Moses Lake boys win one, lose one
MOSES LAKE - Denis Ulyanchuk scored 23 points and pulled down 24 rebounds to lead the Chiefs to their first league victory of the season Saturday when Moses Lake turned back Sunnyside, 63-42.
"We came out strong against Sunnyside," coach John Hohman said. "We shot the ball well from the free throw line and had the fewest amount of turnovers in any game this season."
The game was close at the onset as the Chiefs trailed 14-13 at the end of the first quarter. But Moses Lake out scored Sunnyside 19-3 to take a 32-17 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Chiefs blew the game wide open with a 19-7 run in the third quarter of action to go up top 51-24.
"We played great in the second and third quarters, holding Sunnyside to just 10 points," Hohman said. "We came up big defensively and forced them to shoot poorly ... it was nice to see that kind of effort from the guys."
The Grizzlies put 18 points on the board in the final eight minutes of play to the home teams' 12, but it was too little too late as the Chiefs won going away.
Easton Baker added 10 points, Mitch Hohman tallied 7, Nick Sutherland and Josh Hirz had 6 each and Trino Rubio finished with 5 in the winning effort.
The Chiefs out rebounded the Grizzlies 50-26 and shot 71 percent from the charity stripe for the game.
"The big edge in rebounds was critical in the win," Hohman said. "It's difficult to lose when you get that many second chances."
Davis 66
Moses Lake 63
The Chiefs came oh so close to pulling off an upset on the road Friday against the Pirates. But it wasn't in the cards as Moses Lake suffered a 3-point loss to Davis.
"Denis (Ulyanchuk) got into some early foul trouble and only played three minutes of the first quarter," Hohman said. "And Cameron Ballard hurt his ankle early in the game too and that made a big difference in the way we attacked Davis."
The Pirates got out to an 18-13 lead at the end of the first quarter and were up 10 at the half, 39-29. But the Chiefs came out of the locker room fired up and went on a 23-7 run to race out front of Davis, 52-46.
The Pirates, not about to lie down in front of their home crowd, fought back in the fourth quarter to outscore Moses Lake 20-11 and pull out the come from behind win.
Ulyanchuk knocked down 14 of 19 shots from the floor including two 3-pointers, and sank one free throw for 27 points to lead the way for the Chiefs, 23 of which came in the second half of play.
Easton Baker added 11 points, and Rubio finished with 10.
The win over Sunnyside puts Moses Lake at 1-3 in the Big Nine Conference.
The Chiefs return to action Dec. 28 and 29 when Moses Lake takes part in the Christmas Classic at Big Bend.Community College.
The Chiefs play Pasco Friday at 3:30 p.m., then match up with Hermiston Saturday at 5:30.
Moses Lake gets back to league action Jan. 4 when the Chiefs hit the road to Yakima to take on the Eisenhower Cadets.