CBBS Phoenix splits games against Soap Lake, Manson

MOSES LAKE - Columbia Basin Secondary School (CBBS) boys basketball struggled early against Central Washington 1B South leader Soap Lake and fell, 31-48.

The Phoenix rebounded against the Manson Trojans the next night, scoring a double digit victory, 41-30.

Columbia Basin is currently third place in league with a 1-4 record and a 4-5 record overall.

Soap Lake jumped on the Phoenix early and built a 20-7 lead after the first quarter. The rest of the game was relatively even as CBBS was only outscored 24-28 through the next three quarters.

"My players now know we can compete with anyone, but also relearned we have to put together four good quarters and not just three," head coach Bob McCaffery said.

Columbia Basin's Dan Sielaff scored a team-high 11 points while Kyrelle Buckley added 10. Soap Lake's Nick Kapalo led all scorers with 16 points.

After only leading by one point entering halftime, the Phoenix tightened of their defense and held Manson to only two points in the third quarter. Sielaff scored seven points in the third quarter and the Phoenix held on for the 41-30 win.

"This was one of our better all around games," McCaffery said. "Manson is a young team but they have good athletes and play well. Tonight's game was one of our best defensive efforts of the season."

Sielaff recorded a game-high 27 points and Bo Charlton scored 13 points for Manson.

Columbia Basin is on the road for two games against Riverside Christian and Liberty Bell on Jan. 17 and 18.