Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Gorillas pull away from pesky Bulldogs
Seth Lustig (left) dribbles past a Davenport defender on a screen set by JP Wigen (right) in a 2B Northeast league basketball game Jan. 13 in Davenport.
DAVENPORT - Feb. 25, 2010 in the District 7 Championship. That was the last time the Gorilla boys basketball team knocked off the Colfax Bulldogs.
That is, until Friday, Jan. 6, 2023, when Davenport pulled away from its closest league challenger thus far to top Colfax 69-51 and snap an 18-game, nearly 13-year losing streak to the Whitman County foe.
Most of Davenport's senior-laden team was in preschool or diapers in Feb. 2010.
Now they are entering adulthood while helping their squad to 14 wins in 15 games, including snapping the Colfax skid.
"I didn't know how long it was, so that feels great to be able to get them," Davenport senior Tennessee Rainwater said. "They're a great team and they're well-coached. It was tough, but it feels good to get them."
Davenport showed an inclination to end the streak early when it jumped out to a 15-3 lead thanks to hot shooting and suffocating defense. The Bulldogs were able to slightly trim the deficit to 21-13 after a quarter.
The second quarter played more evenly, but Davenport had a 38-28 lead at halftime behind 10 points from Evan Gunning.
Colfax began to chip away in the third quarter as its defense tightened and Rainwater headed to the bench with three fouls.
The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to 43-39 midway through the third quarter and trailed 47-40 after three quarters.
Then, Davenport put its foot back on the gas pedal and went on a 10-2 run to take a 57-42 lead that the Bulldogs couldn't recover from.
"(We) finally started figuring out how to play some of these guys," Davenport head coach Matt Henry said.
"It took a little longer than we wanted it to...but we were able to force them to take some tough shots."
Despite a relatively slow night for his standards, Rainwater finished with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds.
Cash Colbert added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Brenick Soliday's 12 points and Gunning's 11 points rounded out a balanced scoring night for the top-ranked Gorillas.
Seth Lustig led Colfax with 15 points, while Adrik Jenkin added 12 points off the bench for the Bulldogs.
JP Wigen scored nine points and grabbed seven boards.
"We couldn't get any defensive stops tonight. Davenport's an extremely talented group of kids," Colfax head coach Reece Jenkin said.
"It was hard for us to put any runs together because they're so efficient offensively. It was just really tough for us to get two or three stops here, two or three stops there."
Colfax played Kettle Falls on Jan. 14 in the Battle of the Bulldogs and won 75-47. Seth Lustig led Colfax scorers with 22 points. Adrik Jenkin added 17 points of his own and JP Wigen contributed 13.
Davenport continued its winning ways Jan. 14 against the Lind-Ritzville/Sprague Broncos with a 60-48 victory.
Further stats were unavailable
Colfax (12-3, 7-1)
Bradyn Heilsberg 1 2-4 4, Adrik Jenkin 4 2-3 12, Carson Gray 3 0-0 6, JD Peterson 0 0-0 0, Seth Lustig 5 4-7 15, Drew VanTine 0 0-0 0, Mason Gilchrist 2 1-2 5, J.P Wigen 3 3-5 9, Jaxon Wick 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 12-21 51.
DAVENPORT (14-1, 9-1)
Tennessee Rainwater 8 5-8 23, Brenick Soliday 4 2-3 12, Evan Gunning 5 1-2 11, Cash Colbert 7 0-0 14, Jayvee Fudurich 1 0-0 2, Jaeger Jacobsen 1 0-0 3, Wyatt Telecky 2 0-0 4, Jason Schillinger 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 8-13 69.
Colfax 13 15 12 11-51
Davenport 21 17 9 22-69
3-point goals - Jenkin 2, Lustig, Rainwater 2, Soliday 2, Jacobsen.
Drew Lawson is a reporter and sports writer for Free Press Publishing, including the Cheney Free Press and Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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