Everyone scores in Moses Lake rout of Eastmont
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake forward Gio Walker passes out of the post against Eastmont.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake forward Kyle Karstetter (44) elevates for a shot.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake guard Dax Lindgren takes a shot against Eastmont.
Connor Vanderweyst/Columbia Basin Herald Moses Lake point guard Cory Kunjara drives to the basket.
MOSES LAKE — Lingchi is translated variously to death by 1,000 cuts.
Moses Lake may not have made that many cuts Saturday against Eastmont, but its off-ball movement led to several open looks at the rim.
The Chiefs never trailed, every player scored and they won handily 77-43.
“It came together tonight,” head coach John Hohman said. “We’ve always stressed it. In our individual attention portion of our practices that’s what we focus on and we haven’t seen it... We need those perimeter players to be a threat rather than predictable. We need them to be hard to guard.”
Point guard Cory Kunjara took that message to heart.
Kunjara led all scorers with 15 points on just six shots as Moses Lake was as efficient as its ever been; the Chiefs shot 65.9 percent from the floor, 63.6 percent from deep and 94.1 percent from the free throw line.
The result was an immense lead almost instantly.
Kyle Karstetter put back an offensive rebound to cap a 10-0 spurt to begin the game.
Gio Walker, in his second game back from a broken foot suffered during football, provided an obvious lift. The senior captain’s attitude and unselfishness permeated throughout Moses Lake’s lineup.
“Now he’s playing and he kind of grabs those guys and puts them on his back and now it’s not just Zach (Phillips) trying to do things,” Hohman said. “I think the scoring shows that. Gio had 12 rebounds last night so he works his tail off.”
Phillips — normally the top scorer — played facilitator against the Wildcats, drawing multiple defenders before dropping off a pass to a cutter.
Moses Lake continued to pour it on in the first half.
Kunjara hit a three-pointer from the top of the key that ballooned the lead to 21 points. Kunjara later hit another from long range for a 25-point lead.
A 44-16 halftime lead made the final 16 minutes of game time academic.
In the third quarter, Walker started a fast break and assisted to Phillips for a 31-point lead.
Eastmont showed some signs of life with an 8-0 run to make the score 53-30, but the deficit proved to be much too large for any realistic rally.
Next: vs. West Valley, Feb. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Score by quarters
E — 6 11 17 9 43
ML — 22 23 10 22 77
Scoring
Cory Kunjara 15, Michael Byers 11, Dax Lindgren 11, Kyle Karstetter 8, Evan McLean 8, Logan Sperline 7, Gio Walker 6, Zach Phillips 5, Jordan Rios 3, Zach Valdez 2, Lerenz Thomas 1
Sunnyside 51, Moses Lake 43
SUNNYSIDE — Sunnyside erupted for 21 points in the fourth quarter to hold off Moses Lake 51-43.
Phillips scored a team-high 13 points and Kunjara had nine.
Score by quarters
ML — 13 6 10 14 43
SS — 10 11 9 21 51