Wahluke falls in SCAC districts to Naches Valley
Wahluke sophomore River Buck stretches past a Naches Valley defender to attempt a layup during the second quarter of Wahluke’s 61-39 loss to the Rangers on Tuesday night.
IAN BIVONA/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Wahluke junior Andrew Yorgesen attempts a three-pointer during the first half.
During the fourth quarter of Wahluke’s 61-39 loss to Naches Valley, senior Cristian Madrigal brings the ball up the floor.
MATTAWA – A cold shooting night plagued Wahluke in its 61-39 loss to Naches Valley on Tuesday night, the opening round of the South Central Athletic Conference district playoffs.
“We could do a lot better than we did tonight,” Wahluke Head Coach Clayton Buck said. “I think tonight was probably our worst game of the season. We came out and battled against them last time – same thing, shots didn’t fall.”
The Warriors quickly found themselves down 10-0 in the first quarter, with the first points of the night coming off a three-pointer by junior Andrew Yorgesen.
“I think we got intimidated a little bit early, which is unusual for us,” Buck said. “Most of the time we’re pretty scrappy, don’t take the intimidation so much.”
Naches Valley staved off a 7-0 Wahluke run midway through the first quarter and hit a triple to end the first quarter, going up 21-12 after the first eight minutes.
“The guys were ready to go, I think they were chomping at the bit to get after it,” Naches Valley Head Coach Rick Hartman said. “We were lucky to get a little run there and set the tone. Wahluke scares us with their speed and athleticism, so we wanted to make sure we were the ones dictating the tempo.”
The Rangers continued to force the Warriors into errant shots and turnovers through the second quarter, doubling up Wahluke 36-18 at the half.
Hartman said the Rangers took lessons from their previous matchup against Wahluke, a 62-48 win on Jan. 7.
“We learned who their better players were and their style of play, and we tried to contain it,” Hartman said. “We started off with a press, which for the first few minutes worked, then they broke it down and we had to get out of it. The first time we played them it worked a lot better, but obviously, they made the adjustments as well.”
The home squad made a quick 6-2 run to begin the third quarter and cut the deficit to 16 points, but the Rangers kept their foot on the gas the remainder of the night. Naches Valley continued to pull away to a 61-39 win.
“We had a game plan, I thought the execution of the game plan was a little bit slow,” Buck said. “Didn’t anticipate our offense being that bad tonight.”
Wahluke will get another chance to advance in the SCAC playoffs with a home game against Connell on Friday. The Warriors split their matchups against the Eagles during the regular season, first losing 57-52 on Dec. 16 and winning 53-50 on Jan. 17.
“We’ve just got to find ourselves again,” Buck said. “The hangover from being league champs has a little bit to do with that. Walking into the game with the right mindset – I don’t think we had it from the very beginning.”
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
Box Score
Warriors 12-6-12-9: 39
Rangers 21-15-13-12: 61
