Runaway Warriors blast Eagles, Ki-Be in prep boys basketball

MATTAWA — The Surprising Wahluke High School boys basketball team is no longer a surprise. The Warriors proved last weekend they can play both ends of the court.

Exploding in the fourth quarter Friday at Connell, the Warriors won their first SCAC East contest, 89-72. Bringing the hammer down in the fourth quarter Saturday, they held Kiona-Benton scoreless to win, 51-21.

Connell had no idea what to do on defense. When the Eagles concentrated on one of the Warriors’ big three, the other two bombed the nets.

Sergio Pineda scored 28 points, Ricky Cabrera scored 28, and Nathan Buck had 19. Francisco Espindola added six points, Abraham Olivarez scored four, and Alex Valdez and Josh Gatica had two each.

“Wahluke played a great game from start to finish,” coach Clayton Buck said. “Teamwork and communication helped to secure the win in Connell.”

Coming home Saturday, the Warriors put their running shoes away and donned their work boots. They held Ki-Be to eight, nine and four points in the first three periods before shutting the Bears out in the fourth.

The big three cooled a little but, still, Pineda scored 17 points, Cabrera had 14 and Buck six. Another big contributor was Olivarez with nine points. Gatica rounded out the scoring with five points.

Ki-Be tried to offset the Warriors’ speed game at the start with slowdown tactics and tight defense. Wahluke matched the Bears defensively and trailed, 17-16 at the half.

Then it was time for Wahluke to take control. The Warriors did that with a 15-4 third quarter. They exploded in a 20-0 fourth period.

“We (formulated) a game plan during the half and finished mentally strong with better ball movement to end the game,” Buck said.

Wahluke takes its show on the road this week. The Warriors play at River View tonight and at Highland Thursday. Then they’ll take a long break before traveling to Royal on Jan. 6.