Richland boys putting up strong defense in MCC

There haven’t been too many surprises at the top of the Mid-Columbia Conference boys basketball standings.

Richland, as expected, is defending its league title with plenty of gusto. The Bombers are 8-3 overall, including 5-0 in the MCC, heading into Thursday night’s 7:30 p.m. matchup at Hanford.

Richland guards Steven Beo (26.3 points a game) and Landon Radliff (20.5 ppg) rank 1-2 in the MCC in scoring, but the Bombers are getting valuable scoring contributions from Tyler Kurtz (11.6 ppg) and Cole Northrup (6.3 ppg).

Richland leads the league with 76.6 points per game and is outscoring teams by 10.1 points a contest.

Right behind the Bombers are Kamiakin (10-2, 4-2) and Kennewick (8-4, 4-2), who are notoriously scrappy on defense and have played very well on the road. The Braves are led by Hayden Nelson, who averages 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds a game. Nico Benavidez paces the Lions with 17.3 points a game.

Walla Walla (7-4, 3-2) has four players averaging in double figures and allows 55.9 points a game, second lowest in the MCC. Andrew Harvey leads the Blue Devils in scoring (14.1 ppg) and rebounding (9.2 rpg).

But the lower half of the league standings has been a bit of a mystery, especially Chiawana (7-4, 2-3), which was expected to challenge for the MCC title. The Riverhawks have lost three of their past four, shooting 42 percent in losses to Richland, Southridge and Kennewick while their opponents shot 53 percent.

But Chiawana has one of the most talented lineups in the league. Andrey Voloshin (19.9 ppg) is third in the MCC in scoring, Jalen King leads the league in rebounding at 10.2 per game, and Cayden Cazier tops the MCC with 5.3 assists per game.

Southridge (5-7, 3-3) could be the most curious case of all. The Suns handed Kamiakin its first loss of the season in mid-December and recently dealt Chiawana an 80-67 loss. But they have struggled to keep up a consistent intensity on defense, which has led to some frustrating losses.

“We’re about a ‘C’ right now,” Southridge coach D.J. Traver said. “We’re a work in progress. Somebody on our squad needs to come out as a stopper. If you have that one stopper, everything else feeds off that.”

Traver has been pleased with his team for the most part, especially during the big wins, but knows there’s always room for improvement.

“They’re smooth when they understand what we want them to do and know every option off that,” Traver said. “That’s the way Chiawana and Kamiakin went.”

Gabe Vorheis (19.6 ppg) and Brad Morgan (11.5 ppg) lead Southridge in scoring.

Hanford (3-8, 1-4) has lost six in a row, a dangerous slide for a team that hoped to at least contend for the top Class 3A spot.

When the Falcons win, they win big, with an average margin of more than 24 points in victories over Eisenhower, Hermiston and Southridge. Hanford has lost some close games, too, losing three of the past five by three or fewer points.

Jacob Sivonen (17.9 ppg) paces the Falcons in scoring.

Pasco (1-11, 0-6) is looking for its first MCC win. The Bulldogs are being outscored by more than 16 points a game but still have some hope in leading scorers Sebastian Gutierrez (13.7 ppg) and Noah Elizondo (11.6 ppg).

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Richland boys putting up strong defense in MCC."