Author photo

By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter 

Cardinal boys fall twice in two-point NEA contests

Medical Lake loses 54-52 at Newport, 67-65 in overtime to Freeman

 

Last updated 2/3/2017 at 12:17pm

Paul Delaney

Medical Lake's Trenten Garza goes to the basket against Freeman.

See a photo gallery from the event here.

There is no need for panic Medical Lake boys' head basketball coach Noel Hachtel insists following a week when his team lost twice and fell out of contention for the Northeast A League regular season championship.

The losses each came by a mere two points, 54-52 at Newport, Jan. 24 and 67-65 at home versus No. 1 Freeman - in overtime.

"They competed, we should have won both of them, but those happen," Hachtel said. "There's probably a lot of talk, 'Oh we're falling off,'" he added. "I actually think we're getting better."

Leading 62-59 with just 4.4 seconds to play and with the chance to put the game away with Skylar Johnson at the line shooting a one-and-one, the first shot was missed and a scramble for the ball ensued.

Perhaps a critical miss was not by the Cardinals but rather the official who failed to see Johnson step out of bounds as a photo shows. But the play was allowed to continue with a Freeman player grabbing the ball and quickly flinging to Ryan Maine for a last-second hope shot from between 35-40 feet that tied the game at the buzzer.

Freeman had a 5-3 edge in scoring in the five-minute extra session. "Our hearts were broken after he hit that shot because everything sank after that," Hachtel said.

But the real culprit was the missed free throw, one of a number for the Cards who went 6 of 11 from the stripe.

Xavier Warmink-Butler led Cardinal scorers against Freeman with 17 points. Trenten Garza had 16 points and 11 assists. "He was responsible for 38 points that night," Hachtel said of Garza.

With Maine and Michael Coumont each averaging about 20 points per game, Hachtel said the game plan was to at least limit one of their stats lines.

They did the job on Coumont, holding him to six points where he shot just 3 of 14 from the floor. "He missed all six of his 3-point shots," Hachtel said.

And after scoring the big share of his game-high 26 points in the first half, Maine was more or less stymied in the second half, with just one field goal, prior to the dagger he tossed in at the end. "He hit that perfect," Hachtel said with a laugh.

"We should have known it was going in, he's a golfer and knows angles," Hachtel said.

After falling way behind in the game against Newport when the Grizzlies outscored the Cards 24-8 in the first period, Medical Lake made a rally that fell tantalizingly short.

"We were down 54-52, which was the final score, seven seconds left we steal the ball," Hachtel said.

Warmink-Butler was intentionally fouled and earned two free throws. "He has two free throws and we get the ball; Xavier misses both free throws, so we take the ball out and drew up a beautiful set," Hachtel said.

Garza got a pass from Butler, drove the lane, put up a shot but was whistled for an offensive foul. Butler led the team with 15 points while Nizhole Sherman added 14.

Despite losing three of their last four games - by a total of six points - his team is playing good basketball, Hachtel said. "A bad luck shot on our end, and a terrible first quarter, and we're looking at upsetting two great teams," he added.

Medical Lake played at Lakeside (7-5, 9-9) this past Tuesday, and close out the regular season hosting Colville (3-9, 5-13) tonight (Feb. 2) at 7:30 p.m. on Senior Night. The playoffs start Feb. 8 at sites to be determined.

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

See a photo gallery from the event here.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024