Bulldogs crunch Chargers to notch district semi slot

After posting a 1-1 mark in the Bi-County playoff at Reardan last week Colfax boys rolled out a heavy 93-39 win Monday in the first round of the NE district playoffs at Mt. Spokane High. The two-week district event includes five qualifiers from the Bi-County League and three from the Panorama League in the hunt for the two NE berths to the state finals Spokane March 3-6.

As the number-two qualifier from Reardan, Colfax faced Springdale, number-three from the Panorama League.

Kwinn Hanson of the NWC Crusaders and Dustin Huber of the Bulldogs go up for a board in the Bi-County title game.

“We just had tremendous shooting,” Coach Reece Jenkin commented on the first round District win. The Bulldog season high barrage included nine three-point shots with top scorer JJ Robinson hitting four in the first half. Robinson led the Bulldogs with 25 points.

The first round win advanced Colfax to Wednesday night’s semi-final round when they were slated to go up against St. George’s, the number-one Panorama team. The Dragons dropped Lind/Ritzville 62-54 in the Monday round.

Northwest Christian, the top league finisher who sustained a dent in the league win string at the hands of the Bulldogs in the Colfax gym three weeks ago, booked a revenge win in the title round at Reardan Friday night. The Crusaders came out with a powerful second half to defeat Colfax 53-41 and take the top Bi-County ticket.

Reuben Clark, NWC’s 6-6 sophomore who was hampered with fouls on the visit to Colfax, turned on the inside game in the second half for a run of buckets and rebounds.

Clark dropped 12 of NWC’s 20 points in the third quarter when the Crusaders erased a 22-18 Colfax halftime lead. The green club had a 10-point lead, 38-28, after that third period and they kept up the pace throughout the final quarter on the way to the title win.

“They just really took over in the paint,” Coach Jenkin commented on the inside game.

He noted NWC booked a 16-rebound edge on the Bulldogs. They led by four boards at the half and enlarged the gap by 12 in the second half, most of them by Clark.

Led by sharp shooting of Kwinn Hanson, Northwest booked a 10-1 lead in the opening minutes of the game, but Colfax came all the way back with the defense freezing NWC to just two points, a bucket by Hanson, in the second quarter.

Robinson led Colfax Friday night, also with 25, including four three-point shots. He was the lone Bulldog in double figures.

In the first round at Reardan Thursday, the Bulldogs fought off Lind/Ritzville 59-57 to advance to the BiC title game the next night.

Wednesday’s round at Mead featured all boys games, with two elimination matches for first-round losers and the two semi-final rounds.

The same format was booked for the girls Friday at Mt. Spokane.

Saturday will feature elimination rounds for boys and girls teams with 1-1 records, all at Mt. Spokane.

Title night and the final consolation rounds will be Thursday, and the final rounds Feb. 27 will pair the consolation survivors against the title night losers for the number-two state tickets.

Other first-round district scores: St. George’s 62-Lind/Ritzville 54, Northwest Christian 63-Reardan 43, Davenport-57-Selkirk 34.

Colfax 93-Springdale: 23/17 22/5 25/7 23/10: Caleb Bravard 7 (3 pt) 4-4 19, Will Hatley 5 (2-3pt) 0-0 12, Tanner Gay 3 1-5 7, Alex Teade 1 3-4 5, James Robinson 9 (5-3pt) 2-2 25, Brandon Gfeller 3 (2- 3pt) 1-3 9, Justin Berarducci 3 2-2 8, Tyler McNanny 2 0-0 4, Andrew Scholz 2 0-0 4. Total: 35 12-20 f-15 93. Springdale: Deylin Peone 1 0-0 3, Mitchell Peone 1 1-2 3, Pat Buck 0 3-4 3, W. Vanisi1 1-2 3, Conner Parker 3 2-2 8, Tomaz Symonwiez 4 (3-3pt) 2-3 13. Rodney Abramson 2 (3pt) 1-4 6. Total: 12 10-18 f-14 39.

Northwest Christian 53-Colfax 41: 16/10 2/12 20/7 15/12: Cole Ramey 2 2-6 8, Jack Shannon 0 2-2 2, Jon Williams 2 0-0 4, Daniel Kuiper 1 0-0 2, Tanner Dixon 2 0-0 2, Kwin Hanson 7 1-2 15, Reuben Clark 7 6-9 20. Total: 21 11-19 f- 12 53. Colfax: Caleb Bravard 2 (3pt) 2-2 7, Alex Teade 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, James Robinson 8 (4-3pt) 5-6 25, Justin Berarducci 1 1-2 4, Dustin Huber 1 1-4 3. Total: 13 9-14 f-f-16 41.

Colfax 59-Linda/Ritzville 57: 12/12 14/11 14/17 19/17: Caleb Bravard 4 (3pt) 0-0 9, Will Hatley 1 0-0 2, Brandon Hoadley 0 3-4 3, Tanner Gay 5 (3-3pt) 0-0 13, James Robinson 4 (2-3pt) 4-8 14, Justin Berarducci 5 1-2 11, Dustin Huber 1 1-3 3, Alex Teade 2 0-0 4. Total: 22 9-15 f-16 59. Lind/Ritzville: Bryce Hilzer 8 (2-3pt) 2-2 20. Brent Stromberger 1 1-2 4, James Stevenson 6 4-5 16, Colby Olsen 1 5-6 7, Jacke Eichner 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Chris Steinmetz 1 0-0 2, Jacob Schofstoll 2 0-1 4. Total 21 12-16 f-17 57.