Wahluke basketball season closes one game short

MATTAWA — Abandoned by the slick-passing offense that led to a magical regular season, the Wahluke Warriors fell just short of the state 1A high school boys basketball tournament with a 65-41 loss to Granger at Wapato last Saturday.

The Warriors won their opener at the district tournament, beating Naches, 71-58. Then they fell to LaSalle, 62-59, to end up in the winner-to-state game with Granger.

Wahluke ran into challenges as the tournament was unfolding. Leading scorer Sergio Pineda was ill. He was strong enough to have a career night against Naches, but he contributed little against LaSalle and was off the mark against Granger.

In addition, Ricky Cabrera suffered a concussion in the LaSalle game and was finished for the season. He had averaged more than 10 points per game.

Coach Clayton hardly mentioned the hardships. He said only, “As a coach, I need to prepare them better.”

The Warriors had an un-typical slow start against Granger. They scored only nine points to Granger’s 19 in the first quarter. The margin was the same at half-time, but Wahluke’s poor shooting and turnovers allowed Granger to pull away in the second half.

The bright spot for the Warriors was a 5-second span just before half. They scored on a fastbreak, stole the ball and scored again to change the score from 33-19 to 33-23.

Wahluke closed to 33-25 right after intermission, then went cold again. Whether by turnover or rebound, the Warriors had a half-dozen consecutive possessions in which they could have cut the lead again, but they missed on every opportunity, often throwing the ball away. Granger re-ignited, and Wahluke could not respond.

“The team had slow start, and excessive turnovers made it hard to get going,” coach Buck said.

Warrior scoring was led by Abraham Olivarez with 12 points. Pineda added nine and Nathan Buck eight. Ulysses Gonzalez had six points, Francisco Espindola three. Josh Gatica two and Carlos Garza one.

It was a tough way to end the season, but Coach Buck chose to look at the brighter side of things. It was the first time in 12 years the Warriors had won the SCAC East title. He said the players grew, exceeded many expectations and accomplished milestones.

“We got as far as we did because of the dedication and hard work of the players; the commitment to set and achieve goals was evident early on,” coach Buck said. “Their attitude and effort was motivating to me as the coach. The community support and Wahluke family kept us going and was very encouraging. I couldn’t have asked for a better season.”

Naches, fourth in the SCAC West, gave Wahluke a go for most of that game, leading 30-28 at the half and trailing by only 44-39 after three periods.

But the Warriors slowly took control of the game after the half, taking the third quarter, 16-9 and running to a 27-19 fourth quarter.

“At halftime, we recomposed ourselves and refocused on our game plan,” coach Clayton Buck said. “We were able to come out and play a better second half and outscore Naches in the third and fourth quarters.”

Pineda, who led the Warriors in scoring all season, put down a career-high 37 points. He grabbed 17 rebounds, four steals and LaSalle’s attention the next night.

Senior Nathan Buck had a big night with 17 points and five assists. The rest of the scoring was Cabrera eight points, Josh Gatica five, Abraham Olivarez two, and Fayard two.

The victory gave the Warriors their best chance in years to qualify for state in a contest with Yakima’s LaSalle at Sunnyside. The No. 2 team from the west was taller and bulkier on the average and played to those strengths.

LaSalle’s game plan was to not allow Pineda to win the game. The Lightning concentrated their defense on Pineda and allowed everyone else to take their shots.

It didn’t help that Pineda showed up for the game rather ill. He had been able to play through the sickness against Naches, but his energy was real low for the LaSalle game.

“The LaSalle defense had something to do with it, but he was really sick,” coach Buck said.

Wahluke took an early 8-0 lead, fell back 9-8, and that was how the game went, with attacks and counter attacks. The Warriors led 45-42 after three periods, but the Lightning prevailed with their defensive game plan.

“It was a fairly even game, both teams played both ends of the floor, and LaSalle was able to knock down four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter,” Coach Buck said.

This time it was Nathan Buck with a career night. He poured in 28 points, took down four rebounds and made four assists. Cabrera had 18 points, 13 rebounds and five assists.

The rest of the scoring was Gonzalez five points, Olivarez five and Pineda three. While Pineda was limited on offense, he was able to corral 12 rebounds.

The Warriors finished the season with 18 wins and five losses.

“We created a lot of good memories,” Coach Buck said.