Runnin' Vikes go cold from 3-point range in loss to Warriors
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin Herald - Big Bend freshman Mauricio Smith backs a Walla Walla defender into the paint during first half action.
MOSES LAKE — Big Bend big man Miles Brown had a career best, finishing with 17 points and 17 rebounds. But the Runnin’ Vikes shot a dismal 15.8 percent from the arc and let a game where the lead changed hands six times in the final 13 minutes slip away Saturday night at DeVries Activity Center.
Walla Walla used a 7-2 run with just under five minutes remaining to regain the lead and run it out on the Vikings, 79-68.
That customary Runnin’ Vikes explosive run-and-kick offense was more of a run-and-clank and they just couldn’t shoot themselves out of the funk, finishing just 3-of-19 from 3-point range. The Warriors (12-4, 2-1 NWAC East) weren’t much better from 3-point range, shooting just 28 percent (6-of-21) from downtown. In fact, the Warriors made four of their six 3-point goals in the final eight minutes.
They caught a huge break Walla Walla freshman Marcus McKone, who had missed his previous five 3-point attempts; hit back-to-back treys to turn a three-point lead into 73-64 with 3:34 left.
“We played with these guys for most of the game, but we shot really bad from the perimeter. I thought we played pretty good defense. We just couldn’t get anything to go,” said Blake Dittman, who missed two games with an elbow injury. “We know we can play with the best, and Walla Walla is one of the best teams in the East. We need play harder and look to get those offensive rebounds because they can make a difference in a game.”
The game was tied a half a dozen times in the second half. Big Bend (8-8, 1-3 NWAC East) took a 54-51 lead when Brown made one of two free throws with less than 10 minutes remaining. But the Warriors who had made just 6-of-21 from beyond the arc, got a big lift when Jake Albright buried a 3-pointer to tie it.
“I grew up playing guys that like to battle in the paint and that’s the way it was tonight,” said Brown, a 6-foot-8 freshman from Sandy, Ore. “It depends on the matchup, sometimes you need to front guys and other times it’s better to be between them and the basket. We played man the whole night and I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Walla Walla — Brandon Porter 15, Damen Thacker 11, Landon Radliff 16, Kendall Watson 7, Gary Engstrom 2, Trace Tiller 2, Jared Anderson 4, Jake Albright 16, Marcus McKone 6.
Big Bend — Mauricio Smith 10, Koby Huerta 15, Christopher Hawkins 8, DeAngelo Stowers 7, Miles Brown 17, Blake Dittman 5, Parker Christensen 6.