Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Rosalia ends Colton’s year, 61-49, Gar-Pal stays alive
There will be no Jake Straughan and Dalton Patchen in the state 1B boys’ basketball tournament.
The Colton junior combination and their team’s season is over after losing to Rosalia 61-49 Tuesday night in the district playoffs in Colfax.
Colton shot 13-for-56 from the floor.
Meanwhile, Gar-Pal stayed alive Tuesday night with a 54-44 win over Touchet.
Junior guard Jesse Lopez led the team with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists on a night which Gar-Pal shot 58 percent from the field. In addition they went 17 for 21 from the free-throw line.
Gar-Pal will now play Rosalia at 4 p.m. Friday.
Later that night, the district championship will be decided between LaCrosse-Washtucna and Pomeroy.
The two teams advanced with wins on the road last Saturday in the semifinals.
Colfax High School will host the final boys and girls matchups, along with loser’s bracket games Friday and Saturday.
The winner of the championship game will advance to Regionals while the loser stays in it to play the winner of Gar-Pal and Rosalia.
The winner of that game advances to Regionals as the No. 2 team from the Southeast 1B league.
The championship
LaCrosse-Washtucna made it to the final after a tied-for-third finish with Pomeroy at the conclusion of a topsy-turvy season.
The upset trend has continued in the playoffs as Pomeroy surprised Colton 72-52 in their gym last Friday to advance.
This Friday night, the league will settle into a matchup between a senior-heavy L/W team vs. inconsistent Pomeroy.
“It’s our first title game in a while,” said L/W coach Mike Jones, who graduated from Washtucna High School in 1993.
The Tigercats will be led by three-year starters Jed Zimmer and Justin Wargo, along with other key seniors Austin Summers, Alec Fleming and Matt Stubbs. Junior forward Darcy Stamper is always a threat as well.
L/W will look to cut down on turnovers after a flurry in the third and fourth quarters against Gar-Pal almost finished them last Saturday night. All the while, they hope to continue to be strong in rebounding, which ultimately proved the difference against Gar-Pal.
Against Pomeroy, in their two meetings during the season, L/W lost by two points at their gym and won easily at home by 12 in a game they controlled the whole way.
“Both games were physical and fast-paced, so I would expect a similar game,” said Jones.
The coach said this week his team has worked on their press-break and being able to create their own pressure.
The game will tip-off at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Colfax High gym.
“Our crowd’s been great and we feel very fortunate to be in this game,” said Jones. “I expect it to be a close one – another close one.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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