Medical Lake boys' first loss is perfect 'wake-up call'

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

Last week's first loss of the season for the Medical Lake boys' basketball team was certainly a wakeup call. And it came at just the right time, perhaps?

Medical Lake opened play in the Eagle Holiday Classic tournament at West Valley in the Spokane Valley Dec. 27, with a 46-43 loss to 2-8 Sandpoint, Idaho. But the Cardinals finished with a resounding 63-50 win over perennial B-tournament team, St. George's, Dec. 29.

"The loss to Sandpoint was probably a good thing for us, because we finished with a quality win," head coach Noel Hachtel said.

The Cardinals, 3-0 in Northeast A League play, tied with Freeman (8-1 overall) for the top spot, and 7-1 overall, face off against the Scotties Friday, Jan. 6, on the road at 5:45 p.m. That contest comes after the resumption of league play Jan. 3 at home against Newport (2-1 NEA, 5-4).

"Our next three games are going to be the toughest," Hachtel said. In a week's time, "We have Newport, we're at No. 1 Freeman (3-0, 8-1) and Lakeside (2-1, 4-5), it's going to be a tough stretch for us."

"It will test our character," he added.

In that earlier character check versus the Idaho 5A Bulldogs, a lot of factors seemed to be in play for the Cardinals, Hachtel said.

"Playing at 9 a.m., it was kind of a strange game," Hachtel said. "I've never had a team where everybody that was on the floor - because I tried everybody - just couldn't get it going on offense; there was a lid on the basket."

And maybe butter on their fingers from an early breakfast?

"We had 15 turnovers, they only had three steals, so we just turned the ball over 12 times which is completely uncharacteristic," Hachtel said.

Nizhole Sherman led what little offense the Cardinals had with his 15 points the only double-figure scoring. Sherman, however, got in early foul trouble so, "It was tough to play him the whole game like we wanted," Hachtel said.

Defensively, "Joey (Jasmer) showed up and played his role like he's supposed to," Hachtel said. Jasmer had 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.

Medical Lake took a 35-33 lead into the fourth quarter versus Sandpoint, but was outscored 13-8 in the deciding minutes.

Against St. George's in the tournament's final game, it was the last eight minutes that changed it for Medical Lake. Trailing at halftime 28-26, but leading 40-39 after three quarters, a brief few moments turned the game around.

"There was a series where Joey (Jasmer) got a block, which led to a fast break," Hachtel explained. Porter Westfall drained a 3-point basket in transition. That was followed by a defensive stop and a basket by Sherman. St. George's missed their next shot and back came Sherman for a dunk as Medical Lake raced to a 23-9 edge in the quarter, and eventually, the win.

Sherman led his team, and the game with 16 points, but had plenty of support from Trenten Garza with 13, Drew Hostetter's 11 and Porter Westfall with 10.

Following the run of NEA games, looming on the horizon is the Jan. 12 Spirit Game when ML hosts Cheney.

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