Late basket sends Mavs to 58-56 win over Ellensburg

MOSES LAKE – Tied at 56 points to Ellensburg with under 10 seconds remaining, Moses Lake junior Kyson Thomas drove into the paint against his defender, stepped back, and took a short jump shot from the right of the basket.

“(Moses Lake Head Coach Jake Hunt) said ‘We have one play,’” Thomas said. “It was supposed to go to Joel (Middleton). He said, ‘If you don’t get it to him, go iso.”

Thomas’ shot dropped through the rim, putting the Mavs up 58-56 with 5.7 seconds remaining on the clock. The Bulldogs were fouled on their ensuing position, but a missed free throw clinched a 58-56 win over Ellensburg and a 2-0 start for Moses Lake.

“We were at their place last year, and they took it to us the second half,” Hunt said. “For our guys to bounce back and get that confidence felt really good. I’m super proud of them.”

Down 22-9 after a Moses Lake three-pointer in the second quarter, Ellensburg called a timeout and immediately went on a 7-0 run, later taking the lead on a three-pointer of its own.

Against a taller Ellensburg squad, the game plan for Moses Lake was to beat them in transition, Hunt said.

“If you look at our first half, we scored 17 points off transition points,” Hunt said. “Once they clamped down their defense and made us play half-court, we got out of a rhythm. They disrupted us and did a good job there, and thank goodness we found a rhythm in the second half.”

Locking down defensively led to more Maverick turnovers, which contributed a significant amount to the 18-5 Bulldog run to close out the first half.

“I think basketball goes off of who’s up and who’s down, and we were down,” Thomas said. “They took advantage of that.”

Now in the fourth quarter, Moses Lake found itself only up by one point. Senior guard Blaine Macdonald scored the first 10 Moses Lake points of the quarter, seamlessly driving into the paint against Ellensburg’s six-foot-11 and six-foot-seven big men. Macdonald finished the game with 18 points.

“(You) just get caught up in the game and start going,” Macdonald said. “Nothing’s really stopping me after that.”

The Bulldogs and Mavericks both delivered basket after basket down the stretch to tie the game at 56, where Thomas hit his eventual game-winning jumper.

“We thought ‘Hey, let’s get the ball into a situation where we can get it to our best opportunity,’” Hunt said. “Kyson, he hit that clutch short corner shot – that was a nice shot.”

Thomas finished second on the team with 13 points, four of which came in the fourth quarter. The junior credited the physical nature of the Maverick team for being able to drive into the paint against Ellensburg’s big men.

“Some things are easier, some things are harder, but that really doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” Thomas said. “We’re stronger, we’re faster, we’re tougher – that’s what we live by.”

With Saturday's road matchup against Davis canceled, Moses Lake returns to the court on Friday against Wenatchee at home.

“Off a big win against Walla Walla and not playing well last year against Walla Walla, losing against Ellensburg last year, they were a couple of tough games,” Macdonald said. “Intensity was up, we played our hearts out and we ended up with two wins this week.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect Moses Lake's schedule change.

Box score:

Ellensburg 9-18-13-16 56

Moses Lake 17-8-14-17 58