Medical Lake flames out in 1A district playoffs

One of the hottest teams in the 1A basketball ranks had its flame quickly snuffed.

The Medical Lake boys, winners of eight of their last nine games exited the District 7 tournament Friday, Jan. 20 at West Valley High School in Spokane following their second loss of the week, 51-48 to Freeman. Medical Lake finished the season 16-7.

Last Tuesday, Riverside held off a second half surge to beat the Cardinals 61-55, their first loss in the double elimination event.

"We didn't shoot well for one thing," head coach Arnold Brown said.

One of the crucial areas was their 3-point shooting where the Cardinals went a combined 12-52 for just 23 percent. "Teams were just packing it in and inviting you to shoot the thing," Brown said.

"It was like that week where we lost to Lakeside and Riverside (and) beat Cheney between those," Brown said. "We had a bad, horrible shooting experience."

Friday night, Medical Lake fell behind 32-21 at the half and trailed by 14 going into the final quarter before they staged a huge rally, outscoring the Scotties 19-8. Medical Lake cut the gap to three with three minutes to go.

The difference came at the free throw line where Freeman was perfect in the final couple of minutes with Jack Paukert sinking four foul shots that gave him a game-high 19 points. Tellas Johnson concluded his high school career with 17 points to lead Medical Lake.

On Tuesday as they faced Riverside for the third time in a week, Medical Lake again came out cold and trailed 38-20 at halftime. While they shot 12 of 24 from the field, they were just 7 for 27 from 3-point range.

But the Cardinals again staged another furious rally that started with a huge 15-4 edge in the third quarter that trimmed it to a 42-35 game heading into the final quarter.

Medical Lake would take a lead in the game in the final minute but the Rams' Brandon Morris was perfect at the free throw line allowing his team to regain the lead. After Medical Lake missed the front end of a one-and-one, Tyler Axtell, who led Riverside with 21 points, iced it with a foul shot.

"We had our opportunity there and we missed free throws at the end that would have tied it," Brown said. "That was kind of the story of both our losses."

Brown said the sudden end of the season hit his team a little hard.

"That was tough for the kids because you play some teams you've beaten a couple of times and all of a sudden you're struggling against them," Brown said.

Once again, Johnson led the Cardinals, and all scorers in the game with 25 points. Overall Medical Lake shot just 37 percent.

"We dug that big hole against Riverside," Brown said. "But we kept fighting and clawing and got us back in there."

Along with Johnson, other seniors who played their final game for the Cardinals included Dylan Rushfeldt, Zach Elder, Armondo Gomez and Elijah Farmen. Among starters who return for 2015-16 will be Cory Wagner who averaged 12 points per game, Jaelon Stith (11 ppg.) and Donte Brown (5.6).

"We advanced further than last year," Brown said. "We lost to good teams. That's what I tell our guys, this time of the year a lot of good teams go down."

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.