Chiefs nip Kennewick in key Big 9 game

Warden 40, Royal 32; Mansfield 65, Wilson Creek 44; Othello 54, Connell 39; ACH 58, Reardan 57; Soap Lake 67, Liberty Bell 47

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School’s boys basketball team held home court Saturday night with a narrow 43-38 win over Kennewick.

The Chiefs (3-10, 3-2 in Big Nine Columbia Division) held off a spunky if not aesthetically pleasing team from Kennewick (1-12, 1-4) to keep their post season hopes alive.

“It was a rough game and Kennewick plays a little slower style which kept the score down a little bit,” Moses Lake coach Rolland Hansen said. “There were also a lot of turnovers with 50 between the two teams. Our defense was good since we forced many of their turnovers.”

Moses Lake trailed 12-11 after the game’s first eight minutes, but took a 22-15 lead at halftime.

Kennewick was able to make it a 31-28 game after the third quarter before Moses Lake would finally put the game out of reach.

“It’s always good when you grind out a win especially in the league,” Hansen said. “This win shows that they’ve matured and learned to come from behind. We just ran our offense, played tough defense, and stayed under control, which shows things are coming together.”

Moses Lake shot 17-for-42 from the field while holding Kennewick to 14-for-39.

Gabe Porter led Moses Lake with 17 points.

“We had a lot of good shots but we couldn’t get them to fall,” Hansen said. “When you have injuries and are tired it shows. But they toughed out a win especially one that we needed. They did a good job.”

Moses Lake’s Tyler Raymond and Alex Todd are battling ankle injuries while the team plays a man short with Matt Franz out for another week due to a team policy violation.

The Chiefs’ win followed up a disappointing 58-49 loss at Southridge the night before.

Southridge outscored Moses Lake in each quarter to keep their guests at bay.

“They’re always tough at Southridge,” Hansen said. “It’s a weird deal. We go over there and don’t normally play them really well. It was a real close game all the way they just had a real good shooting night at home. We just kind of hung around and couldn’t quite make the run to get them. It would have been nice to get that road win.”

Porter again scored 17 points to lead the Chiefs.

Warden 40, Royal 32

WARDEN — A win via a sloppy route ultimately means more than a pretty loss.

Just ask the Warden Cougars who hung on Saturday night to defeat South Central Athletic Conference rivals Royal, 40-32, in a defensive struggle.

Warden (6-7, 3-2) led 15-14 at halftime before getting their offense going a bit better in the second half.

“We finally hit some shots that weren’t falling earlier,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “We got the ball in good position down low after having a tough time getting good looks inside. We just kept the pressure on and defensively we won that game.”

Warden pulled away with a 16-10 fourth quarter against the big, physical Knights (4-8, 1-4).

“It came down to shooting percentage,” Royal coach Pete Christensen said. “We had a lot of open looks and absolutely nothing was falling.”

Warden was led by Nate Stott’s 11 points and Nathan Brown’s 10 points. Arty Reyes chipped in with five points, seven rebounds, and three assists.

“This year there is a lot of parity in our league so winning home games and winning close games will be the difference of making and not making the playoffs,” Richins said. “I knew this would be a close game since they have been hanging around with teams all season. They are a huge, athletic team of football players. I knew we had to keep plugging along and we did. It was a big defensive grind.”

The Knights were sparked by Marc Albertson’s 14 points.

Both teams combined to shoot 23-for-79 on the night, for a total of 29 percent.

Warden, which had struggled at the foul line all season, shot seven-for-20 against Royal, but managed to put the game away by going five-for-seven down the stretch.

“The guys were hustling and rotating well on defense,” Christensen said. “It was disappointing but I am encouraged that the guys are working hard and trying to improve. We just need to work on consistency with our shooting. If our shots start falling we’ll be able to beat a lot of teams.”

Mansfield 65, Wilson Creek 44

WILSON CREEK — A tough weekend for Wilson Creek ended up with a 65-44 home loss to Mansfield on Saturday.

The Devils (4-6, 2-5), were beaten at Pateros 61-30 the night before.

Against Mansfield, Wilson Creek was led by Derek Fredere’s 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Austin Reyes chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.

In the loss to Pateros, Jacob Treat paced the Devils with eight points, eight rebounds, and two assists, while Fredere added six points and nine rebounds.

Othello 54, Connell 39

OTHELLO — Following a tough home loss the night before against CWAC rivals Ephrata, the Othello Huskies took out their angst 24 hours later against Connell on Saturday night.

Following an 8-8 first quarter, Othello would progressively build the lead en route to a 54-39 win over Connell.

The Huskies (4-4) were led by Jeremy Cerrillo’s 14 points and Preston Davis who added 11 points.

Drew Scott also aided Othello against Connell (3-9) with an all-around performance of eight points, eight rebounds, five blocked shots, and three steals.

ACH 58, Reardan 57

REARDAN — Not by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins.

Despite all its efforts, the Reardan boys basketball team couldn’t steal a last-second win over Almira/Coulee-Hartline, losing a narrow 58-57 contest to their guests on Friday nights.

ACH (7-6 overall) were led by Cody Jess’ 28 points and Derek Isaak who pumped in 20 points for the Warriors.

Soap Lake 67, Liberty Bell 47

SOAP LAKE — A resurgent Soap Lake Eagles squad moved to .500 on the season with a 67-47 win over Liberty Bell on Friday.

The Eagles (5-5, 4-1 in 2B North Central Washington) were led by Kyler Moats’ 23 points.

David Correas added 10 points.