Phoenix boys beat Wilson Creek

WILSON CREEK - Columbia Basin Secondary School (CBSS) was without its starting guard Austin Cochran, and Devon Hartman, the team's leading scorer saw limited action due to injury.

But the Phoenix were able to overcome the obstacles and pull off a much needed 52-45 win on the road Friday to nail down a spot in the upcoming district tournament.

"It was a wild and crazy game, but also a lot of fun," coach Bob McCaffery said. "The team played a gutsy game of full court pressure defense the entire contest and prevailed to capture the win."

The game was nip and tuck through the first 16 minutes of play. CBSS held a 12-8 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but the Devils outscored the Phoenix 12-10 in the second quarter to trail 22-20 at intermission.

CBSS went on an 18-12 run in the third quarter of play to stretch its lead to 40-32. Wilson Creek hung 13 points on the board in the final eight minutes of the game to the Phoenix 12, but dropped the contest by 7 points.

Hartman led the way for CBSS with 12 points despite not playing at full capacity. Chris Gonzalez added 11 points, Jacob Moreno had 10, Xavier Garcia scored 8, Allan Curtis, 7, and Neal Wang and Kenny Wicks finished with 2 points each in the win. Caleb McMillan was high scorer for Wilson Creek with 19 points.

The victory over the Devils puts the Phoenix at 5-8 in Central Washington 1B play, and 8-11 overall and gives CBSS the district No. 3 seed.

"I am proud of my players for making districts," McCaffery said. "From day one I have told them this is not about one play, a quarter or single game. This is a journey. There will be some bumps in the road and a few detours, but if we try to do our best and learn from our experiences, we will be successful."  

The Phoenix wrap up their regular league season Tuesday at home against Soap Lake at 7:30 p.m. CBSS will play a first round loser-out district game Feb. 9 at the home site of either Entiat, Pateros or Waterville depending how interleague play ends up this week.