Lions roll past Phoenix

MOSES LAKE - Quade Godfrey scored 15 points and Lowell Kirkwood added 10 to spur the league leading Moses Lake Christian Academy (MLCA) Lions to a 55-26 win over Columbia Basin Secondary School (CBSS) Tuesday.

"This was a game we had to have to maintain the No. 1 spot in the league," coach Duke Wood said. "If we win our final two games, we'll be the No. 1 seed heading into the district tournament next week."

MCLA got out of the gate quick and never looked back as the team took a 23-5 lead at the end of the first quarter, and was up 36-11 at intermission.

"The guys come out with the fire they needed and put together a pretty good first half of play on both offense and defense," Wood said. "CBSS was down a couple players, and we tried to take advantage of the post early on and had some success doing so."

The Lions hung 11 third quarter points on the board to the Phoenix 2 to stretch their lead to 47-13. CBSS doubled its point total in the final eight minutes of action, but was unable to make up enough ground to get back in the game.

"The Lions roared out in the first quarter taking a 23-5 lead, but the Phoenix did not give up," CBSS coach Bob McCaffery said. "I am proud of my players for trying to do their best. That is all I ask of them. The Lions are well coached, have the league MVP in Kirkwood, and in my opinion are the best team in our league."

If MLCA wins its last two games, the Lions will secure the No. 1 seed from the South Conference for the district tournament held at Ephrata High School, and receive a first round bye. They will play their first game Feb. 11. If MLCA should happen to lose either game, Soap Lake will be the No. 1 seed, and the Lions will host a first round loser out game against the No. 3 seed from the North Conference Feb. 9.

"Every game for us is a playoff game for us now," Wood said. "We start with Entiat at home Saturday. They are a tough scrappy team, and we need to be ready to play all for four quarters."

Miller Wang added 9 points and 5 rebounds and Noah Roberts finished with 5 points and 11 rebounds in the win over the Phoenix.

The victory puts MLCA at 11-1 in the Central Washington 1B South and 12-5 overall.

Austin Cochran was high scorer for CBSS with 10 points. Jacob Moreno added 6, Xaiver Garcia had 5, Chris Gonzalez scored 3 and Allan Curtis finished with 2.

The Lions game against the Entiat Tigers Saturday starts at 7:30 p.m.

The Phoenix travel to Wilson Creek Friday, then finish out the regular season at home against Soap Lake Feb. 5.