District bound: Lions advance to title game, defeat Waterville-Mansfield

MOSES LAKE — An offensive surge late in the second quarter carried on into the second half for the No. 1 seed MLCA/CCS Lions, who defeated No. 4 Waterville-Mansfield 58-39 on Friday night in the semifinal round of the Central Washington 1B district tournament.

“We started playing smart basketball,” MLCA/CCS head coach Emerson Ferguson said. “We weren’t playing smart basketball, and I don’t know if our mental preparation was where it needed to be to start that game fast like where we needed to be. We settled in and figured out what we could do and what we were going to do.”

After going down 9-2 in the first quarter and struggling on the offensive end, namely due to turning the ball over, the Lions slowly began to put together baskets to cut into the Shocker lead. Facing a 21-14 deficit with under a minute remaining before halftime, key baskets by sophomore Johnny Ferguson, freshman Max Gulenko and freshman Treyson Kast gave MLCA/CCS a 22-21 lead at the break despite being down for most of the first half.

“We play fast normally, and Waterville likes to slow the game down,” Emerson Ferguson said. “We had to figure out other ways to speed the game up; right there at the end we hit them with a press, and they weren’t ready for it. Got the turnover and ended up getting the bucket. It’s things like that, we’ve got to catch them off-guard.”

Kast, who saw his role increase Friday night due to foul trouble among fellow Lion players, hit a three-pointer to jumpstart the offense.

“I knew it was going in right after it came off my hand,” Kast said.

With sophomore Dennis Gulenko and senior Caleb Jones both in foul trouble midway through the second quarter, the Lions were forced to play with four guards on the floor for the remainder of the half and throughout the third quarter.

“It was frustrating because that’s not what you game plan for,” Emerson Ferguson said. “The good thing is that this team’s been resilient and versatile, and other guys were able to step up and fill the need that we needed.”

Dennis Gulenko and Jones didn’t re-enter the game until the fourth quarter.

“Our big man rotation, it’s part of our balance,” Emerson Ferguson said. 

MLCA/CCS’s offense came alive in the third frame, nearly matching their first-half point total and taking a 41-30 lead into the fourth quarter. The Lions put together another 18-point quarter over the game’s final eight minutes while holding the Shockers to eight points.

“At the start, we weren’t really prepared and didn’t come out aggressive,” Johnny Ferguson said. “We just started attacking the rim and kicking it down to the short corner, and we were getting easy lay-ups.”

Emerson Ferguson credited the team’s defense for holding off Waterville-Mansfield late in the game.

“It’s going to be that way all year, we have to play defense,” he said. “We were just allowing too much in that first half, so we just had to fix things. That’s what’s good, it was all stuff that was fixable. We had to adjust, and once we did, you started seeing the flow of the game change.”

With the win, MLCA/CCS advances to play No. 2 seed Soap Lake in Thursday’s district championship game at Wenatchee High School. The winner clinches a berth in the 1B Boys State Basketball Tournament.

“We can start faster, for sure,” Johnny Ferguson said. “Soap Lake’s probably going to try how (Waterville-Mansfield) defended us the first half, and we’re going to prepare for that. We’re going to do better.”

Johnny Ferguson led the Lions in scoring with 17 points, followed by Kast and senior Josh Robertson who each had nine points. 

“I thought I was ready to play,” Kast said. “I wanted to show what I could do, got an opportunity.”

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

Box score

MLCA/CCS: 5-17-18-18 58
WTR-MNS: 9-12-10-8 39

    MLCA/CCS senior Caleb Jones attempts a shot in the fourth quarter Friday night against Waterville-Mansfield.
  

    MLCA/CCS freshman Max Gulenko (20) looks for an open lane to the rim in the first half against the Shockers.