Boys basketball: Kamiakin tops Kennewick; Richland loses to G-Prep
A week after playing in the Mid-Columbia Conference boys basketball district title game, the Kennewick Lions and Kamiakin Braves met up with their seasons on the line.
District champion Kennewick had the home court in the MCC/Greater Spokane League subregional elimination game, but it was Kamiakin that left with a 70-51 victory and the No. 2 seed to next week’s Class 3A state regionals.
Garrett Paxton led the Braves (17-6) with 20 points, and Isaiah Brimmer had 17 points. Kamiakin, which beat Rogers 71-44 on Friday, was expected to find out its state regional opponent late Saturday night.
Dillon Plew finished with 13 points for Kennewick (13-12), which struggled a night after falling to Shadle Park 66-65 in the subregional title game.
Kamiakin ran out to a 20-10 lead after one quarter and was ahead 44-30 at halftime.
“They shot the ball real well to open the game, and they were physical on the boards,” Kennewick coach Bradyn Leyde said. “We were just playing from behind. We had a tough game last night and ran out of gas a little bit, but Kamiakin did a great job. Obviously they’re well coached, and they got a big win tonight.”
KAMIAKIN: Hill, Bailey 9, Garrett Paxton 20, Green, Pischel, Grayson 11, Brimmer 17, Nelson 11, Rabe, Larson 2. Totals: 29-56 5-9 70.
KENNEWICK: Olmos 3, Benavidez 10, Villamar, Bugal 8, Nieves 6, Pearson, Clark, Dillon Plew 13, Hernandez 4, Mejia, Norwood, Szendre 7. Totals: 18-52 11-16 51.
Kamiakin | 20 | 24 | 10 | 16 | — | 70 |
Kennewick | 10 | 20 | 10 | 11 | — | 51 |
Highlights — Nelson 11 rebs; Brimmer 5 assts; Plew 7 rebs; Bugal 8 rebs.
GONZAGA PREP 70, RICHLAND 54: Landon Radliff scored 20 points to lead the Bombers, whose season ended in a matchup of the top seeds from the MCC and GSL in Spokane.
Steven Beo was held to a season-low 10 points for Richland (18-5), 17.5 below his average. The G-Prep defense limited the senior guard to just 10 shots from the field. Cole Northrop also scored 10 points, but the Bombers shot just 33 percent (16-for-48) and 21 percent (5-for-24) on 3s.
The Bullpups (22-2) had a balanced scoring attack, led by 15 points from Kea Vargas and 14 each from Devin Culp and Logan Adams. They shot 54 percent from the field.
Both squads were upset Friday night, leaving the top seeds to battle for the final berth to the state regionals.
RICHLAND: Landon Radliff 20, Stevens 6, Wagar, Beo 10, Kurtz, Northrop 10, Streufert, Sanderson, Wills, Galliher, Smith 9, Sorn. Totals: 16-48 17-19 54.
GONZAGA PREP: Kea Vargas 15, Lockett 4, Culp 14, Beiber 6, Adams 14, Cooper 2, Watson 10, Eugenio, Morse 5. Totals: 29-54 5-8 70.
Richland | 11 | 17 | 7 | 19 | — | 54 |
Gonzaga Prep | 16 | 9 | 22 | 23 | — | 70 |
Highlights — Paxton Steves 6 rebs; Gabe Smith 6 rebs; Radliff 3 asts, 3 stls.
CONNELL 63, NACHES VALLEY 53: Gabe Tolrud had 19 points, and Brenden Turner scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half to lead the Eagles (19-5) past the Rangers for the SCAC District 5 No. 3 seed to next week’s 1A state regionals.
Naches Valley, which was outscored 12-2 in the fourth quarter in Sunnyside, got the No. 4 seed.
La Salle and Zillah played late Saturday night for the district title.
CONNELL: Turner 18, Hawkins 9, Meraz, Smith, Kroontje 5, Hopkins 4, Gabe Tolrud 19, S.Chase 8.
NACHES VALLEY: Wells 14, Slater, Coyne 2, Forbes 3, Whorton, Jarek Barbee 24, Stillwaugh 4, Callahan 6.
Connell | 16 | 16 | 19 | 12 | — | 63 |
Naches Valley | 20 | 13 | 18 | 2 | — | 53 |
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN 42, POMEROY 36: The Patriots defeated the Pirates in Walla Walla for the 1B District 9 No. 2 seed to state regionals. The loss ended Pomeroy’s season.
Chris Kelly finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds for Liberty Christian (15-8), which fell to Garfield-Palouse 61-50 on Friday.
Noah Olsen scored 10 points and made three 3-pointers, including a key one in the fourth quarter, for the Patriots.
“That gave us the separation we needed to finish them off,” LC coach William Keck said. “That put us up 37-30 with 3 minutes left in the fourth quarter. We held on from there with free throws.”
POMEROY: Wolfe 5, Guinn, Berglund, Cort LaMunyan 14, Caruso, Lytle 1, Morfin 8, Heytvelt, Tewalt 8.
LIBERTY CHRISTIAN: Olsen 10, M.Godwin 7, C.Godwin 9, Lesser 1, Mote 2, Chris Kelly 11, Eder 2.
Pomeroy | 11 | 5 | 8 | 12 | — | 36 |
Liberty Christian | 9 | 9 | 8 | 16 | — | 42 |
Highlights — Kelly 14 rebs, 3 stls.
This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 7:25 PM with the headline "Boys basketball: Kamiakin tops Kennewick; Richland loses to G-Prep."