Bulldogs break Liberty with fourth quarter surge

After shooting stones in the first half against a powerful Liberty Lancer team with a 12-0 run in the NE league, Colfax boys Tuesday found the bucket for 25 points in the last quarter for a 53-49 home win. The charge came after Colfax trailed 12-24 at the half against a Lancer club which hit its groove early.

Playing before a packed gym, Liberty in the first half dominated the rebounds and collected on shots while the host Bulldogs could not get the buckets to fall.

Liberty, ignited by a threebie from Kyle King, cruised out to a 12-point lead at the half, and then staked the first four points on the second half.

The game changed in the third quarter when Colfax began to keep pace with the Lancers, and then Colfax offense erupted in the last quarter with Mark Webber and Kasey Johnson leading the charge.

Down 28-40 going into the final quarter, Colfax booked four quick points on buckets from Brent Becker and Johnson. Webber then scored off a break and hit again on a base line drive.

That cut the Lancer lead to seven, 35-42 with 5:37 left in the game.

Johnson then shot a three-pointer to crank it down to 38-42 with the home crowd getting into the game.

Liberty then committed a turnover and coach Mike Thacker called a timeout to steady his squad.

Colfax tied it at 42-42 with Webber and Johnson each hitting two toss shots.

Liberty’s Match Burnham, who battled with Johnson in the paint for most of the night, fended off the Bulldogs with a pair of toss shots, but Webber came back with another four-point run, two on toss shots and a bucket to put Colfax back on top 46-45.

Johnson then hit his second trey for the quarter, and Danny Robinson added a bucket along the baseline.

Burnham then fouled Johnson in an attempt to get possession of the ball, and Johnson capped it with another two toss shots.

The Colfax charge came after they hit just five points in the first quarter. Three of those were on a three-point shot by Keith Gfeller for the first Colfax lead. Two toss shots by Webber were all Colfax had in the quarter.

The big win left Colfax at 11-1 in the league race with games remaining against Lind/Ritzville/Sprague on the road Friday and a home closer Saturday against Tekoa/Oakesdale.

Should both Colfax and Liberty finish out at 13-1, the Lancers figure to get the top slot from the south side of the NE because the league has adopted an overall points rule to resolve ties. Liberty’s 30-point win over the Bulldogs in the first round would give them the top slot when the NE league pairs off for qualifiers from the north and south sides in inverse order for the first playoff round at Reardan next week.

Saturday night, Colfax rolled to a 51-44 win over St. George's to stretch their league record to 10-1 and set up Tuesday's showdown clash with the Lancers on the return to the home court.

Colfax led by just three points, 25-22, over the Dragons at the halfway mark, but the extended the lead by seven more points with a big third quarter.

The Dragons chipped two points off the lead but couldn't close the gap.

Gfeller, who had a strong first half, led Colfax with 20 points, and Kasey Johnson, who led a strong second half, hit 16 points.

Issac Werkmen led the host Dragons with 13 points. Felix Tsai, who hit 16 against Tekoa/Rosalia in the Friday round, finished with nine against the Bulldogs Saturday night at St. George's

The loss by the Dragons left them a 6-6 before Tuesday's action.

Colfax 53-Liberty 49: 13/5 11/7 16/16 9/25: Danny Robinson 1 0-0- 2, Mark Webber 3 (3pt) 7-9 14, Keith Gfeller 4 (3pt) 0-0n 9, Kenton Lyman 1 1-23, Kasey Johnson 5 (2-3pt) 8-12 21, Brent Becker 2 0-0 4. Total: 16 16-23 f-19 53. Liberty: Chase Burnham 2 0-0 4, Match Burnham 4 2-3 10, Keith Dumaw 7 1-2 15, Clay Fleming 5 3-3 13, Kyle King 1 0-0 3, Jake Pottraz 0 3-4 3. Total 19 9-12 f-22 49.

Colfax 52-St. George's 44; 14/10 11/12 17/10 10/12: Danny Robinson 10, Mark Webber 2, Keith Gfeller 20, Kenton Lyman 2, Kasey Johnson 16, Brent Becker 2. St.George's: Cody Peplinski 10, Felix Tsai 9, Issac Werkman 13, Noah Haliburton-Link 4, Liam Sienko 5.