Moses Lake boys drop two

MOSES LAKE - Coach John Hohman was hoping to earn a split at the very least with home games against Wenatchee and Eastmont over the weekend to have a chance of improving the Chiefs seeding for the upcoming district tournament.

But back-to-back losses to the Panthers and Wildcats leave Moses Lake in fourth place in the Big Nine standings with three games left in the regular season.

Wenatchee 48

Moses Lake 47

It was a see-saw battle that came down to the last two ticks on the clock before a winner was determined in the game between the Chiefs and the Panthers Friday.

Wenatchee went on a 7-2 run to start the game, and led 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Two and a half minutes elapsed in the second eight minutes of action before either team drained a bucket. But Moses Lake came alive to outscore Wenatchee 12-6 to get back in the game and get within a point at the half, 22-21.

Denis Ulyanchuk hit the first bucket of the second half to give the Chiefs their initial lead of the contest. The basket sparked a 14-6 run by Moses Lake and put the home team up 36-30 heading into the final quarter of play. Sloppy ball handling and a few questionable calls by the officiating crew allowed the Panthers to close the gap to 42-40 with just over two minutes left in the game.

A foul on the Panthers sent the Chiefs Mitch Hohman to the line where he promptly sank two free throws to put Moses Lake up 44-40.

The teams traded baskets to bring the score to 46-42. A miss by the Chiefs and a bucket by Wenatchee made it a 2-point game, 46-44 with a minute left to play. Easton Baker was fouled and made the front end of a 1-and-1 to give Moses Lake a 3-point lead, 47-44 with 49 seconds to go.

A Panther score made it 47-46 with 29 seconds on the clock. A turnover and a foul at the arc put Nathan Allison on the line for three free throws for the Panthers. The lanky left-hander missed all three shots much to the delight of the home crowd.

It looked as though the Chiefs were about to put the game in the books when Cameron Ballard was fouled with 27 seconds to go, putting him at the charity strip for a 1-and-1. If makes them both he ices the game. But Ballard missed the front end and Wenatchee raced down court to try and take the lead.

The Panthers missed two shots but got both rebounds, putting the second back for the go ahead score, 48-47 with 1.8 seconds left. Moses Lake called a time out to set up a play to try and win it, but the inbound pass was intercepted near half court as time ran out and Wenatchee escaped with the win.

"That was a tough loss," Hohman said. "We had a chance to win it at the end, but came up short on the inbound pass."

Ulyanchuk led the way for Moses Lake with a game high 15 points. Ballard added 11, Josh Hirz had 10, and Hohman finished with 5 on the loss.

Eastmont 67

Moses Lake 37

It wasn't much of a contest in the game against the No. 1 Wildcats as the Chiefs were dealt a 30-point loss. Moses Lake fell behind early, and trailed 36-18 at the break. The second half didn't get any better for the Chiefs as Eastmont put 31 points on the board to Moses Lake's 19 to win going away.

Hirz was high scorer for the Chiefs with 11 points.

"We were spent in the game against Eastmont, Hohman said. "We weren't ready to go ... turned the ball over too many times, and couldn't make our shots."

The losses over the weekend drops Moses Lake to 4-8 in league play and leaves the Chiefs as the No. 4 seed heading into the district tournament Feb. 15, where they will match up with the No. 1 seed, which appears to be Eastmont unless the Wildcats lose two of its last three games and Davis wins out.

Moses Lake is back in action when the team takes on Davis in Yakima Friday night.