Colfax beats Dragons, holds second

Colfax senior Danny Robinson drives the baseline past St. George's Cade Peplinski in the first half Friday at Colfax. Robinson finished with 14 points in the game.

Colfax boys, who have already booked some battle wins in the league campaign, pulled out their biggest comeback Friday on the home boards when they dropped St. George's 51-45 before a home crowd. The Bulldogs struggled in the first quarter against the Dragons' pressure defense and trailed 5-16 after the first frame. They cut three points off the lead before the half and then exploded in the third quarter 18-7.

"It was really a great ball game," coach Reece Jenkin said.

The coach said Colfax began to adjust to the pressure defense dealt by the Dragons and came up with its own pressure which began to take a toll on the visitors, who have just one senior in their lineup.

Senior Jared Kneale led Colfax with 17 points and had a power night in the paint with 14 rebounds. Kneale's work under the bucket limited the number of shots St. George's, normally a sharp shooting team, could launch.

Danny Robinson hit 14 points for the Bulldogs.

Kneale and Robinson hit buckets to chip away at the visitors' lead, and Caleb Berquist hit a bucket to tie it at 34-34.

Going down the stretch, SG's Mitchell Ward dropped a three-pointer to get back within a point of the Bulldogs at 45-46, but Berquist answered with another bucket to make it a three-point game.

Jaydon Soncarty, who spent most of the night dueling the Dragon guards, went to the toss line and hit one for two to notch the Colfax lead to four points with 22.8 seconds left.

Colfax went into a drop back defense for the last seconds of the game, and Soncarty topped it off with two more toss shots.

The Friday win and a 61-27 cruise over a struggling Kettle Falls team on a northland trip Saturday put Colfax alone in second place behind undefeated Northwest Christian.

It also notched the Bulldogs into the top slot for the league's south side clubs. Holding that lead would net Colfax a top card slot in the approaching NE playoff rounds.

Colfax Friday will travel to Asotin to start the third part of the NE race, a second round with the five other teams on the south side. Asotin topped Colfax when the two teams hooked up early in the season.

"I know we have improved a lot since that game, and they have also improved," coach Jenkins said. He expects another close game with the Panthers who were rapped by the undefeated NWC team in the Friday round. The Crusaders' Ryan Ricks hit 50 points in the Asotin game.

Asotin is now 6-4 in the overall league race.

Colfax Saturday will host Lind/Ritzville/Sprague.

Colfax 51-St. George's 45: 5/16 14/11 18/7 14/11: Robinson 4 (2 3pt) 4-6 14, Soncarty 1 5-8 7, Carson Cloaninger 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Berquist 4 (3pt) 1-1 10, Kneale 6 5-7 17. Total: 16 15-21 f-13 51. St. George's: Erik Farias 5 0-3 10, Noah Halliburton-Link 3 0-0 6, Cade Peplinski 1 1-2 3, Dan Rigsby 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Zac Steele 1 0-0 2, Mitchell Ward 3 (3pt) 8-9 15, Alex Watkins 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6. Total: 16 9-14 f-22 45.

Colfax 61-Kettle Falls 27: 17/4 19/6 12/5 13/12: Robinson 12, Bennett Gray 3, Soncarty 1, Cloaninger 9, Berquist 10, Brett Kincaid 8, Kellen Becker 2, Bryan Rubin 3, Chase Baerlocher 2, Kneale 10. Kettle Falls: Charlie Andrews 4, Kole Dellinger 4, Cade McKern 5, Eric Mendez 2, Matt Thompson 20.