Colfax boys top Dragons, run into Lancers’ power

Living up to pre-season predictions of being the power team in the NE, Liberty’s Lancers put down a 73-43 win over the visiting Colfax Bulldogs Tuesday night to extend their win string to five games. Led by 6’-6” Match Burnham who hit 31 points, the Lancers took control early in the first quarter and won going away.

Colfax cracked a four-point lead in the early seconds of the game, but the Lancers went on a 13-point run to take control. They led 43-25 at the half with Burnham already stacking 26 points.

Liberty Tuesday hosted Colfax after dropping the LRS Broncos 67-40 in their league opener at Ritzville. Burnham hit 40 points, including a 13-13 off the toss line, to lead the Lancers.

The loss left Colfax 1-1 on the league season with the Lind/Ritzville/ Sprague, a victim of the Lancers in the first round, booked for the Colfax gym Friday night.

Colfax traveled to Liberty after taking the comeback win over St. George’s 57-50 on the home court Friday night and then sustaining a close loss on the road to the Lakeside Eagles in a non-league game Saturday.

Friday in the league opener at Colfax, the fast-moving Dragons staked a lead in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs gradually began to chip away. They finally took the lead with the help of corner three-point shots by Hunter Weitze, who was allowed time to set up after moving unnoticed to the corner. Weitze finished with 13 points with three of the long shots in the mix.

Colfax took a 12-11 lead after a scrambling first quarter, but the Dragons started the second period with four unanswered buckets. Two of the hits were by Collin Cremers who topped the Dragons scoring with 15 points.

The Dragons led 29-24 at the half. Colfax closed the gap with Weitze hitting his first shot for a 33-33 tie with 5:02 showing in the third.

Keith Gfeller, who led all Colfax scorers with 18, cracked another threebie for a 37-35 Bulldogs lead, but SG came back for a one point lead, 39-38 at the end of the frame.

Colfax then went on a 19-point sprint in the last quarter with Weitze hitting his two other treys and Gfeller hitting one more.

St. George's point guard Felix Tsai went down with leg cramps at the with 4:41 left. The Dragons started to foul to get possession of the ball, and the Bulldogs, led by Kasey Johnson and Danny Robinson, collected enough of the shots to sustain the lead.

Saturday in the non-leaguer at Lakeside, the 3-point bombs which worked against the Dragons were mostly missing. After locking in a 9-9 tie in the first quarter, the Eagles rolled out a 14 point second quarter to take the lead.

Colfax came back after the break to scratch six points off the birds' lead, but Lakeside finished strong. Kasey Johnson hit a game-high 16 to lead the Bulldogs.

The win advanced the Eagles to 4-1 on the season with Ryan Quigley hitting 10 points and pulling down 15 boards.

Colfax 57-St. George's 50: 12/11 18/12 14/10 19/11: Danny Robinson 3 2-3 8, Mark Webber 1 2-2 4. Keith Gfeller 8 (2-3pt) 0-2 18. Hunter Wetize 5 (3-3pt) 0-0 13, Kenton Lyman 1 1-2 3, Kasey Johnson 1 7-10 9, Jared Kneale 1 0-0 2. Total: 20 12-19 f-16 57. St. George's: Cody Peplinski 2 (3pt) 5-6 10. Cade Peplinski 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Collin Cremers 6 3-5 15, Felix Tsai 2 (3pt) 2-2 7, Issac Werkman 1 3-4 5, Noah Halliburton-Link 3 1-2 7. Totals: 16 14-19 f-16 50.

Liberty 73-Coflax 43: 20/6 23/19 13/11 17/7; Robinson 12, Webber 7, Gfeller 4, Weitze 3, Lyman 4, Johnson 13, Liberty: Match Burnham 31, Chase Burnham 4, Fleming 15, Dumaw 6, Hammond 2, King 6, Pottraz 5, Simmons 6.

Lakeside 47-Colfax 42: 9/9 14/7 8/14 16/12: Robinson 8, Webber 5, Gfeller 9, Lyman 4, Johnson 16. Lakeside: Swannack 4, Christianson 8, Day 4, Reynolds 9, Watson 12, LaRiue 2, Quigley 10,