Dragons put big stop in early Colfax string

An early season run of Colfax solid hoop wins came to a halt Saturday in the home gym when Coach Ryan Peplinski brought down a veteran St. George's team, also undefeated on the new season. The guests took control early and finished with a 69-50 win.

Colfax had stacked a 3-0 run including a big win Friday at Burbank.

St. George's junior guard Dan Rigby opened with a scoring volley for the visitors who posted a 22-10 lead after the first quarter. Colfax defense settled down in the second quarter when each team tied with a slim seven points for the frame.

After the break it was the Xander Werkman show. The 6-6 senior dominated under the bucket for a string of scores. When he was fouled he collected at the toss line with a 10 for 14 mark.

Werkmen had been held in check by Colfax senior Kelan Becker in a battle during the first half, but Becker hit a three-foul load at the break and had to back off to extend his game time in the second half.

Werkmen finished with 29 and Nick Watkins backed him with 20 points. Watkins hit four three-pointers for the night.

Bagby finished with 16.

Carson Cloaninger hit 26 to lead the Bulldogs, but scoring for the rest of the players on the roster remained in single digits for the night.

The collision with the Dragons goes down as a non-leaguer with the two clubs on different sides of the now split NE league, but it served as a sample of how the NE action might unfold at end of the season.

Colfax Friday made the trip to Burbank for a non-leaguer against the Columbia Coyotes and rolled to a 50-23 win. The Bulldogs led 39-12 at the half, and Coach Reece Jenkin put the bench on the court for most of the second half.

Cloaninger again led the scoring with 16 points in the time he was allowed, Becker bucketed 10 points at Burbank.

Colfax will start the NE-South campaign by hosting the LRS Broncos on Friday night and then head down to Asotin for round two for the SE south on Saturday.

Asotin Tuesday battled to a one-point win, 61-60 over Oakesdale in the Nighthawks' gym. Friday Asotin clubbed Davenport 71-33 in a NE non-leaguer.

St. George's 69-Colfax 50: 22/10 7/7 23/11 17/22: Dan Rigby 7 2-4 16, Ben Adams 1 0-0- 3, Yao You 0 1-3 1, Nick Watkins 7 (4 3pt) 2-4 20, Xander Werkman 9 (3pt) 10-14 29. Total: 24 15-31 f-17 69. Colfax: Hunter Claassen 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Cameron Hiatt 2 (3pt ) 0-1 5, Bennett Gray 2 0-0 4, Cole Baerlocher 2 0-0- 4, Brian Rubin 1 0-0 2, Carson Cloaninger 7 (3-3pt) 9-9 26, John Lustig 2 0-0 4. Total: 18 9-10 f-f-19 50.

Colfax 50-Columbia 23: 16/7 23/5 5/2 6/9: Claassen 3 (all 3pt ) 0-0 9, Hiatt 1 0-0 2, Gray 1 (3pt) 1-1 4, Baerlocher 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Rubin 2 0-0 4, Cloaninger 6 (3pt) 3-6 16, Lustig 1 0-0 2, Becker 4 2-3 10. Total: 19 6-13 f-17 50. Columbia: Brandon Wickstrom 2 4-8 8, Justin Koopmanm 2 4-8 8, Wyatt Schaffer 1 1-2 3, Payton Neachen 2 0-0 4, Jose Lopez 1 0-2 2. total: 8 5-10 f-13 23.