Riverside, Lakeside boys eliminated
YAKIMA – As both Great Northern League boys basketball teams reverted back to their first-day inability to score, their chances at trophies evaporated.
Riverside and Lakeside both shot 25 percent from the field Friday, and both lost low-scoring games to end their runs at the State 2A tournament at the SunDome.
Forks 35, Lakeside 32: The Eagles (16-9), despite their offensive woes, led 32-31 on Jason Reeder’s 3-pointer from the left baseline with 48 seconds left.
Forks (21-5) called timeout at halfcourt. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Jordan Justus got loose on a back screen, catching a pass from Dallas Huggins for a layup and the lead.
After the Eagles missed, Forks had the ball out of bounds underneath its basket, but turned it over against Lakeside’s press with 6.5 seconds left.
Lakeside’s inbounds play went awry, and the Eagles stepped on the sideline with 4.1 seconds, then were forced to foul the Spartans.
Forks missed the front end of its first one-and-one, but Huggins swatted the ball out to Justus, who hit both ends of a one-and-one with 1.3 seconds left for the final margin.
The Eagles were 10 of 39 (25.6 percent) from the field, and were led by the 11 points of Joel Noland, their senior point guard. Noland notched double figures in all three games of the tournament.
Hoquiam 44, Riverside 32: After their interior helped the Rams win their first boys state basketball game on Thursday, the Grizzlies forced Riverside outside.
Hoquiam (22-4) started a 6-foot-3, 6-4 and 6-9 frontline, and the Rams (16-11) responded by going 1 for 19 from 3-point range and 14 for 56 (25 percent) overall.
“Because of their height inside, we needed to hit some of those (outside shots), and we didn’t,” Rams head coach Brent Monroe said. “Our inability to score from the outside killed us today.”
Riverside also struggled early, falling behind 20-8 in the first 9 minutes, but got it back to eight after an 8-0 run in the third quarter after a technical on the Rams bench.
That was the closest they’d be, as the Grizzlies scored on a putback by 6-9 Ted Nelson, and then Joey Wayman hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter.