MLCA/CCS boys take district title from SL
The MLCA/CCS boys basketball team celebrates their victory and the subsequent district title.
Rebecca Pettingill/Columbia Basin Herald
Soap Lake High School senior Diego Garza (2) takes the ball down court as MLCA/CCS senior Pierre Boorman (32) guards him.
Soap Lake High School senior Diego Garza (2) starts to shoot a basket during the district championship game on Feb. 17 against MLCA/CCS.
MLCA/CCS senior Pierre Boorman (32) is shown mid-air after shooting the basketball in the district matchup against Soap Lake High School on Feb. 17.
The MLCA/CCS boys basketball team poses with its district title trophy on Feb. 17 after beating Soap Lake High School.
The MLCA/CCS girls and boys basketball teams pose together with their district title trophies Feb. 17.
WENATCHEE — The Moses Lake Christian Academy/Covenant Christian School boys basketball team took the district title on Feb. 17 in a tight matchup with Soap Lake High School.
Taking on Soap Lake for the third time this season, the Lions knew what they were up against. Soap Lake, however, wasn’t going to go down without a fight, despite taking losses in both previous games against MLCA/CCS.
In the first quarter, like many times before, MLCA/CCS managed to get ahead and stay ahead, ending the quarter with a small 9-6 lead..
Through the second quarter, Soap Lake seemed to let MLCA/CCS have their way. Soap Lake battled but kept letting MLCA/CCS score and widen their lead from three points to six.
Going into the second half, the Lions had a decent lead of 20-14 over Soap Lake. Soap Lake used the quarter to shorten that gap to 23-26. Despite not taking the lead back, Soap Lake was right where they needed to be to have a chance at overthrowing MLCA/CCS.
In the fourth quarter, Soap Lake made a big push to try to take the lead and even managed to tie it at 33-33 with 3:45 left on the clock. However, the Lions managed to pull it together, paired with several fouls by Soap Lake, and took the game in the final minutes.
The final score was 45-37, giving MLCA/CCS the district title.
The Soap Lake boys went on to fall to Riverside Christian on Feb. 19, 57-43, which knocked them out of the playoffs and their shot at state.
“I’m really proud of my guys; we were this close,” Soap Lake head coach Daniel Simon said. “I really thought we’d get them tonight but I knew it was going to be close. I knew it was going to be a battle that could go either way so I’m proud of my guys for executing our game plan and being right there where we wanted to be.”
MLCA/CCS boys will next play Northwest Yeshiva at Bellevue College on Feb. 26 in a regional-level game. The game is purely for seeding at state; neither team will be out if they lose.
MLCA/CCS head coach Emerson Ferguson was confident in his team’s abilities and did not seem to worry that Soap Lake would take the title from them.
“To be perfectly honest, I don’t feel like they ever took it from us. It was never a matter of them taking it from us; it was a matter of how we were going to keep it from them,” said Ferguson.
He felt that his team had played to their potential and had come in prepared, mentally and physically, for the pressure and challenge of a playoff game. He also noted that his team grew from that game because each player was able to see his own potential and value on the team and not rely on the one or two top scoring players.
