The Medical Lake boys varsity basketball crew found themselves on the receiving end of two losses in league and non-league play last week, giving up a total of 147 points against Deer Park and Cashmere.
Deer Park
The Card boys gave the visiting Deer Park Stags a run for their money in a hard-fought, back-and-forth game during Northwest A League play Friday, Jan 4, coming out aggressively from the initial tip-off. But in the end their efforts weren’t enough to stifle the high-flying Stags after turnovers and missed shots late in the game sealed the Medical Lake 63-55 loss.
The Cards pushed ahead several times during the game in front of the home crowd, but the Stags quickly came back each time. By the final buzzer the Cards were unable to recover the final Deer Park lead.
“Our man-to-man defense is extremely aggressive and that has the tendency to get us into trouble at times,” head coach Noel Hachtel in an post-game email.
It was a fast, physical game that resulted in plenty of fouls from both teams — Medical Lake chocked up 15 personal fouls by the final buzzer, but still better than their nearly 17-per-game average.
Senior Nick Mason lead the Cards in scoring with 14 points, hitting two field goals and pulling down six rebounds. Junior guard Jordan Petersen led in 3-pointers, sinking 3 of six attempts. Team co-captain Samuel Gollehon was the leading rebounder snagging 8 away from the Stags, with Alex Stith close behind with 7 rebounds. Garren Garza led in assists with 5.
Cashmere
The Cards traveled to Cashmere on Saturday, Jan. 5 to face the sixth-ranked Bulldogs on their home turf, where they again found defeat in an 84-63 dust-up.
Although Medical Lake led 17-13 at the end of the first quarter, it would be the last lead they would see on the scoreboard as the Bulldogs continued to stack up points for the remainder of the game. The Cards were only able to sink 9 points in the second half against Cashmere’s 24.
“I spoke to our boys at half time and said that they can’t squander leads against teams as good as this,” Hachtel said, noting that Cashmere was one of the top two teams in the state.
Hachtel said he felt the Card’s competed hard, but in the end lacked the discipline necessary to duplicate their first quarter efforts. Hachtel looked for a positive in the back-to-to back loses.
“I feel it was a terrific challenge for our boys to see where we stack up against that level” of competition, the coach said.
Cardinal Garren Garza led the team in scoring with 16 points, followed by Sam Gollehon with 14 and Ashton Hamilton-Becker with 13.
Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com
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