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By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter 

ML boys win pair in districts

Cardinals have solid shot for return to 1A state tourney

 

Last updated 2/17/2017 at 11:40am

Paul Delaney

Medical Lake's Nick Mason swats away a Chewelah shot in the Cardinals 64-40 win in district playoff action last Friday at West Valley High School in Spokane Valley.

See a photo gallery from the event here.

Medical Lake boys' basketball coach Noel Hachtel looked back on his first weekend of playoff basketball with maybe a sigh of relief, and a big smile.

His team earned a pair of district victories on back-to-back nights, a 66-40 crushing of Chewelah, Feb. 10, and following that up with a 61-55 win last Saturday against Newport, both at West Valley High School.

Those results send the Cardinals to the district title game which was also played at West Valley on Valentine's Day against regular-season champion Freeman, the top-ranked state 1A team in the WIAA RPI index with a 20-1 record.

Hachtel's concern heading into the Newport game might have come when one of his leading scorers, spark plug point guard Trenten Garza, went down hard early in the third quarter of the Chewelah game. He exited the game with help of training staff, and went through the postgame handshake on a pair of crutches.

A visit to the doctor Saturday revealed Garza had a knee sprain and should the Cardinals get out of this week, he would likely be back for the state tournament.

But the first year coach's smile had to come from not only the victory, but how the team rallied to fill in the talent gap Saturday.

"We got a lot of good play out of players we didn't expect," Hachtel said. He was referring to Jacquez Johnson and Derek Steege, two additions from the junior varsity team who had very notable games.

"They weren't scouted very well and that benefitted us," he added.

Johnson, known as "J.J.," pitched in with nine points and Steege added eight to fill in the hole left by Garza. "Johnson was the point man who got us going," Hachtel said.

Steege came out in the second quarter and hit a pair of important 3-point baskets, later admitting to his coach that he was dog-tired when he missed an easy layin. It was a reflection of the much quicker pace found at the varsity level.

Medical Lake (15-7) got its usual output from Nizhole Sherman with 17 points, and Joey Jasmer's 11 versus Newport (13-8). After a rugged patch suffering three losses in four games, the Cardinals have now won three straight.

They pulled away from a 30-26 halftime deficit with a huge 17-5 edge in the third quarter. "Fortunately for us Newport didn't hit their shots, from the 3-point line; they were 4 for 22 which is like 18 percent," Hachtel said.

Part of that was certainly by design as the game plan called for trying to stop one of the two Grizzlies' big guns, Koa Pancho or Danny Bradbury.

"We (only) allowed one of them to get going," and that was Bradbury who hit for a game-high 26 points, but Pancho just four. "Of that 26, he maybe had half that in the fourth quarter when the teams got in a shootout style game trading baskets - afraid to foul," Hachtel explained.

The Friday game proved to be a statement rematch after Chewelah (8-12) upset Medical Lake, 47-45, on Jan. 20 to begin the stretch that cost the Cards a shot at the regular season Northeast A League title.

"They (ML) wanted their redemption, they didn't play well at home the first time we played them," Hachtel said. "It was almost personal with them a little bit."

And Medical Lake showed it in virtually every category, especially on the scoreboard where the Cardinals led 34-16 at halftime, and rarely let up on the gas pedal. They had an enormous 43-13 edge in rebounding, and Sherman was on fire scoring a game-high 23 points.

As Medical Lake reaches the district finals, despite temporarily being without Garza, Hachtel sees his team getting back its old swagger that saw them open the season with six straight wins and 11 of 14.

"They're starting to play well together, starting to jell and they are jelling at the right time," Hachtel said.

The scenario moving forward is, win Tuesday versus Freeman, a team that beat them in overtime last time out, and Medical Lake advances to the state 1A round of 16. Lose and they are home Saturday night versus the No. 2 Caribou Trail team with a shot at a second consecutive state berth.

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

See a photo gallery from the event here.

 

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