Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Colton vs. Gar Pal
bb pomeroy team
At the start of the season, the central question in Whitman County 1B boys basketball was whether Gar-Pal could beat Colton with Jake Straughan in the lineup.
With Gar-Pal’s three strong guards a year older, could they counter the inside presence of 6’7” Dalton Patchen and the outside threat of Straughan, once he returned from a football injury?
Three weeks ago, the Vikings answered the question by blowing out Colton, with Straughan in his third game back. Then they beat Pomeroy a second time to claim the outright regular season title.
But they would have to do it all again in the district tournament.
In the WIAA format, the regular season gets you a seed in the district tournament and the district tournament gets you to the road to state.
So no. 1-seed Gar-Pal met No. 2-seed Pomeroy Friday night in Colfax for the championship game and first berth to regionals. In a packed gym for what might have been a coronation, the Vikings lost, 56-44. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Colton dismissed Rosalia by 32 points.
So Gar-Pal and Colton reconvened Saturday evening for a game to answer the question once more -- with everything on the line.
In the end, the Wildcats did it, 66-60, in an intense chess match of a game which, by halftime, needed a reminder that someone would have to win this and someone would have to lose it.
With Gar-Pal coach Tim Coles managing foul trouble, his first player to foul out was Jesse Lopez, with two minutes remaining in the game. The Vikings’ lone senior starter, Lopez delivered 19 points in another standout performance for his team only to be turned back at the brink.
Besides Lopez, Gar-Pal seniors Zach Kuehner, Matt Dymkoski and Adrian Green also wore the uniform for the last time Saturday, while Colton advances to play Sunnyside Christian in Yakima Friday night for a regional matchup.
“The team that we’ve had so long, it’s now in the process of breaking up,” said Gar-Pal junior forward Mitch Jamison. “That’s the hardest. Probably more painful than the loss itself.”
“This game felt like nothing else before,” said Straughan, his ankle wrapped in ice afterwards for tendinitis. “It’s awesome. The first part of the season was depressing when I couldn’t play and now we have the chance to get to Spokane. Last year wasn’t going to happen to us again.”
Colton 66,
Gar-Pal 60
At 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Colfax, the exclamation point came at the beginning.
On a Colton fast break in the opening minute, Patchen followed a missed shot with a dunk. The crowd in blue and white exploded, and with the Wildcats on the verge of taking early momentum, Gar-Pal went down the floor into the Colton crowd and Mitch Jamison took a shot he never takes. Open just past the free throw line, he turned and hit the jump-shot to distill Colton’s burst.
Then, as Tyler Thurman guarded Straughan, Gar-Pal’s defense held and soon the Vikings had their first lead with a three-pointer by Lopez to make it 11-9.
With Gar-Pal getting rebounds and drawing fouls, Lopez hit another three-pointer for 19-14.
Meanwhile, Colton’s shots weren’t falling like they were against Rosalia the day before. Nonetheless, enough still were.
Opening the second quarter, a whistle blew for a reach-in foul on Thurman at halfcourt.
In the bonus, Straughan hit two free throws and his team now lead 24-21.
Matt Dymkoski came in for Thurman and quickly scored on a weaving Thurman-like drive to the basket.
Colton’s Austin Meyer then answered with a move and a 10-footer to keep the Wildcats up by four.
On defense, Patchen kept blocking Gar-Pal shots after which the Vikings worked for another.
For Gar-Pal’s defense, with Thurman on the bench, Matt Holbrook stepped in to guard Straughan, and on a drive by the Colton star, Holbrook blocked his shot from behind, the Vikings got the errant ball for a fast break and scored to go back up by three, 32-29.
Nearing the end of the second quarter, Gar-Pal kept making free throws while Straughan and Patchen missed field-goal attempts.
With 19 seconds left, Colton gave the ball to Straughan, who worked for the last shot. He couldn’t get an open one, so he passed to Austin Meyer who missed.
Gar-Pal led 33-32 at halftime.
“In the locker room, Coach said he had nothing to complain about,” said Jamison later. “And that was kind of rare.”
Opening the third quarter, Thurman got his third foul a minute in.
Coles sent Dymkoski back in.
Then Holbrook, a sophomore captain, got a steal and score for 40-36.
Straughan countered, throwing a pass to Patchen inside for a two-footer and a foul. It remained 40-38 with the missed free throw before Straughan hit a 12-footer for a tie at 40-40.
Thurman returned to the game with 2:03 left in the third.
Twenty-nine seconds later he got his fourth foul – in a collision away from the ball.
Straughan then drove, passed to Meyer for two points and another foul. He missed the free throw but Patchen got the bobbled rebound and put it in, 46-43 Colton.
In the closing seconds of the third quarter, Straughan took the ball in his hands again and downed a 15-footer at the buzzer.
The Wildcats still led by three.
Early in the fourth, Lopez picked up his fourth foul and Patchen went to the line.
He made both to tie it at 54-54.
A minute later, Lopez drove to the basket for 56-56.
Colton’s Dillon Frank then fouled out with 3:07 left.
On the next possession, Patchen scored on a rebound put-back, before Holbrook again blocked a Straughan shot from behind right before a whistle blew for Lopez’s fifth foul -- over the back of someone he didn’t see -- with 2:27 left and the game tied at 58-58.
Lopez was gone. It was then that Straughan drove into the key and passed outside to sophomore guard Carter Dahmen open at the corner. He downed a three-pointer and Colton took the lead at 61-58.
Thurman answered with a drive and four-footer to cut it back to 61-60 and Colton called timeout with 57 seconds left.
Wildcats’ coach Seth Paine called for a double-screen play to create a handoff from Patchen to Straughan.
It worked as drawn for a lay-in and 63-60.
Gar-Pal then pushed the ball up the floor and worked it to Thurman who missed an 8-footer.
Then he fouled out, sending Straughan to the line.
On the bench, for the first time it crossed Lopez’s mind that his 19-3 team might not get past the district tournament.
Straughan went to the line and made both free throws.
The game was sealed.
“These last four years and this summer, I knew we could get to this point (again),” said Patchen. “My teammates, they wanted it with me.”
He had 22 points and 17 rebounds while Jake Straughan led the team with 25 points on the night.
“Dalton got nasty,” said Paine. “Dalton’s nose was wrinkled inside. He was very demonstrative in the locker room at halftime. I think you saw the will to win.”
The game advanced the Wildcats to a regional game a year after their season ended in the second round of the district tournament against Rosalia.
“It was a heavyweight fight,” Paine said of Saturday’s win. “Because of the magnitude of the game we were both basically playing for our seasons, and our seniors playing for their careers.”
He paid tribute to his team.
“It’s a testament to them, they’re closer than they’ve ever been. This team has a chip on its shoulder. It’s tough for us, we always follow the best team in the state,” Paine said, referring to the five-time defending state champion Colton girls’ team. “They got tired of hearing about the girls all of the time.”
Gar-Pal coach Coles praised his reserves especially in coming in to relieve starters in foul trouble.
“Every one of those kids I sent in did what they needed to do,” he said.
He noted Patchen’s inside play as key, noting his rebounding.
“They realized that they were going to have to hit the boards if they want to win,” said Coles. “Patchen and Straughan were both on at the same time which is absolute hell.”
Holbrook led Gar-Pal with 20 points in the game.
“It was a heartbreaking loss,” Lopez said. “We were not expecting this. But I’m still proud of my guys.”
Coles indicated that the weekend began with Thurman coming down with the flu Wednesday night. He was not at school Thursday.
“So we would have to survive that the next day. And the next day,” Coles said.
COLTON 72,
Rosalia 40
In the second of Colton’s three elimination games last weekend in Colfax, the Wildcats ended Rosalia’s season Friday afternoon at Jennings Elementary.
Patchen led with 20 points and 13 rebounds while Straughan scored 13, Dahmen had 11 and Frank 10.
Austin Meyer also added 11 rebounds and five assists.
Rosalia’s Craig Nelson, the Spartans’ second all-time leading scorer next to Rick Day, finished his career with a 23-point game while Cory Brown had seven and Ryan Maley six.
POMEROY 56,
GAR-PAL 44
Junior guard Brian McGreevy led the Pirates with 15 points while Tyson Fieder had 11 and Riley Bott 10 in the district championship game Friday.
Pomeroy led by a point at halftime before opening a double-digit lead in the third quarter. At one point in the fourth, they led by 20 as Gar-Pal continued to hit rim and glass but little net with their shots.
Pomeroy’s win avenged two regular-season losses to the Vikings, including a 46-28 score at Palouse Feb. 7.
REGIONAL ROUND INFORMATION
Colton will play District Five No. 1-seed Sunnyside Christian at Yakima’s Eisenhower High School Friday at 8:0o p.m..
Sunnyside Christian is the defending state champions. They beat Neah Bay in the 2013 state final.
Pomeroy will play in Pasco on Friday against District Five’s No. 2 seed Yakama Tribal. Tip-off is 6 p.m. at Chiawana High School.
“I’m never nervous, just excited,”
In a night of slow builds to no more than four-point (?) lead changes, Colton
In the end, a coronation ended with flowers in the dirt.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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