Wagner's last-second basket rallies Medical Lake past Cheney 36-35
Cheney's Brett Wyborney gets ganged up on by Medical Lake defenders Dom Harvey-Mitchell (33), Dylan Rushfeldt (5), Armondo Gomez (22) and Tellas Johnson (20) early in last Wednesday's Golden Feather Spirit Game, won by the Cardinals, 36-35 on a last-second shot by Cory Wagner.
Medical Lake got the victory they wanted, but not the wins they needed most last week.
The Cardinals lost a pair of Northeast A League games 57-52 at home to Lakeside last Tuesday and 54-43 at Riverside Friday, and their grip on a piece of the league lead they had going into the week.
But last Wednesday night Medical Lake rallied from a 14-point deficit in the final quarter to stun Cheney 36-35 in the Golden Feather Spirit Game on Cory Wagner's last-second basket.
"We enjoyed the week, took our two lumps and now we have to get back to work," Medical Lake head coach Arnold Brown said.
Wagner, like his Cardinal teammates had struggled all night in the Spirit Game. The junior guard ended up with just eight points on the night. His team scored just nine points in the first half.
Cheney led from the early going in a raggedly played contest on a basket by Riley Jones with 6 minutes and 25 seconds remaining in the first quarter and never trailed, until the final second.
After Cheney (4-10) built their lead to 33-19 with 5:17 to play, a 15-2 Medical Lake run, ignited by five-straight points from Tellas Johnson and the team's one and only 3-pointer from Dylan Rushfeldt, trimmed it to a 35-34 game.
Cole Soliday, who knocked down 11 points in the Lakeside game, got fouled while lofting a 3-point shot from the top of the arc with 10.5 seconds to play. But the guy who Brown calls "his best free throw shooter" missed the first two tries.
"When I saw him miss that second one that's when we went to a timeout and talked about it," Brown said. "(I told him) 'it's OK Cole,' and that kind of thing and re-motivate him." That also allowed Brown to devise a play for a final shot.
The advice didn't work as Soliday clanked another one and the weight of the world suddenly fell on his shoulders.
Wagner quickly fouled the Blackhawk's Ryan Smedley with 9.2 seconds to play but he too missed his free throws at the opposite end.
Medical Lake (5-2, 8-4) controlled the rebound and Johnson was given the green light to get to the basket, if he could, or dish off to Wagner, which he did.
"He (Wagner) shot that over the biggest guy on their team," Brown said. "You want a buzzer-beater? Well that was a buzzer-beater."
Johnson led the Cardinals with 14 points while Wagner ended with eight. Jones had 12 for Cheney.
To add more pain for Cheney, Medical Lake kept their spirit competition record perfect at 5-0 by winning the voting and retained the Golden Feather trophy for another year.
Against Lakeside (6-1, 11-2) Medical Lake lost the rebounding battle 43-12 and that was a deciding factor in the second half where the Eagles outscored the Cardinals 26-19 and erased their 33-31 halftime lead.
Cameron Gay had 17 points for the Eagles to lead all scorers. Johnson's 12 led the Cardinals. Soliday added 11 and Wagner 10.
Friday against league-leading Riverside (7-0, 12-1), the game turned on a big second quarter where the Rams held a 21-12 edge and led at the break 31-21. Andrew Kramer led the Rams with 20 points. Dom Harvey-Mitchell led Medical Lake with 10.
"Our league's just loaded every night," Brown said of Riverside and Lakeside. "Both those teams are beatable if we play our A-game."
"The first go around, we're sitting at third at the moment," Brown said. "Now we start the cycle over and teams are getting better."
The NEA season moves into its second round this week when the Cardinals hosted Freeman (4-3 NEA, 6-6 overall) this past Tuesday and then Chewelah Friday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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