Bulldog boys add two wins, face tough games to end league

Colfax boys put on the pressure Friday at Reardan to top the Indians in the second half and take a win that moved them up a notch in the end-of-season district playoff grid which will start next week at West Valley.

Reardan Friday started fast on their home court and moved to as 18-11 lead for the first quarter. They still led 32-29 at the break, but the Bulldogs chipped away at the early lead and then bombed the hosts 19-7 in the third quarter to set up the 62-51 win.

Colfax Tuesday hammered Upper Columbia Academy 83-51 on the Colfax court with John Lustig hitting 30 points. He hit a perfect 8-for-8 inside the arch and added two three-pointers.

Colfax finished with nine three-point shots in the Tuesday game.

Hunter Claassen hit 13 points and had 10 assists for Colfax which now stands second in the league with an 8-2 mark behind Liberty.

The Lions Tuesday were again led by Evan Pierce who finished with 23 points.

The Bulldogs now stand at 8-2 in the league race with two rounds left, a trip to Ritzville Tuesday to play the Broncos and a final home round next Thursday against Liberty, the undefeated league leaders.

Friday at Reardan, the fast-moving Indians team stepped out to an early lead.

Colfax Coach Reece Jenkin at Reardan put the Bulldog rotation in gear and the pressure took a toll on the Indians.

Lustig hit nine buckets from the field and missed just one of his foul shot chances which were plentiful as the Indians' defense tried to slow him down.

Blake Holman had one of his best outings yet with 10 points, most of them coming from buckets off the baseline.

Zane Peterborg led Reardan in the battle with 24 points. Peterborg hit four three-point shots which the hosts needed to collect points from the hustling Bulldog defense.

Colfax will have a tough assignment Tuesday at Ritzville when they go up against a big Bronco team which battled down to the final seconds in the first-round game here. Colfax launched a second half charge and took the win by a point in the final second.

With two big games still to play, the Bulldogs could start the district run Feb. 10 when they would go up against a survivor of one of the play-in games which start the action Feb. 8.

Teams will compete through five days before a championship game and consolation final Feb. 22. All four of the teams that advance that far will get one of the four NE tickets to the regional state round.

At that level, teams will get playoff assignments according to the WIAA ratings.

Colfax 62-Reardan 51: 11/18 18/14 19/7 14/12: Hunter Claassen 3 (3 pt) 2-2 9, Cole Baerlocher 1 4-5 6, John Lustig 9 (3 pt) 8-11 27, Gavin Hammer 1 0-0 3, Cotton Booker 2 0-0 4, Blake Holman 5 0-0 10, Layne Gingerich 1 0-0 3. Total: 22 14-18 62.

Reardan: Noah Landt 5 (3-3 pt)1-2 14, Cody Sprecher 1 3-4 5, Zane Peterborg 8 (4-3 pt) 4-5 24, Tyler Sprecher 2 4-6 8. Total: 16 12-17 51.

Colfax 83-Upper Columbia 51: 20/10. 19/7 16/15 20/19: Claassen 5 (3-3 pt) 0-0 13, Baerlocher 4 (3 pt) 0-0 9, Lustig 10 (2 3pt) 8-10 30, Gunner Aune 2 0-0 4, Damian Demeler 2 0-0 4, Holman 4 0-0 8, Gingerich 1 0-0 3, Mason Gilchrist 3 (3 pt) 2-2 9, Kyle Dail 1 0-0 3. Total: 32 10-12 83.

Upper Columbia: Ayden Lee 4 (3 pt) 1-2 10, Evan Pierce 9 (3 pt) 4-5 23, Josh VanBower 1 0-0 2, Zane Madden 2 (3 pt) 0-0 5, Kirk Everett 4 3-3 11. Total: 20 8-11 51.