Tough opposition keeps Lions from advancing

EAST WENATCHEE - A year removed from a Class 1B semifinal

appearance in Yakima despite massive shooting woes, the Moses Lake

Christian Academy Lions entertained the hopes of a repeat

performance this season.

On Friday night, the Lions faced up with the defending state

champions, Sunnyside Christian, in a Class 1B state regional round

final and a chance to advance to Spokane for the finals.

EAST WENATCHEE - A year removed from a Class 1B semifinal appearance in Yakima despite massive shooting woes, the Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions entertained the hopes of a repeat performance this season.

On Friday night, the Lions faced up with the defending state champions, Sunnyside Christian, in a Class 1B state regional round final and a chance to advance to Spokane for the finals.

After a 51-33 loss, the Lions fell into the next day's elimination game and dropped a 63-37 decision to Colton to end any hopes of a sequel.

So what the Lions (18-8) could overcome one year could not be outdone in another.

"Again our shooting woes continued against Colton," Lions head coach Duke Wood said. "We hung in there the first quarter and played pretty good defense, We made a few shots."

Trailing 14-9 after the first eight minutes, the Lions saw Colton feed their go-to guy, 6-foot-7 post Dustin Patchen, time and again as the Wildcats blew the game open and led 34-17 by halftime.

"We just didn't have an answer for him," Wood said. "We played man-to-man, we played zone, we even tried to trap but then that just opened up the three-point barrage of bombs they unloaded on us."

Colton made 11-of-17 three-pointers attempted and Patchen finished with 25 points, 18 rebounds, and seven blocked shots.

Colton would outscore MLCA 18-9 in the third quarter and put the game away.

"They have a lot of offensive weapons on that team," Wood said of Colton. "When you have some offensive power you can go a long ways into the post season,  We just don't have the shooting or the size to match up to some of these teams in the state tournament."

Isaac Murrell led the Lions with 18 points, Joe Timofeyev added eight points and five rebounds and Connor Webb finished with five points, four rebounds, and four assists.

Against Sunnyside Christian, the Lions kept things interesting, trailing only 21-18 at halftime.

"We played a great first half against a much bigger team," Wood said. "We pressed them and forced them into 13 first-half turnovers, but couldn't capitalize on the offensive end."

Then the champs would make the Lions pay for their inability to reward their own efforts.

"The second half saw them decide to pound the ball inside to their two 6-foot-6 posts and we just couldn't match up against their size," Wood said. "We got outrebounded 40-23 in the game, We worked very hard defensively in this game but at the end just got wore down. There is a reason they are the number two team in the state."

SC used an 18-9 third quarter to pull away.

Murrell scored 15 points to lead the Lions and continue his strong post season play as the only Academy senior on the roster. Timofeyev added eight points.

"It's always good to hear another coach say how hard your team works defensively as did the Sunnyside Christian coach said," Wood said. "But it's still tough to swallow a defeat."

What Wood and the Lions can digest is two straight top 12 finishes at the Class 1B level and a potentially brighter future for the program.

"Again my hat is off to this MLCA team since they played with heart all year and had a good run winning the league and the district title which was the goal at the beginning of the season," Wood said. "The majority of this team will be back contending again next year and the stakes will be set a little higher than this year. It was  a good season and this experience will carry over to next year for these younger kids."