fourth quarter run was enough for visiting Columbia to pull away at Royal on Saturday night.

The Knights trailed 26-23 going into the final eight minutes before the visitors from Burbank clinched the win..

Royal (3-6, 0-3) was led by Marc Albertson’s eight points.

The Knights led 14-10 after the first quarter but managed only 18 points over the final 24 minutes.

Columbia Basin Secondary 71, Mansfield 51

MANSFIELD — Maybe a tough loss to Moses Lake Christian Academy earlier in the week was the spark the Columbia Basin Secondary School needed heading to Mansfield Saturday night.

After trailing 13-9 after the first quarter The Phoenix woke up and behind a 26-13 second eight minutes cruised to a 71-51 win.

Eric Curtiss led the Phoenix (4-3, 2-1) with 22 points while Kayleb Jensen added 17 points, Josh Conner pumped in 14 points and Mike Northup had 13 points in the win.

Soap Lake 64, Waterville 56

SOAP LAKE —  Soap Lake claimed two home wins this weekend, wrapping formalities up with a 64-56 win Saturday over visiting Waterville.

The host Eagles (3-5, 2-1) were led by Kyler Moats’ 28 points while Zach Allen and Alex Overall each scored 16 points in the win.

On Friday, the Eagles took apart Bridgeport in a 62-44 win.

Moats scored 19 points and Allen chipped in with nine to aid the Soap Lake cause.

“There are playing well and are starting to come around a little bit,” Eagles’ coach Bill Pierce said. “We are pressuring people and starting to shoot the ball a little better. We need to improve our play in the second half since I don’t think we are in good enough shape and we run out of gas by the fourth quarter. We also need to improve our play on the road.”

Wilbur-Creston 55, ACH 53

WILBUR — The Warriors of Almira/Coulee-Hartline dropped two road games this weekend and fell to 6-6 on the season.

On Saturday, ACH (6-6, 2-1) fell at Wilbur-Creston 55-53.

Wilbur’s Austin Snavely snatched the win away for the Wildcats (10-2) with a putback right before the final buzzer.

Brandon Boutain and Cody Jess scored 11 points apiece for the Warriors.

The previous evening ACH dropped its second game of the season to Davenport, falling 66-35.

ACH trailed the host Gorillas (9-1) 44-22 at halftime and were not able to make a dent in the second half.

Four Davenport players scored in double figures to aid in the win over the Warriors.