Final regular season win underscores depth of Cardinal pride
Photo by Lee Hughes Senior Casey "Whomper" McLachman enjoys the sweet taste of victory after sinking the final basket in the Cardinal boys 56-45 victory over the Freeman Scotties at home Thursday, Jan. 31. The win earned Medical Lake a fifth seed in the District 7 playoffs.
It was a tough fight from tip-off to the final buzzer when the Medical Lake boys B-ball squad (5-7, 7-13) took on the Freeman Scotties (6-6, 9-11) on their home court in the final regular season game of the year. But the Cards had something to prove coming off two back-to-back losses in as many weeks.
Samuel Gollhehon sank the games first field goal, but the Scotties answered back with a 3-pointer in the first minutes of the game. The game remained tied until a Cards rally late in the first period saw them pull away after a seven point Alex Stith shooting bonanza to enter the second quarter with a 15-8 lead.
The Scotties came back in the second, penetrating the Cards defense and holding them to nine points to their 14, shrinking the Card lead to two points by the half, 24-22.
But it was Senior Night, the last game of the season, and Medical Lake's home court, and the Cards came out in the third period ready to defend their turf and play some offense, managing to hold Freeman to 10 points and gain a nine point lead by the start of the fourth quarter.
Freeman came back with determined offense in the final period of the regular season, but it wasn't enough to overcome the hometown crowd. The Scotties shrank the score gap to just three points until the Cards amped up their offense one last time. A Stith, Nick Mason, Garren Garza offensive juggernaut helped the Cards pull away with an 11 points lead with less than a minute left in the fourth. Freeman managed a single free throw, bringing the score to 54-45 with 40 seconds to play when senior Casey "Whomper" McLachman entered the game to score the final basket of the regular season with a fast-break two-point layup for the win and a massive roar from the hometown crowd for a final score of 56-45 Cardinals.
In the end it's the score that counts, and while Freeman beat Medical Lake in 3-pointers and double the free throw percentage, the Cardinals outgunned them under the basket 22-8.
Senior Alex Stith was again the Cardinal lead scorer with 25 points, including 10 2-pointers and going 5 of 7 in free throws. Stith averaged 9.4 points per game in 30 games as a Cardinal.
Senior Garren Garza averaged 9.1 points per game including 87 field goals and 17, 3-pointers in 31 games played for Medical Lake.
Senior Sam Gollehon played 31 games and averaged 9.2 points per game including 73 field goals and 31 3-pointers.
Senior Sam Steege played 17 games with 1.9 points per game. Seniors Hunter Horton and Grant Vercoe each played 15 games.
The Cardinal boys basketball squad will be tall next year, with four, 6-foot-2-inch or taller returning players in Nick Mason, Jordan Petersen, Nathan Jasmer and Andres Burdugan, while 5-foot-10-inch Ashton Hamilton-Becker and Eugene Haas will also be returning.
The Cardinals ended the regular season 5-7 in NEA play. Their record gave them the fifth seed in the District 7 tournament where they will once again face Freeman in a rematch on the road in a loser-out game on Wednesday.
A win against the Scotties will take the Cardinals to the district tournament at West Valley High School on Friday.
Lee Hughes can be reached at lee@cheneyfreepress.com
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