Warden rallies to win state opener

YAKIMA — Warden senior Adam Richins laid out for a loose ball, diving across the floor to tip it to J.R. Delgado who took it to the other end for the lay-in. It was that kind of effort that helped the No. 7 Cougars (18-7) make Warden school history with its first victory at the 1A Hardwood Classic Wednesday at Yakima SunDome.

When the final buzzer sounded, Warden fans jumped to their feet knowing they had just witnessed something special. The Cougars defeated No. 10 King’s Way Christian 53-50 to advance to the 1A quarterfinals to face top-seeded Freeman on Thursday.

For Cougar seniors Adam Richins, Tanner Skone and J.R. Delgado it was more than just getting to the Dome, it was about taking care of business when it mattered.

“We’re 1-0 in the Dome so far,” Adam Richins said tongue in cheek. “I don’t even know what to say at this moment. I’d take a peek up in the stands when we were shooting free throws and see them cheering, all the blue. This is pretty special.”

Delgado had seven of the Cougars’ 20 defensive rebounds, that’s how bad he wanted it. The 6-foot-3 senior was crashing the boards and fighting on every possession. He finished up with 10 rebounds and 18 points.

“This means everything,” Delgado said. “Every one of us grew up in Warden and we all wanted to come out here and do this for the town. We were nervous in the beginning and our shots were a little off. In the second half we started driving trying to get to the line. We wanted this so much.”

Skone was the quarterback on the football team and once threw a touchdown pass to Zach Richins with no time on the clock. The 6-4 senior knows how to compete, and this was better he said.

“The time was now,” said Skone, who finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds, including some critical defensive rebounds in the second half. “We stepped up when it counted. I think the key was that we started to attack more on the offensive side, started driving more.”

Adam Richins scored six more points in the first half than the Cougars did as a team in the first quarter. They struggled early with just eight points in the first quarter and fell behind by 12 early in the second quarter against King’s Way, which played in the semifinals the year before. Richins knocked down a trey to make it a six-poit deficit with 2:08 left in the first half. Delgado had an offensive rebound and a put-back to cut the gap to 28-25 at the intermission.

“They were working a high-low. We were in pretty good position, but we were slow on the back side of it,” Cougar coach Wes Richin said. “(Matt Garrison) had 14 in the first half and we held him to two in the second half, which I thought was big. We took the high post out of it and they had to spread it around a little more.”

Skone gave Warden a three-point edge with a couple of free throws with a little over three minutes remaining. Delgado made the front end of two shots at the line with 28 seconds left to make it 52-47.

King’s Way senior Joe Mills drained a 3-pointer from the corner to cut it to 52-50 with 16.3 seconds left. But the Cougars were bound for destiny and made one more free throw down the stretch to put their mark in the Warden history books.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com

Score by qaurters

King’s Way 12 16 4 18 - 50

Warden 8 17 10 18 - 53

King’s Way - Nick Pulicella 8, Karter Graves 3, Joe Mills 12, Matt Garrison 16, Skyler Freeman 11. Totals - Field goals: 26. 3-point goals: 6. Free throws: 4-7. Score: 50

Warden - Zach Richins 4, Tanner Skone 11, Adam Richins 20. J.R. Delgado 18. Totals - Field Goals: 23. 3-point goals: 6. Free throws: 13-21. Score: 53