Tiger comeback bid falls short
Ephrata junior Hans Roberts rises up against the Grandview defense in the first half of Ephrata’s 60-50 loss to the Greyhounds.
Ian Bivona
Ephrata junior Cody Black attempts a three-pointer late in the fourth quarter against Grandview. Black connected on four shots from beyond the arc on Tuesday night and finished with a team-high 15 points.
EPHRATA – After being down by as much as 11 points in the first half, the Ephrata Tigers rallied to cut the Grandview lead to one point at the end of the third quarter on a layup by Ephrata junior Cameron Zabala to make the score 43-42.
Grandview answered in the fourth with strong offensive rebounding down the stretch and used free throws off intentional fouls to barrel past Ephrata with a 60-50 win over the Tigers.
“The (final result) is not the score a lot of times, you’ve got to foul to try and get in the game,” Ephrata Head Coach Rick Walter said. “It’s a three-point game, we execute a perfect play to tie it and it doesn’t go in – but that’s basketball. It doesn’t go in as much as you want it to, that’s just the odds of shooting. We’re doing fine, we just have to close out a game.”
Having shortened the Greyhound lead to one point two more times in the fourth quarter, the Tigers found themselves down by four with 1:03 remaining. The ensuing three-point attempt was no good, and the Greyhounds hit six free throws to close out the game.
“We’re learning,” Walter said. “We just talk about being in the game in the fourth quarter and having a shot to win. We’re having that, we’re just not getting that done. Our guys are trying, and we’re executing at times.”
The Tigers had some success shooting three-pointers in the first half, with juniors Hayden Roberts, Aidan Devine, Cody Black and Landon Evenson all hitting at least one three in the first 16 minutes.
“They’re just good kids,” Walter said. “They just want to play, and they want to compete. They’re really trying, they’re soaking up everything – it’s a new system, and they’re really trying and buying in and that’s good to see. We’ll just keep fighting.”
Black got hot from beyond the arc in the third and fourth quarters to kickstart an 11-3 Tiger run to end the third quarter.
“That’s what Cody does, that’s his job,” Walter said. “He’s learning to do some other things too. That’s a skillset he has, and we’re getting him effective in other areas. He has confidence in him, and when he shoots it I think it’s going in, and he does too.”
Ephrata is back in action on Friday in a road game against Selah. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.
Ian Bivona can be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
Box Score:
Ephrata 11-13-18-8 50
Grandview 21-11-11-17 60
