Ephrata stifled by Ellensburg's length in defeat
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Ephrata forward Kyle Hendrick (40) rises for a shot against Ellensburg.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Ellensburg senior Steele Venters scores two of his 24 points against Ephrata.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Ephrata's Lakota Lange (14) guards Ellensburg point guard Davis Grant.
EPHRATA — Ellensburg is a big high school basketball team.
And not just in its starting lineup.
The Bulldogs have only one player listed below 6-foot and six listed at least 6-foot-3. That kind of length wore on Ephrata as the game progressed, leading to a 62-45 defeat.
“It’s hard to keep up with that,” head coach Brandon Evenson said. “You’ve got to play longer, you’ve got to play bigger and that’s a hard thing to do.”
The match-up was difficult enough, losing all-league forward Josh Benthem for much of the first half proved to be costly as well. Benthem suffered a severe injury to his right pinky finger in the first quarter and did not return until late in the first half.
After defending an Ellensburg drive to the basket, Benthem approached a referee about his injured finger — askew at an unnatural angle — and was ushered into the locker room. Benthem finished with 6 points.
In addition to Benthem’s injury, starting guard Trenton Kleyn was saddled with two early fouls. The Tigers kept the score close in the first half, but points came at a premium against Ellensburg’s long-armed defenders.
“Their length bothered us,” Evenson said. “We had a hard time doing our stuff because of their length and so we’ll prepare for that when we play them the next time, but obviously Josh is pretty important to what we do and his finger going 18 different directions didn’t help us.
“I thought the boys that came in off the bench did a great job. Down the stretch they executed a little better than we did.”
Ellensburg’s player of the year candidate Steele Venters performed as advertised.
The 6-foot-7 wing scored Ellensburg’s first seven points of the game, had 11 total in the first quarter and a game-high 24. In addition to his size, Venters was the Bulldogs’ primary and would use his wiry frame to slither into the paint for shots near the goal.
The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 31-18 in the second half, building a double-digit lead for good in the fourth quarter when Ryan Ferguson broke away for one of his two dunks.
“We didn’t guard him (Venters) exactly how I wanted to guard him, but we were close,” Evenson said. “You can’t give him and-ones. You just can’t give him the and-ones because that adds up quick. He’s a great free throw shooter so you don’t want to put him on the line.
“We’ll get better.”
Box score
E 13 14 10 8 — 45
EB 16 15 17 14 — 62
Ephrata: Hunter James 11, Josh Benthem 6, Jayce Moore 6, Kyle Hendrick 6, Tyler Mack 5, Carter Cleveringa 3, Trenton Kleyn 3, Ravi McConnell 3, Lakota Lange 2
Ellensburg: Steele Venters 24, Ryan Ferguson 16, Davis Grant 7, Wyatt Franklin 6, Davis Spencer 5, Hunter Gibson 4