Surging Chiawana boys looking to knock off Kamiakin
It looks like the Chiawana High School boys basketball team is peaking at the right time, as they’ll be looking to pick up their sixth win in the past seven games, and avenge their December upset bid that came up just short against Kamiakin at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Despite already having the conference’s top 3A district seed locked up, Kamiakin coach Brian Meneely made it clear after the team’s 65-62 win over Kennewick on Friday that there is still plenty of room for improvement heading into the final weeks of the regular season. A convincing win over the Riverhawks would be a sure sign of that improvement, after the team needed a big fourth quarter to pull away for a 54-50 win in the first meeting between the teams.
Senior guard Champ Grayson has been key for the Braves (13-4, 10-1) lately. He posted a then-career-high 21 points against Southridge on Jan. 12, followed by a 28-point breakout performance against Kennewick and another 24 points in a key win against Walla Walla on Saturday. That’s made for a dynamic 1-2 punch with fellow senior guard Garrett Paxton (the league’s No. 4 scorer at 17.1 points per game) who enters Friday’s tilt 49 career points shy of Steve White’s school record of 1,192.
Kyson Rose, a 6-7 sophomore forward, is expected to return from injury for this game, which could be (literally) huge for Kamiakin as they’ll be giving up quite a bit to Chiawana (7-9, 6-4) on the low block.
At 6-10, junior Matthew Kroner has used his ability in the post and from the perimeter — he’s shooting 42.5 percent from range this season — to gouge teams for 15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. He pairs up with 6-5 junior Israel Wallwork and 6-5 sophomore Seth Schmidt in the front court for all kinds of matchup problems, and the guard play is coming along steadily, with the now-healthy Taylor Kroll averaging 12.8 points per game and Austin Penny adding 11.7.
RPI GLANCE
Although the Richland Bombers boys (16-0) fell to No. 18 in the USA Today Super 25 poll, they rose a spot to fifth in the WIAA 4A RPI rankings, as of Thursday. Kamiakin is the top local boys team in the 3A rankings at No. 14, while a host of SCAC East teams are projected near the top of the 1A list, with Royal (14-2) at No. 3, Connell (10-6) 11, Wahluke (12-4) 12 and Kiona-Benton (10-6) 13. In 2B, Tri-Cities Prep (13-1) was ranked ninth, a few spots ahead of No. 14 Liberty Christian (10-6).
WEEKEND GLANCE
Here are the basketball games on tap this weekend in the Mid-Columbia. All are doubleheaders with the girls tipoff times listed (most boys games start 1 hour, 45 minutes after the girls):
Friday: Southridge at Pasco, 5:45 p.m.; Walla Walla at Hanford, 5:45 p.m.; Kamiakin at Chiawana, 5:45 p.m.; Richland at Kennewick, 5:45 p.m.; Prosser at Selah, 5:45 p.m.; East Valley at Grandview, 5:45 p.m.; Othello at Toppenish, 5:45 p.m.; Connell at Columbia-Burbank, 6 p.m.; Kiona-Benton at Warden, 6 p.m.; Wahluke at Royal, 6 p.m.; River View at College Place, 6 p.m.
Saturday: Pasco at Kennewick, 5:45 p.m.; Richland at Walla Walla, 5:45 p.m.; Chiawana at Southridge, 5:45 p.m.; Wapato at Prosser, 5:45 p.m.; Grandview at Quincy, 5:45 p.m.; Ephrata at Othello, 5:45 p.m.; Columbia-Burbank at Kiona-Benton, 6 p.m.; Warden at River View, 6 p.m.; College Place at Wahluke, 6 p.m.; Royal at Connell, 6 p.m.
Dustin Brennan: 509-582-1413, @Tweet_By_Dustin
This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Surging Chiawana boys looking to knock off Kamiakin."