BOYS PREP BASKETBALL: MOSES LAKE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 70, Thorp 34

by Alan Dale<br> Herald Sports Writer
| February 15, 2011 4:45 AM

THORP - They are the Lions king.

Behind a 70-34 win Saturday night at Thorp and a 64-19 triumph over

Columbia Basin Secondary School the night before, the Moses Lake

Christian Academy Lions basketball team left no doubt that they

indeed are the North Central Washington 1B league champions.

THORP - They are the Lions king.

Behind a 70-34 win Saturday night at Thorp and a 64-19 triumph over Columbia Basin Secondary School the night before, the Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions basketball team left no doubt that they indeed are the North Central Washington 1B league champions.

Against Thorp, the Academy came out and took a 24-5 lead after the first quarter, built that cushion to 38-10 by halftime and never looked back.

Now the Lions (15-5, 9-1) will enter the district tournament as the number one seed and begin play tonight at 7 p.m. against Mansfield at Kittitas High School.

"This game was a chance for all the kids to get some playing time and work out a few things on the defensive end, and clean up a couple offensive miscues we have had," Lions head coach Duke Wood said. "We forced 38 turnovers while committing only 11 and that led to some breakaway layups which jumpstarted the offense for us."

Four players scored in double figures for MLCA as they were led by Thomas Knopp (13 points, six rebounds), Nic Hocking (13 points, seven rebounds, four steals), Connor Webb (12 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and six steals), and Lowell Kirkwood (11 points and seven rebounds).

The Lions were without starting guard, Joe Timofeyev for the entire weekend, after the Lion banged up his knee in practice earlier on Friday.

That same day the Academy struggled out of the gate and led Columbia Basin Secondary School (3-15, 3-7), 16-8 after the first quarter.

"This was a chance for us to get our legs back under us after going through the week short handed from sickness, and other issues.," Wood said. "We hadn't played for over a week and this game I think helped get us back on track."

They certainly did get on track in the second quarter as they outscored the visiting Phoenix, 28-2 to lead 44-10 at the intermission.

Knopp led the Lions with 15 points, Kirkwood added 12 points, and Hocking finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, and five steals.

No Phoenix stats were made available.