Richland continues to look like the real deal in MCC opener

Fresh off three impressive victories to claim the top prize at the Great Western Shootout in Utah, the Richland High School boys basketball team stormed into Pasco on Friday night and won its Mid-Columbia Conference opener 90-46 over Chiawana.

Cole Northrop knocked down 3 of 4 3-pointers (13 of 19 from the field) to lead the Bombers with a game-high 30 points, and Riley Sorn added 10 blocks and nine rebounds to go along with his 11 points.

Ranked second in the state in the first AP poll of the season, the Bombers beat host Orem — at the time the top-ranked 4A team in Utah — and Timpanogos last week to reach the championship of the Great Western Shootout, where it took down the No. 15 team in the country, Wasatch Academy, 67-66. Coach Earl Streufert said many of the things the Bombers did well in Orem carried over to Friday.

“Maybe the margin (in Utah) wasn’t as much as tonight, but, boy, we shared the ball, defended, rebounded, played fast,” Streufert said. “And we were also able to slow it down in the half court and find the right guy.”

Despite the ho-hum scoring, Sorn continued to add volumes to his highlight reel. The 7-foot-3 senior swatted a few balls into the seats, and at one point in the second quarter boarded three Richland misfires to finally slam home a two-handed jam — one of his two dunks on the night.

“Our whole offense, coach uses me a lot, and he focuses in on, every day, get the ball inside, work it inside-out,” Sorn said. “I get a bunch of touches inside, and then we can kick it outside and get 3s. That’s where I come into play.”

Really the only rough moment for the preseason (Tacoma) News Tribune Preseason All-State selection was losing the opening tip to Matthew Kroner, who even at 6-8 gives up nearly a half-foot to Sorn.

“Kroner goes up and gets the back side of my arm, like he has my arm and he pulls my forearm down,” Sorn said. “And I’m like, ‘What? that’s so ridiculous.’ And so we’re going to the back court and he’s just like, ‘I had to do it.’ We laughed it off.”

Richland rattled off 12 straight points (eight from Streufert) to lead 17-4 with a little over 2 minutes left in the first quarter, then finished the first half on a 13-3 run to lead 47-24 at the break to insure a comfortable lead throughout a game that featured only one tie (2-2 after 2 minutes).

Chiawana (1-6) was without the services of its second-leading scorer Taylor Kroll, who rolled his ankle in practice Thursday. Kroner picked up the scoring slack in his stead with 18 points to go along with his 10 rebounds.

Chiawana coach Chad Herron said Kroll warmed up, but was scratched at game time. He should be back by next week, but his absence in this game was a blow for the Riverhawks.

“It’s one of those things you cringe at, you wish you would have sent them home early,” Herron said of Kroll’s injury. “But as a coaching staff, we hope our guys learn, everything we talk about in practice, we know what we’re talking about, because we saw it tonight. The transition game, the defending, defending against their shooters, our post game is suspect. Everything we can get better at.”

Garrett Streufert went 7 of 10 from the field to add 15 points and eight rebounds for Richland (6-0), and Cody Sanderson had 13 points and four assists. The Bombers opened up their transition game with 18 assists in total, a product of a team that has kept its core group together for the past 3 years.

“These guys, they’re gym rats, they play together all the time,” Streufert said. “They’ll play anything, dunk-hoops, or they’ll set up their own tournament, they just play. Losing (2016-17 MCC and All-Area Player of the Year) Tyler Kurtz, we’re kind of trying to figure out how to fill the void with him gone.

“Cole’s been scoring it like crazy and guarding well, and we’ve got some other guys that are emerging, scoring the ball real well. ... You’ve gotta enjoy it. They play a special way, they play super hard and share the ball like crazy.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Richland continues to look like the real deal in MCC opener."