Cardinal boys charge back for pair of victories

The Medical Lake High School Cardinal boys basketball crew made an impressive showing last week, coming back to win two of their three Northeast A League games by an average of 31 points despite challenging odds.

Dec. 11: Medical Lake at Lakeside

It came down to the wire on Tuesday in a competitive 61-58 nail-bitter loss for the Cardinals. Alex Stith had 17 points with 14 rebounds, Jordan Petersen 14 points and six rebounds, Nick Mason 12 points and six rebounds and Sam Gollehon had seven points and 11 rebounds.

Dec. 14: Colville at Medical Lake

It was almost literally a David and Goliath matchup resulting in a 75-42 Cardinals route in a game where Stith was asked to sacrifice his point guard offense to personally take on the Indian’s massive 6-foot-5-inch Jory Dotts.

While Stith ran interference, the Cardinal boys shot 10 for 13 from outside the key, 48 percent under the net, and had 31 defensive rebounds.

“Hard to lose a game when your defense forces 30 turnovers and 17 steals,” head coach Noel Hachtel wrote in an email.

Nick Mason had 21 points with 10 rebounds for a double-double, Garren Garza 18 points with six assists, Jordan Petersen eight points and three steals; and Sam Gollehon had seven points and seven rebounds.

Dec. 15: Riverside at Medical Lake

The Cardinal defense shut the door on the Riverside sharp-shooting guards in another one-sided 72-43 victory against the Rams. Medical Lake shot 47 percent from the field, had 20 assists and 16 steals. Hachtel referred to the Ram’s offense as a “three-point shooting machine,” and went into the game looking to shut it down.

Hachtel was happy with the result.

“I walked away extremely pleased at the level of our play.  We executed our offense to perfection and our defense was even better.” Stith nailed 21 points and had nine rebounds, Gollehon 16 points and 12 rebounds, Ashton Hamilton-Becker 11 points, Petersen seven points and five assists and Garza nine assists.

The Cardinals are 2-1 in league play and 4-3 overall this season. They played a non-league game against Greater Spokane League’s North Central on Dec. 19 before taking the Christmas holiday off. Play resumes Dec. 27 at the West Valley Eagle Classic in Spokane Valley against Lake Roosevelt.

Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com.