Liberty Lancers to open NE campaign at Colfax

Colfax senior Dustyn Brown goes up for a bucket in the first half against Dante Myers of Deer Park. Jaydon Soncarty is at right for the Bulldogs.

Colfax boys will take a 2-0 record onto their home court when they host the Liberty Lancers in the first NE league game Friday night. The Bulldogs booked a 63-46 win over Deer Park in the Saturday home opener after rolling to Colton Friday night and defeating the Wildcats 66-48 in the new gym at Colton.

Colfax started the new season with three senior veterans at the top of the lineup with Dustyn Hall, Keith Gfeller and Kenton Lyman. Danny Robinson, Caleb Brown and Jared Kneale return as juniors, and Caleb Berquist, Jaydon Soncarty, Cal Gregory, Brett Kincaid and Tucker Gleason are sophomores on the team at the start of the year.

Last year, the Bulldogs’ season ended at Whitman College when they were bumped from the playoff trail in the last game of the SE-NE qualifier.

Kasey Johnson, Brent Becker and Hunter Weitze were senior grads off of last year's team.

Liberty, which went all the way to the 2B title game last March at Spokane, will come to Colfax Friday for the first round of a long NE season.

The Lancers start the league campaign with Clay Fleming, Match Burnham and Jack Simmons graduated off the team which topped the NE last year.

Chase Burnham, now a junior, hit 23 against the Cardinals in the Saturday game and Tyler Haas, also a junior, hit nine when the Lancers defeated Medical Lake.

Deer Park came to town Saturday under the leadership of Chase Hand, a 1998 graduate of Colfax. Hand, who earned his college degrees at Eastern, has coached at Deer Park for six years with the last four as head coach.

The Stags posted a 15-11 lead after the first quarter, but the Bulldogs came to life for 18 points in the second frame with Gfeller zoning in on the three points show. He finished with five of the threebies for the night and totaled 30 points. He also had 13 of the team's 26 rebounds.

“Being a senior, he needed to establish himself as a team leader, and I think he did that Saturday," coach Reece Jenkin noted.

Colfax posted a 29-21 lead at halftime and opened the gap up by another 10 points in the second half.

The Stags sustained a setback when 6'-3” Mike Palmer, an early power in the key, had to sit down midway through the second quarter with a three-foul load.

Robinson was the number-two scorer for the Bulldogs Saturday with 11 points.

Friday in the opener at Colton, the Bulldogs staked a 32-21 lead at the half and rolled up an 18-8 lead gain after the break on the way to 66-48 win over the host Wildcats in the season opener.

Robinson led the Bulldogs with 19 points. He and Gfeller each hit two three-point shots.

Carter Dahmen, who led the three-point roster with four, led Colton with 20 points.

Colfax Saturday will head for Ritzville to play the Broncos in the second NE league round.

Colfax 63-Deer Park 45: 11/15 18/6 19/11 25/13: Danny Robinson 4 (3-3pt) 0-1 11, Keith Gfeller 8 (5-3pt) 9-10 30, Cal Gregory 0 1-2 1, Jared Kneale 1 4-4 6, Dustyn Hall 3 2-3 8, Kenton Lyman 3 0-0 6, Caleb Brown 0 1-2 1. Total: 19 17-24 f-17 63. Deer Park: Riley Wilson 1 0-0 2, Dante' Myers 3 (3pt) 1-3 8, Austin Wisinger 2 1-2 5, Joel Overton 4 1-2 9, Carter Countryman 4 (3pt) 3-5 12, Conner Markham 2 (3pt) 2-3 7, Mikal Palmer 1 0-0 2. total: 17 8-15 f-19 45

Colfax 66-Colton 48: 20/11 12/10 18/8 19/17: Robinson 7 (2-3pt) 3-5 19, Gfeller 7 (2-3pt) 0-2 16, Gregory 2 0-0 5, Kneale 2 0-0 4, Hall 3 0-1 6, Lyman 2 2-3 6, Jaydon Soncarty 4 (3pt) 1-2 10, Brown 1 0-0 2. Total 28 6-13 66. Colton: Grant Kinzer 0 2-4 2, Brady Chadwick 5 (3-3pt) 0-0 13, Carter Dahmen 7 (4 3pt) 2-4 20, Luke Moore 2 0-2 4, Peter Schultheis 2 (both 3pt) 1-2 7. Total 16 5-12 48