Who’s hot and who’s not. The latest basketball standings in the Mid-Columbia Conference

Here’s the latest in the Mid-Columbia Conference basketball wars:

▪ Chiawana boys went 3-0 over the last week, including a 90-87 win at Walla Walla on Tuesday night, as Cooper DeWitt sank a 3-point field goal as the buzzer sounded.

DeWitt finished with a team-high 24 points, while Dylan Ashbeck led Wa-Hi with 29.

▪ Watched Chiawana’s boys rout Kamiakin 79-49 on Friday night in what was a battle of the unbeatens at the time.

The Riverhawks shot a sizzling 49 percent from the floor (30 for 61), going 9-for-23 from the 3-point line.

But many more of their buckets came from lay-ins and offensive rebounds.

DeWitt may be the best all-around player in the Mid-Columbia Conference this season.

He led the Riverhawks with 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

I may have dated myself on television when I called Chiawana’s Connor Mendez the Riverhawks’ version of Vinnie Johnson — the Detroit Pistons’ top player off the bench in their heyday in the 1990s.

But it’s true. They called Johnson the Microwave, because he heated things up fast with his outside shooting.

Mendez is the same. He comes off the bench, doesn’t need much space for his shot, and heats up fast. He finished with 15 points, and he leads Chiawana in scoring this season at 17.2 points.

Kamiakin’s 6-9 center Kyson Rose looked good inside early, scoring 12 points in the first quarter with a series of turnaround shots and quick inside moves.

But he got no outside shooting help from his teammates, and the Braves finished with a 21-for-70, 30 percent shooting performance from the floor.

Seth Schmidt also did a good job defensively in the second half on Rose, who finished with 14 points.

Chiawana went on to Spokane on Saturday and beat Lewis & Clark 80-56 in a non-league game, while Kamiakin fell to Walla Walla 63-53 on the road the same day.

▪ MCC statistician Parker Hodge said that Southridge’s Tristan Smith is just 20 points away from hitting the career 1,000-point mark.

Smith could get that on Friday when the Suns play at Hanford.

Smith scored 28 points last Friday to lead Southridge over Hermiston 54-44 for its first Mid-Columbia Conference win.

On Saturday, the Suns won again, beating Pasco 50-46 to go 2-0 on the weekend.

In that game, Smith scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. He is second in MCC scoring at 21.5 points per game.

▪ Kennewick went 2-1 over the last week. That included an 84-72 win over Hanford on Friday, and a 78-60 victory at home Saturday over Richland.

However, the Lions fell 51-50 on Tuesday at Kamiakin, as Nate Gray Jr., sank a floater with 5.9 seconds remaining for the victory. Kyson Rose led the Braves with 24 points and 11 rebounds.

Kennewick’s Ayoni Benavidez had 18 points for the Lions, who rallied from a 16-0 deficit start to almost win.

While Benavidez continues to dazzle crowds with his play (he leads the MCC in scoring at 28.4 points a game), he got a welcome addition with the return of teammate Blaine Chavez last weekend, who scored 30 points total in his first two games back.

The senior Chavez missed the last half of the Lions’ football season with a bone infection, and had finally just been cleared by doctors to play hoops for Kennewick.

▪ Congrats to Pasco’s boys, who beat Hanford 65-56 on Tuesday night for their first MCC victory of the season. Nick Gutierrez looked good for the Bulldogs, scoring enough baskets from the 3-point line and on the drive to lead all players with 28 points.

Tyson Caulfield led Hanford with 22 points.

▪ Richland may have lost some star power from last season’s state-tournament team, thanks to graduation.

But that doesn’t mean the cupboard is bare for Bombers head coach Earl Streufert, and his team went 2-1 this past week.

That included an 85-62 win at home against Hermiston on Tuesday night, in which the Bombers — leading 41-39 at the half — outscored the Bulldogs 44-23 in the second half.

Streufert has really no varsity experience back — junior Ben Fewel saw little playing time last season as a sophomore.

“But these guys play super hard,” said Streufert on Thursday after Richland beat visiting Walla Walla 62-57 to hand the Blue Devils their first loss of the season. “We’re not respected, because they’re all new guys. But they play bigger than they are.”

Sophomore Twazae Gladney, a 5-9 guard, led Richland with 24 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and a 3-point dagger with under 2 minutes to play to clinch the win.

Gladney averages 12.3 points a game.

Andrew Albrecht — the team’s leading scorer at 17.2 points -- has been fun to watch, especially on offense when he moves without the ball. And Will McClelland (13.2 points) has a nice, quick release of his jump shot from the 3-point line.

Although the Bombers lost on Saturday 78-60 to Kennewick, expect the Bombers to have a say near the top of the standings near season’s end.

“I like coaching these guys,” said Streufert. “They’re young, and it’s fun.”

▪ Thanks to Ben Jacobs, former Richland High baseball coach and local sports historian, who reminded me this week in a cell phone voice message that Michael Cornia does not hold the Walla Walla High School boys basketball scoring record for a game.

Cornia had 45 points in a game last month against Southridge. At the time, Wa-Hi officials thought it could be a scoring record.

But Jacobs reminded me that Bob Beckel scored 48 points for the Blue Devils at the state tournament in 1955.

I Googled Beckel. Very impressive.

After Wa-Hi, he went to the Air Force Academy, where he played basketball. In one season, he averaged 22.8 points a game, which is still a school record for a season.

In 2006, Beckel was a member of the inaugural induction class of the Air Force Academy Athletic Hall of Fame.

More importantly, he went on to become a decorated Air Force general before retiring in 1992.

Girls basketball

▪ Chiawana went 3-0 this past week, beating Kamiakin 63-35 on Friday, and winning on the road 49-34 over Lewis & Clark.

Talia von Oelhoffen – the MCC’s leading scorer at 25.6 points a game — led the Riverhawks in scoring both nights, with 18 against Kamiakin, and 24 at LC.

Against Kamiakin, Chiawana forced 25 turnovers and turned them into 29 points. That was the key to the Riverhawks’ win. That and hitting 8 3-point field goals.

On Tuesday in Walla Walla, the Riverhawks used a 24-13 third quarter to pull away from the Blue Devils. Von Oelhoffen scored 24 points, while Delaney Pink added 15.

Rian Clear led Wa-Hi with 21 points.

▪ Hayley Middleton’s Richland girls had a rollercoaster ride this past week.

Thanks to Jayda Clark’s season-high 37 points on Thursday, the Bombers handed Walla Walla its first MCC loss of the season with a 74-63 victory.

Then on Saturday, the Bombers found themselves down 20-6 after the first quarter at Kennewick.

Yet they rallied to pull out a 54-50 MCC win, handing the Lions their first loss of the season.

That put Richland at 5-1 in MCC play, good enough for second.

But on Tuesday at home, Richland fell to Hermiston 47-42.

The Bulldogs exploded to outscore the Bombers 34-19 in the second half. Hermiston’s Jazlyn Romero had 14 points to lead Hermiston.

▪ Pasco continues to roll, beating Eastmont 58-26 on the road Friday, then running away from Southridge on Saturday 72-39, and finally getting past Hanford on the road Tuesday by a 55-47 score.

The Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers against the Suns, and outscored them 26-7 in points off of turnovers.

Super sophs Mya Groce (23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals) and A’niyah Heavens (16 points) led the way in the win over Southridge.

Heavens is the No. 3 scorer in the MCC at 19.4 points.

▪ Kudos to Hermiston going 3-0 in the last week.

Besides beating Richland on Tuesday, Hermiston routed Southridge 57-31 on Friday and topped Hanford 73-63 on Saturday.

Katelyn Heideman had 12 points (4 treys) to lead the Bulldogs over the Suns on Friday.

MCC boys standings

Games through Jan. 7

Chiawana 6-0 MCC/10-0 overall

Kennewick 5-1/7-2

Kamiakin 4-2/8-2

Walla Walla 4-2/8-2

Richland 4-3/7-4

Southridge 2-4/3-7

Hermiston 1-5/2-8

Pasco 1-5/2-8

Hanford 1-6/2-8

Tuesday’s games

Chiawana 90, Walla Walla 87

Kamiakin 51, Kennewick 50

Pasco 65, Hanford 56

Richland 85, Hermiston 56

Friday, Jan. 10

All times 7:30 p.m.

Hermiston at Walla Walla

Kennewick at Chiawana

Pasco at Kamiakin

Southridge at Hanford

MCC girls standings

Games through Jan. 7

Chiawana 6-0 MCC/9-1 overall

Kennewick 5-1/8-1

Richland 5-2/6-5

Pasco 4-2/7-2

Walla Walla 3-3/7-3

Hermiston 3-3/6-4

Kamiakin 1-5/2-8

Hanford 1-6/2-8

Southridge 0-6/3-7

Tuesday’s games

Chiawana 58, Walla Walla 49

Hermiston 47, Richland 42

Kennewick 88, Kamiakin 50

Pasco 55, Hanford 47

Friday, Jan. 10

All times 5:45 p.m.

Hermiston at Walla Walla

Kennewick at Chiawana

Pasco at Kamiakin

Southridge at Hanford