Two tough league losses for Chiefs

Sunnyside 57, Moses Lake 47; Moses Lake Christian Academy 42, Wilson Creek 30; Prosser 66, Othello 58; Selah 60, Quincy 57; Manson 51, Soap Lake 50; Kiona-Benton 33, Warden 25; Connell 36, Royal 34

MOSES LAKE — The Chiefs pushed, fell back, pushed again, before finally succumbing to Sunnyside Saturday night.

All it meant was a 57-47 Moses Lake High School boys basketball loss to a smaller Sunnyside and a dent in their district playoff push.

Trailing 27-22 at halftime, Moses Lake (3-13, 3-4 in Big Nine Columbia Basin division play) chipped away at the deficit before bringing it down to three, 36-33 with one quarter left.

“First half we got outrebounded and we were shocked,” Moses Lake coach Rolland Hansen said. “We made a nice comeback rebounding in the second half. We had 25 rebounds — nine offensive — between our big guys but we could only put one back in.”

But with shots missing the mark and Sunnyside’s Jacob Bos deciding to get hot, Sunnyside pulled away in the fourth quarter with 21 points.

Bos scored eight of his 14 points to spark the offensive surge.

“We had a tough shooting night,” Hansen said. “We just couldn’t put the ball in the hoop which has been hit-and-miss all season. They are a much quicker team than us and they were taking advantage of it. We weren’t going to our strengths which is hustling on the boards and our defense. In the second half we started to.”

The Chiefs were also undone by 26 turnovers.

“We had a nice run but we had 26 turnovers,” Hansen said. “If you lose by 10 with 26 turnovers you know you are doing something right except taking care of the basketball. They get all over us and put on the pressure and you turn the ball over against quick teams that are really pressuring you.”

Matt Franz led Moses Lake with 15 points while Tyler LaGrave added 10 points.

Tyler Raymond grabbed 14 rebounds and Alex Todd ended his game with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Hansen said his team scored only four times off of their 16 second-chance, offensive rebounding opportunities.

On Friday night Wenatchee exacted some revenge for an earlier loss to Moses Lake by defeating the visiting Chiefs 53-45.

Moses Lake trailed 47-45 with less than a minute to go before a Connor Smith layup for Wenatchee took the wind out of the Chiefs’ sails.

Raymond led Moses Lake with 12 points.

Moses Lake Christian Academy 42, Wilson Creek 30

MOSES LAKE — Their defense was so offensive that the Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions would not relent in their 42-30 win over Wilson Creek Friday night.

Trailing 9-0 after the first five minutes, Lions’ coach Duke Wood flipped the aggression switch and his charges were off-and-running behind a stifling full court defensive attack.

“We started off really slow,” Wood said. “So we called a timeout and put on our 2-2-1 press to try to pick up the pace and it worked. We didn’t score for almost five minutes to start the first quarter before we did that.”

The Lions cut the Wilson Creek deficit to 10-9 by the end of the game’s first quarter and would lead 20-12 at halftime to finish a 20-3 run.

Not known for being a superlative third quarter team, the Lions outscored Wilson Creek 14-8 in the next eight minutes coming out of the locker room thanks to a little coaching tweak.

“We won our third quarter for only the second time this year,” Wood said. “I just switched it up to get them to refocus again instead of staying in the same thing. Then later we went back to what we normally would be doing. We’d been winning at the halftime during a lot of our games so why change things? But sometimes you need to in order to refocus.”

Jonny Roberts led the Lions (10-3, 7-2) with 17 points, seven rebounds, and four steals, while Joe Timofeyev scored eight points.

Connor Webb and Isaac Murrell aided the Lions’ dominant rebounding effort (36-22) with seven boards each.

“Defensively we’re doing okay but offensively we’re struggling to put the ball in the hole,” Wood said. “We’re hoping to get out of this slump and I’m just waiting for a breakout game. If we can’t put the ball in the hole we have to play defense and we have been holding teams down. Our defense is keeping us in games.”

Wilson Creek was led by Jacob Treat’s 11 points while Derek Fredere provided eight points for the visiting Devils.

Prosser 66, Othello 58

PROSSER - Othello’s Huskies saw their push for a Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) top four spot take a hit as they fell 66-58 at Prosser on Saturday.

The loss followed a 68-46 home defeat to Selah on Friday.

Othello (4-7, 3-7) led 13-12 after the first quarter at Prosser but were undone by a 25-8 advantage by the hosts in the second quarter.

The Huskies scored 30 points through the first three quarters but found a way to put in 28 over the game’s last eight minutes to make things interesting.

Jeremy Cerrillo led Othello with 15 points while Parker Davis provided 11 points.

Blake Milne scored 23 points to lead Prosser.

Against Selah, Othello trailed 38-37 with one quarter remaining before Selah pulled away in resounding fashion behind a 30-point eruption.

Selah outscored the Huskies 30-9 in the fourth quarter and were led by Nick Longmire’s 26 points, seven rebounds, and six assists.

Cerrillo was the only played in double figures for Othello, scoring 12 in the loss.

Selah 60, Quincy 57

QUINCY — Two straight losses this weekend for the Quincy Jacks has not dampened the spirit of coach Wade Petersen.

Following a narrow 60-57 loss to CWAC co-leaders Selah (10-2, 9-1), Petersen still envisions a post season with his Jacks dancing along with seven other teams.

“We had several chances when we were down one and couldn’t take the lead,” Petersen said. “We also bounced a three at the buzzer to tie it so we had our chances. This is really about improving as the season goes along and we hope when we play these teams the second time we can be at a different level and compete. We’re trying to just finish in the top eight spots to get to districts.”

Selah Nick Longmire scored 30 points to help his team hold on as the Vikings survived a last minute three-pointer by Quincy (1-11, 1-9) which would have sent the game into overtime.

Luke Grigg scored 17 points and Luke Cedergreen had 14 points to lead Quincy who also received 10 points from Chase Petersen.

One night earlier, the Jacks dropped a 70-52 decision to Ellensburg.

Quincy’s inefficient offensive performance in the second quarter allowed the visitors to build a 35-21 lead the Jacks could not overcome after the game was tied at 17 in the first quarter.

Grigg led Quincy with 20 points.

Manson 51, Soap Lake 50

MANSON — Soap Lake split a nerve-wracking two games by losing 51-50 at Manson on Saturday night.

The loss followed up a Soap Lake 56-54 win at 2B fifth-ranked Entiat the previous evening.

Kyler Moats led the Eagles (6-6, 5-2) in victory scoring 17 points.

Soap Lake’s Colton Franks nailed a 75-foot shot at the end of the first half that ultimately would make a difference in the win.

Kiona-Benton 33, Warden 25

BENTON CITY — The Warden Cougars fell 33-25 at Kiona-Benton Saturday night in an “ugly” loss that kept them from moving above .500 on the season.

“It was a difficult night shooting for us,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “It was a physical, ugly game as far as the defense and the brutality of playing in Ki-Be.”

Warden (7-8, 4-3 in South Central Athletic Conference play) led 15-10 at halftime but could only score 10 points in the second half and recorded a meager two points in the fourth quarter as Ki-Be pulled away.

Eric Bates led Warden with six points as the Cougars ended up shooting 20 percent from the field, including a paltry eight percent from the three-point line. They also hit only 50 percent of their free throws.

On Friday, Warden traveled to Wahluke and came away with a 58-56 win.

Warden overcame a 25-21 halftime deficit by outscoring their hosts 23-13 in the third quarter and withstood a late rally to win.

“It was a close game all the way,” Richins said.  “Nathan Brown hit four free throws down the stretch to ice it. That was the first time we’ve ever won in that building. Wahluke is a scrappy team.”

Brown scored 17 points, Ty Jesse put in 13 points, and Nate Stott contributed nine points for Warden.

Connell 36, Royal 34

CONNELL — A Connell jumper with three seconds left fell through and sunk a Royal Knights comeback as the hosts won 36-34 on Saturday night.

The win for Connell ended their 10-game losing streak while denying Royal (5-9, 2-5) a chance to record a second straight win.

Royal trailed 24-19 after three quarters and managed to tie the game up before Connell’s Brady Quinton’s heroics.

Trevor Iverson led Royal with 14 points while Marc Albertson scored nine points and Matt Barger provided eight points.

A night earlier, Royal overcame a 29-19 halftime deficit against Kiona-Benton to post a 57-49 win.

Royal outscored Ki-Be 22-9 in the third quarter to take the lead and held on for the win.

“We were down at halftime and came out switching some defensive formations and the kids made some good adjustments,” Royal coach Pete Christensen said. “They hustled really well and made the right rotations. It was nice for the boys to get a win.”

Danny Vermeer scored 20 points while Albertson recorded 13 points and 17 rebounds in the win.