By Greg Lee
To Central Valley boys basketball coach Rick Sloan sometimes it’s the little things that are the difference in a competitive game.
Friday, it was something big and glaring – poor free-throw shooting.
Moses Lake made more free throws and the shots that counted most as the Chiefs eliminated Central Valley 59-55 in overtime in a 4A regional round of state game before a packed gym at Mt. Spokane High School.
Central Valley (20-6) made just 3 of 13 from the foul line in regulation. All the Bears needed was one more to avoid overtime.
Moses Lake (16-5) forced overtime when Mitch Hohman hit a step-back 3-pointer with 33 seconds remaining.
The Bears had a final possession but committed a turnover with 7.6 seconds to go. CV’s Josh Thomas got a steal to give the Bears hope in overtime.
But CV made just 2 of 8 shots from the field in the extra four minutes. Moses Lake, which finished 18 of 23 from the free-throw line, made 7 of 10 foul shots to go with another Hohman 3-pointer to outlast the Bears.
Sloan looked at the final stat sheet and it confirmed what he knew.
“There are some upset people in there right now,” Sloan said, nodding to a classroom the Bears used as a locker room, “so I don’t want to add any fire to it. You get in close games and they’re usually decided by free throws.”
Both teams played solid defense throughout. CV’s Cameron Tucker was assigned to guard the Chiefs’ horse, a wide-bodied, 6-foot-4 post named Cesar Sandoval.
Tucker worked his tail off, and Sandoval had to work for his team-high 18 points. Tucker fronted Sandoval as much as possible, and Moses Lake’s guards and its other post, Tyson Karstetter, tried to lob the ball to Sandoval.
The teams played to a 19-19 standstill in the first half.
CV started to get some separation late in the third quarter. An 8-1 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Tanner Sloan, gave the Bears a 39-30 lead.
But Hohman hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter and cut the lead to six points.
Moses Lake tied it at 44 when Sandoval got a putback with 2:58 to go.
Sloan made a 3-pointer moments later off a nice kick-out pass from Michael Hannan that gave the Bears the lead at 47-44 with 1:44 remaining.
After the Chiefs pulled within 47-46, Hannan cut backdoor and took a feed from Max Sykes for a 49-46 lead with 54 seconds to go.
That’s when Hohman hit the tying 3-pointer.
“To their credit they hit a couple big shots,” Sloan said. “They hit a couple of handoff, step-back 3s that if you’re going to lose sometimes that’s the shot you’re willing to give up.”
Sloan said the reason his team – and Moses Lake for that matter – didn’t get the best looks on field-goal attempts was because of defense.
“Both teams did a good job defensively and good looks were hard to get,” Sloan said.
Tucker finished with 21 points and Sloan had 13.