Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
cty boys bball
Reporter
-Don Marshall photo
Oakesdale junior Jacob Himes launches himself to take it to the rack versus Touchet Jan. 26 to hand the Pirates their second loss of the season.
Gray, spindly lines stretched across the loss column; cobwebs.
Pomeroy was 16-0 when they boarded the bus Friday afternoon for a game at Palouse. By the end of the night the cobwebs were gone, cleared out, dusted free by Ely Hawkins and the Vikings to make room for a “1.”
The next night, Jacob Himes and Oakesdale replaced it with a “2.”
The Pomeroy boys, atop the Southeast 1B league since the start of year, suddenly have two losses and are joined by a crowd. Now tied with Oakesdale (15-3, 10-2) for first place, both at 10-2 in league, Garfield/Palouse (13-5, 9-3) nips behind in third. Two games remain in the regular season.
Garfield/Palouse 46, Pomeroy 39
In the second matchup between the two teams this year, junior forward Hawkins’ 15 points and six rebounds led the way. Daniel Orfe, a senior guard, added 12 points.
A 12-2 first quarter score began the game, an early defensive showing by Gar/Pal that kept up as the night went on. Caden Sanderson and Blake Jones hounded Pomeroy leading scorers Jacob Tewalt and Ryan Wolf, limiting them to seven points combined.
The Pirates, however, got key scoring from Devon Caruso, who had 22 points, with three three-pointers in the third quarter.
It was not enough and they took their first loss of the year.
Oakesdale 53, Pomeroy 48
They wrote it down. At the start of the season, one of the stated goals for the Oakesdale boys team was to beat Pomeroy.
Last year, on the way to a sixth-place league finish, the team contended on many nights and began to win more games, beating Garfield/Palouse in the district tournament. But to beat Pomeroy, a perennial Southeast 1B league contender — and 2017 state 1B fifth-place finisher – would be the gold standard.
Oakesdale did it, the Nighthawks crossing-off their goal, 53-48, at Pomeroy Jan. 27.
“I would say, it was just joy,” said fourth-year coach Carl Crider of his team’s reaction. “Joyful. It’s been a long-term goal for this group to beat them. It’s just a great feeling of accomplishment for all our players.”
Oakesdale did it after pushing to a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, creating enough room for when Pomeroy came back.
At the end of the third quarter, sophomore guard Matt Hockett pushed the ball up the floor for the Nighthawks and passed to brother Kit, a freshman backup, for a lay-in and one-point lead, 31-30.
Into the fourth, the game tied at 41-41, Nighthawks reserve Simon Anderson, a freshman guard, hit a three-pointer to begin a run to put them up 10 before the Pirates’ Tewalt hit a series of three-pointers to cut it back. The clock then favored the visitors.
“We didn’t hit free throws down the stretch but the cushion we had was big enough,” said Crider.
Himes scored 20 points to lead Oakesdale and Kieron Anderson added 11 points. Tewalt led Pomeroy with 20 points in the loss while Oscar Morfin and Hogan Heytvelt added 10 each.
Oakesdale’s victory came after Crider’s team began the weekend thinking they had the second-place Southeast 1B spot to themselves if they could beat Pomeroy. But then Gar/Pal beat them Friday night. Now it changed. If Oakesdale lost, they could slip to third place.
“After Gar/Pal beat them, there was slightly more pressure to do it,” said Crider. “It gave our guys confidence that they’d been beat. At the same time, what if it lit a fire under Pomeroy?”
Now heading into the last weekend of the regular season – two games remaining – the Nighthawks and Pomeroy both have two league losses, one of them to each other. Both teams also lost to Gar/Pal.
“We’re in control of finishing first or second,” said Crider, of the regular season which will determine the seeds for the district tournament.
In the event of a tie at the end of the regular season, a tie-breaker draw was taken by Southeast 1B athletic directors at the start of the year.
This weekend, on Friday, Feb. 2, St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse will play at Oakesdale and Colton will travel to Garfield/Palouse. On Saturday, Gar/Pal will play at Touchet, St. John/Endicott/LaCrosse at Waitsburg and Oakesdale at Colton. Prescott goes to Pomeroy.
“Prescott is a scary team,” Crider said of what may come at the district tournament, starting next week.
Overall, Crider sees the win over Pomeroy as a culmination of work.
“It’s just been a lot of different guys doing a lot of little things,” he said.
Colton 79, Waitsburg 24
It opened with an 18-point first quarter for Colton junior Parker Druffel, before he finished with 35 points in a home win Jan. 27. He played just three quarters, ending with a stat line that included six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Matt Wolf added 13 points, 10 assists and eight steals while Luke Vining and Reece Chadwick each got six rebounds.
Colton 67,
St. John/Endicott/ LaCrosse 47
Parker Druffel delivered 32 points as the Wildcats won at St. John Jan. 26. Jon Bean added nine rebounds and seven steals while Matt Wolf had eight rebounds and five steals.
Griffin Parrish led the Eagles with 15 points.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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