Wahluke splits games with Royal and College Place

WALLA WALLA — After stubbing their collective toes in a home loss to Royal Friday, the Warriors bounced back with a vengeance in a lopsided 80-59 win at College Place Saturday.

“I like the way the boys responded after losing a tough one to Royal,” coach Clayton Buck said. “We moved the ball better in transition — our defensive rotations were better, and communication on offense to set up our open shooters was better too.”

The first quarter was competitive with Wahluke holding a 15-11 edge. But the Warriors put together a 27-point second and fourth quarter to cruise past the Hawks.

Sergio Pineda led three Wahluke players who hit for double-figures with 22 points. Ricky Cabrera added 17. Tanu Buck finished with 16.

Royal 53

Wahluke 45

Ricky Cabrera pumped in 20 points, Sergio Pineda drained 16, but their efforts went for not as the Warriors dropped an 8-point ball game to Royal.

Both teams came out cold to start the contest. The Knights got the upper hand at the end of the first quarter, 13-11, when Owen Ellis hit from beyond the arc as time ran out. Royal took a 29-21 score into the locker room at the break and was up top 46-35 at the end of the third quarter.

Wahluke out scored the Knights 10-7 in the fourth, but was unable to close it out.

“Royal was better than us as we tried to push the ball and get them in transmission. Our defense was a little off on rotations too,” coach Buck said. “But we are looking to finish the second half of the season strong. New coach Ray Valle has got the Royal boys playing good all around  basketball — can’t wait to play them again — going to be fun.”

The split moves Wahluke to 3-2 in the East Conference standings and into a tie for third with Kiona Benton. Wahluke is 8-3 overall.

The team hosted Warden Tuesday, but the results were not available at time of press.