Boys basketball roundup: Wa-Hi claims MCC 4A No. 2 seed
Mitch Lesmeister scored 18 points and Andrew Harvey 16 to lead the Walla Walla Blue Devils to a 63-52 victory over the host Southridge Suns in Mid-Columbia Conference basketball Tuesday.
Noah Porter added 11 points for Wa-Hi (12-7, 8-5 MCC), which jumped out to a 12-point lead in the first quarter and led by 17 at the half before the Suns (9-10, 7-6) rallied in the third quarter.
Gabe Vorheis scored 22 points to lead Southridge, which is a game ahead of Kennewick (10-9, 6-7) for the MCC 3A No. 2 seed heading into Friday’s regular-season finale. The two teams split against each other; Southridge plays at Pasco while Kennewick is at Chiawana.
Brad Morgan added 13 points for the Suns and Trevor McLaughlin 10.
Walla Walla, winner of five straight, is locked into the No. 2 seed and can skip next Tuesday’s district matchup of third and fourth seeds.
WALLA WALLA: Mitch Lesmeister 18, Cortinas, Greene 7, Funk 2, J. Olivares, Wicklund 1, Jo. Olivares, Babbitt 6, Porter 11, Harvey 16, Adkins 2.
SOUTHRIDGE: Gabe Vorheis 22, Sanders 3, Morgan 13, McLaughlin 10, Simon 2, Bjorge, Stevens, Crider 2, Platas, Ellsworth.
Walla Walla | 18 | 15 | 13 | 17 | — | 63 |
Southridge | 6 | 10 | 20 | 16 | — | 52 |
Highlights — Noah Porter 8 rebs, 4 stls; Brad Morgan 8 rebs
RICHLAND 66, KENNEWICK 63: A Richland free throw with 1 second remaining iced the game for the visiting Bombers and kept them undefeated in the MCC.
Steven Beo finished with 27 points and nine rebounds as Richland moved to 15-3 overall and 12-0 in league.
Kafaya Bugal had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Kennewick, and Sam Szendre scored 18 points.
“Sam was big for us inside, and it was senior night,” Kennewick coach Bradyn Leyde said. “He went out and made some big plays for us.”
The Lions had a chance to tie the score — and missed — with 6 seconds remaining, but they outscored the Bombers 20-13 in the final quarter.
RICHLAND: Stevens 4, Wagar, Radliff 18, Beo 27, Kurtz 11, Northrop 2, Sanderson, Galliher, Smith 4. Totals: 25-64 13-16 66.
KENNEWICK: Olmos, Benavidez 15, Kafaya Bugal 19, Nieves, Clark, Plew 7, Hernandez 2, Mejia 2, Szendre 18. Totals: 25-58 11-19 63.
Richland | 19 | 13 | 21 | 13 | — | 66 |
Kennewick | 14 | 11 | 18 | 20 | — | 63 |
Highlights — Northrop 8 rebs; Beo 9 rebs, 5 assts; Bugal 11 rebs.
KAMIAKIN 57, CHIAWANA 48: In a close game through three quarters, the Braves pulled away in the fourth with a 21-13 run for an MCC home win over the Riverhawks and the No. 1 seed for the 3A district tournament next week for the fifth time in six seasons.
The win also gives Kamiakin (15-4, 9-4 MCC) an automatic berth to regionals.
“We made our free throws (18 of 20), and (Garrett) Paxton and (Isaiah) Brimmer played well,” Braves coach Brian Meneely said. “It was a real team effort.”
Brimmer led the Braves with 18 points — including three 3-pointers — while Paxton had 16 points and eight rebounds.
Andrey Voloshin led Chiawana (10-8, 5-7) with 18 points, with Chandler Hansen chipping in 15. The Riverhawks are locked into the 4A No. 3 seed and will entertain Pasco in a loser-out game Tuesday.
CHIAWANA: Voloshin 18, King 2, Penny 2, Hansen 15, Cazier 5, Groce, Joseph 6, Garcia, Kroner. Totals: 19-54 6-9 48.
KAMIAKIN: Bailey 8, Paxton 16, Grayson, Brimmer 18, Nelson 13, Hill, Green, Rabe 2, Larson. Totals: 16-43 18-20 57.
Chiawana | 11 | 10 | 14 | 13 | — | 48 |
Kamiakin | 16 | 10 | 10 | 21 | — | 57 |
Highlights — Paxton 8 rebs; Grayson 6 rebs; King 5 rebs.
HANFORD 65, PASCO 50: Jacob Sivonen finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds to help the host Falcons (5-14, 3-10 MCC) end a five-game losing streak.
Ben Seaman scored 16 points for Hanford, while Tyler Miller had 10.
It was the Falcons’ second win — also against Pasco — in their past 14 games.
Kaleb Ash tallied 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (2-17, 1-12).
PASCO: Hernandez, D.Gutierrez 8, Kaleb Ash 11, Davila 2, Cardoza 3, Crawford 9, S.Gutierrez 10, Tate 7. Totals: 19-71 5-8 50.
HANFORD: Taylor 8, Eldred 2, Miller 10, Milliken, Seaman 16, Woodward 1, Sutey 2, Jacob Sivonen 23, Manderbach 3, Lanning, VanderTop. Totals: 22-49 17-28 65.
Pasco | 10 | 13 | 15 | 12 | — | 50 |
Hanford | 15 | 17 | 19 | 14 | — | 65 |
Highlights — Ash 7 rebs; Sivonen 12 rebs, 3 blks, 3 stls; Miller 5 assts, 3 stls.
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 84, ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT 47: Chris Kelly had 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Cameron and Mitch Godwin each scored 16 points to lead the Patriots past the host Eagles in Southeast 1B action.
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN: Olsen 9, M.Godwin 16, C.Godwin 16, J.Godwin 3, Lesser 8, Mote 2, Chris Kelly 19, Carter 3, Utley, Eder 4, Sullivan 2, Shupe 2.
ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT: Blakely 17, Webb 1, Le.Bailey 2, Lundberg 4, Fox 2, Lu.Bailey 2, Garrett Parrish 19, Archer.
Liberty Christian | 20 | 23 | 20 | 21 | — | 84 |
SJE | 11 | 11 | 15 | 10 | — | 47 |
Highlights — M.Godwin 5 assts, 4 stls; Kelly 13 rebs, 5 stls.
SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN 64, COLUMBIA-BURBANK 55: Chance Marsh had 14 points as the Knights shook off their eight-point third quarter to beat the visiting Coyotes.
Jermaine Broetje scored a game-high 16 points for Columbia-Burbank, which will play Tuesday at top-ranked Zillah in the first round of the SCAC district tournament.
COLUMBIA-BURBANK: Humphreys 12, Jermaine Broetje 16, Dixon 5, Brown 11, Hernandez 5, Martinez, Sorbel 6, Romm.
SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN: Wagenaar 12, Bosma 13, Chance Marsh 14, Duim 4, L.Marsh 9, Dykstra 4, J.Faber 8.
Columbia-Burbank | 18 | 5 | 22 | 10 | — | 55 |
Sunnyside Christian | 18 | 18 | 8 | 20 | — | 64 |
This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Boys basketball roundup: Wa-Hi claims MCC 4A No. 2 seed."