Four Sweep Into Aaa Regional Complete 3-0 Runs In Loser-Out Games

When they say it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season, they aren’t kidding.

It happened four times at the Arena Tuesday night, but not without a fight.

However, the University and Mead boys and Gonzaga Prep and Lewis and Clark girls managed to complete season sweeps, advancing to the Eastern AAA regional by winning the opening loser-out games of the District 8 tournament.

The most dramatic game was the last one, when Mead’s J.J. Klaus raced up the court and dished the ball underneath to Jason Galles to beat Central Valley 46-44 at the buzzer.

It was a tough act for the Panthers to follow, considering University needed overtime to defeat G-Prep 54-53.

On the girls side, Ferris had to scrap to the end to deny Rogers its first-ever trip to the regional with a 46-40 win.

Even Gonzaga Prep, which blitzed Lewis and Clark, was only up one at the half before pulling away in the opener.

The winners advance to Thursday’s games when the top two seeds for each tournament join in. It’s No. 3 Ferris, the league champion, and Shadle Park in the boys. For the girls, it’s co-champions No. 4 CV, the top seed, and No. 7 Mead. The games, while not potentially seasonending, are significant because the winners stay home for the first game of next week’s regional and the losers have to travel to Big Nine sites.

Boys

Mead 46, Central Valley 44

The Bears tied the game when Raif Jochim stuck with a shot that was blocked and made a reverse layup with 11.2 seconds left. The Panthers called a timeout at 6.9 and set up a simple play.

“We wanted J.J. to have the ball,” Mead coach Jim Preston said. “We said get the ball, go down there and make a good decision, which he did. That’s senior leadership. He could have kept the ball and forced up a shot, but he saw the easy shot.”

Galles was under the basket, handled the pass cleanly and cashed in.

“It was just a great game,” CV coach Rick Sloan said. “The kids responded well, played great defense, but the shots wouldn’t fall. J.J. made a great play to win it. He’s a heck of a player.”

CV actually denied Klaus the ball on the inbound play, but he got open and used his speed to beat the buzzer.

“He was quick enough to get it back,” Sloan said. “When the ball is in his hands, he’s quick enough to make things happen.”

There were 13 lead changes, including a stretch early in the fourth quarter when Jason Lindow, CV’s Ryan Smith, and Allan Inderrieden hit consecutive 3’s. After Tom Perkes tied it at 40 with a dunk for the Bears, Inderrieden drilled another 3 to put Mead up with 3:18 to play.

“I didn’t want to force up shots,” Inderrieden said. “I try to take good shots.”

He also had a majority of the defensive assignment on Smith, who had to work hard for his game-high 13 points.

Central Valley 10 11 12 11 - 44

Mead 8 9 17 12 - 46

CENTRAL VALLEY Brown 1 0-0 2, Smith 6 0-2 13, Millar 2 0-0 4, Nesbitt 0 0-0 0, Hinckley 1 2-2 4, Jochim 4 0-0 8, McFarlane 1 0-0 3, Perkes 4 2-2 10. Totals 19 4-6 44.

MEAD Klaus 3 1-2 7, Inderrieden 3 0-1 8, Adams 1 1-1 3, Stenersen 1 0-0 2, Lindow 3 0-0 8, Galles 4 0-0 8, Kaiser 1 0-1 2, Castillo 2 0-0 4, Wolverton 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 2-5 46.

3-point goals - Smith, McFarlane, Inderrieden 2, Lindow 2. Total fouls - CV 11, Mead 11. Fouled out - none.

University 54, Gonzaga Prep 53 (OT)

The Titans made nine of 12 free throws in overtime, the last by Andy Dunham with 6.8 seconds left, which made a late 3-pointer by the Bullpups, who had no timeouts, harmless.

The game was about free throws. With the scored tied at 43, U-Hi missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.6 seconds left. With a foul on the rebound, the Bullpups had a chance but missed with 2.8 to go.

“In overtime, we should have buried them, basically,” Dunham said. “When it got close there was a little bit of pressure. But there wasn’t a doubt in our mind. I’m sure people were worried, but we knew.”

U-Hi trailed all but a few seconds of the second half, but Prep only made two free throws in the fourth quarter and the Titans finally tied it when Jeff Price made one of two free throws with 24 seconds to go.

Erik Carlson and Nick Earling opened up the OT with two free throws apiece and U-Hi had a six-point edge when Dunham made one of two with 21 seconds to go.

“In a lot of games we find a way to make it closer than it needs to be, but we’ve managed to come out on top,” U-Hi coach Jay Humphrey said. “That says a lot.”

The Titans shot well, they just didn’t shoot enough and had 20 turnovers.

Carlson and Price had 17 points each and Dunham had 13, including three 3s in the third quarter to keep U-Hi in the game.

“How many chances did we miss under the basket at the beginning of overtime?” Prep coach Mike Haugen lamented. “We had opportunities, we just missed some shots we had a chance to make.

Gonzaga Prep 15 10 16 2 10 - 53

University 11 14 13 5 11 - 54

GONZAGA PREP Kocherhook 5 2-3 13, Doolittle 0 0-0 0, A.Thielman 1 0-0 2, Sweeny 3 6-6 13, Crowell 0 0-0 0, T.Thielman 3 0-0 7, Witt 0 0-0 0, Egger 0 1-2 1, Hartnett 3 4-8 10, Yarborough 3 1-2 7. Totals 18 14-21 53.

UNIVERSITY Dunham 3 4-6 13, Fryar 0 0-1 0, Earling 1 2-2 4, Heimbigner 1 1-2 3, Price 5 5-9 17, McDaniel 0 0-0 0, Carlson 6 5-6 17. Totals 16 17-26 54.

3-point goals - Kocherhook, Sweeny, T.Thielman, Dunham 3, Price 2. Total fouls - GP 25, U-Hi 17. Fouled out - Hartnett, Yarborough.

Girls

Gonzaga Prep 58, Lewis and Clark 38

The Tigers had visions of an upset, trailing 23-22 at the half and just 41-34 entering the fourth quarter. But the Bullpups held them scoreless the first 7 minutes of the fourth.

“We’re real confident in each other,” Prep point guard Dani Thorn said. “If we’re having a bad game, we know it’s not going to last all game.”

It took some drives by Thorn and Lisa Bradley to loosen up the inside game for the taller Bullpups. Theresa Palmer and Jennifer Williams, the Bullpups’ 6-foot-1 posts, combined for 34 points, 23 in the second half, and 25 rebounds.

LC only had four baskets in the second half, none in the fourth quarter.

“Jennifer and Theresa cover so much ground, they can leave someone open and still close,” LC coach Jim Redmon said. “Our whole ball game was to put pressure (on Thorn) and wear her out. Instead, we got tired.”

Huddle led LC with 13 points but only four in the second half.

G-Prep 58, LC 38

Lewis and Clark 9 13 12 4 - 38

Gonzaga Prep 9 14 18 17 - 58

LEWIS AND CLARK Marquess 2 0-2 6, Giebel 4 0-0 8, Wendle 0 4-4 4, Huddle 4 4-6 13, Davey 0 0-0 0, Weiler 0 0-0 0, Hansen 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 3-7 3, Olejin 2 00 4, Storey 0 0-0 0, Ford 0 0-0 0, Glotfelty 0 0-0 0, Kauppila 0 0-0 0, Travis 0 0-0 0, Hamre 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 11-19 38.

GONZAGA PREP Bloom 1 0-0 2, Nelson 0 0-0 0, Green 0 0-0 0, Bradley 2 5-5 9, Mactolf 0 0-0 0, Thorn 4 1-9 9, Jordan 2 0-1 4, Williams 6 4-6 16, Nadeau 0 0-0 0, Palmer 5 8-11 18, Boren 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 18-38 32. 3-point goals - Huddle. Total fouls - LC 22, GP 16.

Ferris 46, Rogers 40

The Pirates appeared to be on their way to regional, but that only worked until the Saxons started their scramble defense.

“We mentally broke down, stopped executing our plays,” Rogers coach Drew Vanderpool said. “The defense was all right, but when it came time to defensive rebound on the weak side, it just wasn’t there.”

Ferris trailed 16-11 after one quarter but held the Pirates to four points in the second quarter and three in the third.

Not only did Ferris miss enough free throws (12-21), the Saxons kept fouling the Pirates, who made 14 of 18, including 11 of 14 in the fourth quarter, when they rallied from a 30-23 deficit to get within four several times.

“Very frustrating, we wouldn’t stop fouling,” Ferris coach Art Rojas said. “Rogers was so scrappy and worked so hard, and we gave them openings.”

The difference was an 11-0 Ferris run in the third quarter with eight of the points coming after Rogers turnovers. Pruett, who had 18 points, and Amy George, who had 14, each had a 3 in the spurt.

Rogers 16 4 3 17 - 40

Ferris 11 8 11 16 - 46

ROGERS Christensen 1 3-4 5, Tannehill 1 0-0 2, Abrahamson 1 8-10 10, Hatch 1 0-0 2, Logue 1 0-0 2, Fairbanks 4 1-2 9, Mullerleile 4 2-2 10. Totals 13 14-18 40.

FERRIS Pruett 5 5-6 18, Lytle 1 0-0 2, George 4 5-7 14, Morrisette 0 0-3 0, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Brazzle 0 0-0 0, Martin 0 0-1 0, Meeker 0 0-0 0, McCaffery 3 0-0 6, Benzel 2 1-2 5, Blevins 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 12-21 46.

3-point goals - Pruett 3, George. Total fouls - Rogers 20, Ferris 18. Fouled out - Tannehill.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: GSL pairings At Spokane Arena Tuesday’s results (loser-out) Girls Gonzaga Prep 58, Lewis and Clark 38 Ferris 46, Rogers 40

Boys University 54, Gonzaga Prep 53 (OT) Mead 46, Central Valley 44

Thursday’s games Girls G-Prep (16-5) vs. Mead (18-2), 3:45 p.m. CV (18-2) vs. Ferris (14-7), 7:15 p.m.

Boys U-Hi (12-9) vs. Shadle (15-5), 5:30 p.m. Mead (12-9) vs. Ferris (18-1), 9 p.m.