Medical Lake boys run NEA winning streak to four

The Medical Lake boys basketball team might be finding their stride just at the right time.

At least that's the hint head coach Noel Hachtel dropped following his team collecting three Northeast A League wins last week, and extending their overall win streak to four. The recent streak comes after the Cardinals endured an earlier five-game losing streak.

The Cardinals beat Riverside 67-42 on Jan. 15 in Medical Lake, won 80-70 on the road in Chewelah last Friday and completed the week with a 58-51 victory at home last Saturday.

"We are starting to gel as a team and the players are accepting their roles more and more each day," Hachtel said as his team improved its NEA record to 7-4 and 8-7 overall.

Paced by 21 points from junior Sam Gollehon, 15 from Derek Steege and 13 more from Dante Main, Medical Lake raced to a 32-17 halftime lead against Riverside (0-10, 2-14), who was led by the 14 from Kory Cross. The game opened play in the second half of the NEA schedule.

"Sam Gollehon is a terrific athlete," Hachtel said. "He's the type of player that will give you everything he's got while he's on the floor and on the bench."

It was a tougher atmosphere in Chewelah on Friday where Medical Lake's offense was on display in every quarter of this unusually high-scoring high school game versus the Cougars (4-6, 7-8).

This time most of the damage was done by Steege, a senior who has emerged from nowhere to become one of the many weapons Medical Lake produces on a rotating basis. His 23 points topped all scorers in the game, but he had support from Gollehon, Garren Garza and Nick Mason, all with 13 points.

"I get asked where Derek Steege has come from by every coach in the league," Hachtel said. Steege hails from a military family and arrived in Medical Lake four years ago.

"He learned the fundamentals of basketball through his father and his coaches playing AAU in Europe," Hachtel said.

Hachtel calls Steege, "The most consistent player, in that we know what we are going to get from him every day in practice or in a game." His strengths include a good shot from behind the arc where he shoots about 35 percent.

"And he always finds a way to secure a rebound over the tallest player on the floor," Hachtel added.

The pace was considerably slower against Deer Park (4-6, 6-9) where Medical Lake had to work to create a 26-22 halftime edge. Garza scored 16 to lead the Cardinals. Skylar Johnson had 14 and Gollehon 11, and were the only ML players in double-figures. The Stags' Isaac Berglund was the game's top scorer with 20 points.

Now comes a stretch of games that will prove if the Cardinals have indeed turned the page on a stretch of games that spanned the holidays and saddled the team with five consecutive losses after a 4-2 start.

The Cardinals were home to face Newport (8-2, 12-4), the state's No. 6 ranked team in the WIAA's RPI on Jan. 23 and on the road at No. 2 Freeman (9-0, 12-0) Friday, Jan. 26. Those two teams handed Medical Lake losses in the earlier skid. Sandwiched in the middle was a rescheduled nonleague game vs. Kellogg on Jan. 24. They close out the week traveling to 2B Liberty (11-2) in another nonleague matchup.

"We have been working on these things quite a bit and believe we are in a better position than we were a few weeks ago," Hachtel said.

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