No. 2 seed Colton dominates No. 1 Gar-Pal

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Feb 06, 20130

Like a taxiing 787 with a corrected battery, the Colton gym was about to get loud.

Colton junior guard Jake Straughan sees an opening on his way to two of his 31 points against Gar-Pal last Friday.

The Gar-Pal boys arrived there Friday for a game to seal the Southeast 1B League championship. With bleachers full on each side and fans standing in doorways, both engines were about to blare.

But they never really did.

There was no reason to, as Colton controlled the game from the start, shut down Gar-Pal forward Mitch Jamison and turned Vikings coach Tim Coles into a man on standby bumped off his flight home.

“If we played in the first half like we did in the second half, we’d have won the game,” said Coles. “We were playing east-west in the first half, we finally got north-south to the basket.”

Jake Straughan led Colton with 31 points and seven assists while lengthy forward Dalton Patchen had 17 points and 21 rebounds.

“You get the ball inside and you know that 6-7 kid is behind you,” said Colton coach Seth Paine.

Jesse Lopez led Gar-Pal with 10 points.

“We had our game plan and we were gonna get that W if we played as hard as we can,” said Straughan. “I’ve never seen this gym that packed in my life.”

The game began with a Wildcat surge, culminating in a 3-pointer by Straughan for an 18-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Gar-Pal got to the free-throw line a few times but missed while their guards worked the perimeter. Late in the second quarter, Vikings sophomore forward Jamison got his first shot off inside, which dropped short against Patchen.

Later, Gar-Pal guard Tyler Thurman passed inside to Jamison for two to put the score at 25-12 Colton.

The Vikings missed the front of another one-and-one before Straughan threw the ball to Patchen underneath for 31-12.

Half of the gym was loud.

Gar-Pal’s Zach Kuehner pulled up for a 10-footer and hit nothing but glass.

The Vikings’ Thurman could only touch the souls of his shoes.

Then Gar-Pal got the ball inside once more; a pass from Thurman to Jamison for a score of 35-14 at halftime.

With LaCrosse-Washtucna boys in attendance, watching their opponents for the next night, Colton took the floor after halftime and kept it up.

Dillon Frank got loose for a nice drive and under-the-hoop layup for 40-16.

Patchen hit a turnaround, Straughan missed him on an alley-oop, and Gar-Pal’s Thurman drove across the middle to score and get fouled.

The made free throw put the score at 44-27.

Gar-Pal’s Hunter Woltering followed with an eight-footer to cut the Colton lead to 15 with 1:30 left in the third.

The noise picked up. Was this 787 going to take off after all?

The Vikings cut the lead to 13 before Straughan broke through the defense for a drive and score to put it back to 15 going into the fourth quarter.

It never got any closer.

In the fourth, Gar-Pal’s Thurman scored on a fast break before Straughan answered with a three-pointer to distill more rising noise. Colton’s Frank then hit another three-pointer to make Gar-Pal like that truck chasing the plane in “Argo.”

Gar-Pal’s Lopez sent the ball into Jamison, who wasn’t aware it was coming and a turnover resulted.

Jamison got the ball again and, hounded by Patchen, put a shot off of glass only, then the bottom of the rim.

Patchen rejected another Jamison attempt toward the end.

With 42 seconds left and the score 66-45, the L/W players filed out.

Straughan’s performance was another big night in a building which he knows well.

The three-sport athlete names basketball as his favorite, and when there is no AAU game or practice to be at in the summer, he knows he can get into the school when the girls practice. Once inside, he practices in the secondary gym.

It’s usually him alone, shot after shot.

“We wanna play in March,” Straughan said.

The No. 2 District 9 playoff seed Colton will play next on Friday night, hosting the winner of Pomeroy and Touchet’s first round game.

The district championship game will be played in Colfax Feb. 15.