Poor shooting keeps Chiefs boys from sweep

MOSES LAKE - A poor shooting night didn't do the Moses Lake Chiefs' defense justice and a potential weekend sweep turned into a split.

The Richland Bombers escaped Moses Lake on Saturday 68-56 winners after pulling away in the second half from a two-point intermission lead.

Chiefs' head coach John Hohman expressed his happiness with a defense that kept his squad in the contest.

"We got after it and  were out in the lanes," Hohman said. "That team's transition offense is 50 to 65 percent of their offense. We were out denying the first pass to give us time to get back and set up in the half court. When we got there we were full out denial. The problem was that we got outrebounded. We were going to the ball and not going to a body. It's about working early. We need to take care of those little details that are so critical."

When they got their defense cranked up the Chiefs (5-8, 2-3) scored 23 points off of Richland turnovers.

But another problem was when the Chiefs got into a set offense they failed to hit shots even if the openings were there.

"Our shooting was off and we missed some easy shots," Hohman said.  "I thought we were getting the shots we wanted."

Moses Lake shot only 40 percent from the field and beyond the arc. They also hit a poor 54 percent of their free throws.

Matt Franz led the Chiefs with 21 points even though he left the game early in the second half with what has been initially diagnosed as an ankle sprain according to Hohman. Franz was told he may be out for up to four weeks but it still may be too soon to tell.

Gabe Porter added 11 points for the Chiefs.

On Friday night, the Chiefs kickstarted their weekend with a solid 64-55 win over the rival Wenatchee Panthers.

Playing the host, Moses Lake's offense was inconsistent, but their ever improving defense continued to contest all passes and shots as the team game that had come around seem to flail a bit.

"The first half wasn't the way indicative of how we had been playing," Hohman said.  "I felt we had regressed and we talked about it at halftime. We were just playing like the first time I met them. It wasn't the team game we had gotten accustomed to and with that collective synergy."

The Panthers trailed 25-24 but failed to capitalize on their prime position to pull out a key Big 9 road win when the Chiefs got their offense going and their ballhandling improved to mirror that.

After committing seven turnovers in the first half, the Chiefs were recorded with only four after halftime.

"That was a huge improvement." Hohman said. "I think we are starting to get the picture of carrying over from practice. You practice on execution and cleaning things up and there will be that certain amount of game slippage and we didn't see a lot of it against Wenatchee. Our defensive system is built on five men against the ball. We started getting better in the passing lanes and our help defense played well."

The offense also showed great composure, scoring 20 points in the third quarter to bump the margin up to 45-37 after the buzzer had sounded.

"We came out and responded well," Hohman said. "I thought our shot selection was better and we had better ball movement which made a huge difference. It was a great win for us, we really needed it."

Franz led the Chiefs with 15 points while Matt Adame added 11 points to key the victory.