Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Straughan, Stamper, Patchen, Lopez, Thurman, Jamison, Nelson, Maley… these are a few of the names that will be heard in Whitman County gyms this winter.
The question is which ones will be called in Spokane in March.
In a year with at least three teams with strong returning players, if no local Southest 1B team makes it to state, it would be a surprise.
The 2013-14 year picks up after a back-and-forth league fight last year between LaCrosse-Washtucna, Colton and Gar-Pal, with Rosalia right behind them.
In the end, L/W prevailed, winning the district title, beating Wellpinit to make it out of Walla Walla and on to state, where they finished third.
This year, the Tigercats begin again after the graduation of key contributors Jed Zimmer, Justin Wargo Alec Fleming and Austin Summers.
Their departure leaves senior Darcy Stamper the Rajan Rondo of Whitman County basketball. Not only for the way he plays, but his team has left him.
Not completely, of course, but certainly the core of L/W’s third-place team is gone. Stamper, their leading scorer now begins his last year with a new group of starters.
In turn, the inexperienced L/W team leaves an opening for Colton and Gar-Pal to vie for the league title.
The Wildcats’ demise by upset at the district tournament last year made for a months-long mission to get back to basketball season.
Led by senior guard Jake Straughan – who will play at Idaho next year – and post Dalton Patchen, the Wildcats also bring back senior guard Jordan Druffel.
For Gar-Pal, their youth couldn’t quite put it over the top last year, but a core of sophomores are now juniors; Jesse Lopez, Tyler Thurman, Mitch Jamison. Their returning point guard, Matt Holbrook is a sophomore.
By all accounts, veteran Gar-Pal coach Tim Coles has got himself a maturing squad that could win a lot of games.
For Rosalia, the Spartans bring back key seniors Craig Nelson and Ryan Maley.
Elsewhere, Pomeroy looks to be a spoiler of Whitman County teams again, led by senior center Cody LaMunyan and junior guard Bryan McGreevy.
After looking unworthy at times last season, the Pirates finished second in the district tournament, made it to state and advanced to the third-fourth place game against L/W.
2013-14 league play began last week. Scores and summaries are as follows.
Gar-Pal 81, Liberty Christian 27
Matt Holbrook scored 13 points and Zach Kuehner added 10 as the Vikings increased their record to 3-0 in a game which they forced 25 turnovers.
In addition, Hunter Woltering had nine points and Mitch Jamison scored eight.
Pomeroy 70, St. John-Endicott 24
The Pirates led 47-7 at halftime in a big win over S.J.E. Robert Staples led the Eagles with eight points in the loss.
Cody LaMunyan and Bryan McGreevy led Pomeroy with 11 points each.
Colton 52,
Touchet 47
While Colton’s Jake Straughan and Dalton Patchen remain out of action recovering from injuries in the football team’s state quarterfinal loss to Rosalia, the remaining Wildcats responded with a win over Touchet to open the season.
Carter Dahmen, Brady Chadwick and Austin Meyer each scored 10 points in the game while Meyer had eight rebounds and Dahmen and Dillon Frank combined for 11 rebounds.
Gar-Pal 75, St. John-Endicott 26
Hunter Woltering led the Vikings with eight rebounds and four assists as Gar-Pal held the Eagles to 19 percent shooting in the blowout.
For scorers, Matt Holbrook had 14 points, Tyler Thurman had 13 while Jesse Lopez scored 11 for Gar-Pal. Robert Staples and Adam Blakely each scored 8 for S.J.E.
LaCrosse-Washtucna 71,
Lib. Christian 53
Joey Guske scored 26 points and Darcy Stamper had 25 as the Tigercats (2-0) won in Richland. Isaiah Ojeda led Liberty Christian with 20 points.
L/W 58, Tekoa-Oakesdale 30
Darcy Stamper scored 26 points and Joey Guske had 14 as the Tigercats opened the season with a win in Washtucna. Cooper Angelo led T.O. with nine points.
Wellpinit 68, Rosalia 67
Craig Nelson scored 36 points to lead Rosalia (0-2) as the Redskins of Wellpinit beat them by a point, with the margin coming from a banked-in three-pointer in the last minute by Brodie Ford.
Ford led his team with 25 points while James Best added 17.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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