Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
kinzer colton
-- Jerry Morse photo
Colton senior Grant Kinzer passes the ball in a 66-45 win over Prescott Dec. 17 in Colton.
It may be the task of the Southeast 1B league this winter: to control Mason Bates.
The Garfield/Palouse 6'2”, 260-pound senior is the only Vikings player who started last year. Now he leads the team in scoring and rebounding as they carry an early lead in Southeast 1B league standings.
“He's our leader this year, and he's doing a good job of it,” said coach Steve Swinney, who guided the Vikings (6-1, 2-0) to a fourth-place state finish last year.
Alongside Bates in the current starting five are veteran backup Erik Anderson, another senior post player; Ely Hawkins, a sophomore wing who played significant minutes last year; Daniel Orfe, a junior point guard, and Blake Jones, a freshman wing/guard who started at Potlatch Dec. 30 over sophomore Tanner Anderson, who started earlier this season.
“We're still trying to find the best chemistry,” Swinney said. “Right now we've got six, seven kids competing for a starting spot.”
The Vikings beat Potlatch 53-51 in the Christmas break game to reverse an overtime loss to the Loggers at Palouse to start the season. On Dec. 30, Hawkins led Gar/Pal with 21 points while Bates had 12.
Bates' presence on the inside has an added twist this season.
“He's got an extra couple moves in there now,” Swinney said. “And he's so strong, even with people hanging on his arms, he can still get the ball up to the hoop.”
A key test for Gar/Pal will come Saturday against Pomeroy (3-0, 5-1) at home.
Overall the 2016-17 Viking's lineup looks to get the ball into the post a little more than before.
It is a fundamental of the game that never changes, right?
“In my book, it doesn't,” Swinney said.
Colton boys build
It was five starters, five double-figure stat lines for Colton Tuesday night in a non-league win over Grangeville. Grant Kinzer led with 18 points followed by Peter Schultheis (16), Reece Chadwick (13), Matt Wolf (12) and Brady Chadwick (10).
Grangeville (3-2) was led by Trey Dreadfulwater's 14 points.
The Colton boys now return to league play after two games in Spokane after Christmas at the West Valley tournament. Playing with almost 80 other teams in the non-bracket format, Colton beat Lake Roosevelt 71-45 Dec. 27 and Tonasket 71-68 the next day.
The Wildcats (4-4, 2-2) will now play a Southeast 1B league game at St. John/Endicott Friday.
Against Tonasket, Wolf and Brady Chadwick led Colton with 18 points each while Schultheis added 13 and Kinzer 10 points and 13 rebounds. Reece Chadwick added nine points in a game in which Colton shot 46 percent from the field.
Colton shot 49 percent against Lake Roosevelt and had nine total turnovers.
“We're taking care of the basketball and shooting a lot better,” said Colton coach Nick Simons. “We've gotten so much better overall. We're definitely getting there, it just took some time.”
Oakesdale 63, Valley Christian 20
Oakesdale boys Tuesday beat Valley Christian 63-20 to advance their record to 4-5. Oakesdale led 29-7 after the first half against the Valley Christian team which has yet to bag a win on the new season.
Kieron Anderson led the Nighthawks with 19 points while Cal Gregory added 14.
Pomeroy 57, St. John/Endicott 38
Hogan Heytvelt led the Pirates with 13 points while Oscar Morfin added 12 in Pomeroy's win over the Eagles Tuesday night. Cooper Lundberg led St. John/Endicott (2-6, 1-4) with 16 points.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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