Panthers, Saxons Get Gsl Split

Ferris and Mead took no chances - and no prisoners.

Grabbing control from the opening whistle, the Greater Spokane League teams rolled to big wins in the opening round of the Lamb-Weston Eastern AAA Regional boys basketball tournament at Eastern Washington University on Tuesday night.

Second-seeded Ferris raced to a 25-point lead at the half behind Chris Hardan’s 17 points and coasted past Wenatchee 84-54. Top-seeded Mead followed that performance by surging to a 36-21 halftime lead behind Ralph Castaneda’s 15 points before stopping Kamiakin 56-44.

Hardan finished with 23 points and Castaneda had 20.

The fortunes were reversed on the road. Lewis and Clark blew a big halftime lead, falling 56-54 to Eisenhower in Yakima and Pasco pulled away from Central Valley for a 64-40 win in Richland.

Unfortunately, many GSL fans at EWU thought the league had a state tournament berth in hand when it was announced LC beat Ike by one. The Tigers would have played Mead for a trip to state when the tournament resumes in the Tri-Cities on Friday.

Last year, the GSL was shut out of state participants and, with the incorrect LC score, Mead coach Jim Preston said, “After last year, this is a great day for the GSL.”

Still, it was a pretty big day for the GSL since the last two years Big Nine visitors swept both games at EWU. Mead was a victim last year as a No. 1 seed and Ferris fell two years ago as a No. 2.

A major contributing factor was both teams had just six turnovers.

In the winner-to-state semifinals at the Tri-City Coliseum on Friday, Ferris meets Pasco and Mead plays Eisenhower. In the loser-out games at Richland High School, CV faces Wenatchee and LC tackles Kamiakin. The Ferris and CV games are at 5:30, the other two are at 9.

Ferris 84, Wenatchee 54

Hardan swished three 3-pointers as the Saxons (20-3) went on an early 11-0 run and the Panthers (15-9) never got untracked.

Hardan had five points in a 6-0 surge that made it 30-13 early in the second quarter and the Saxons closed the half with seven straight points.

“When your confidence is a little shaky, getting off to a quick start is a big thing,” said Ferris coach Wayne Gilman, referring to last Friday’s 69-55 loss to Mead for the district title. “I was very pleased. I wasn’t surprised. I knew they could do that. We did a real nice job of hitting the opener jumper and I was real pleased with the defense.”

The Saxons shot 46 percent for the game (28 of 61), but it was 53 percent in the first half (16 of 30). Wenatchee improved from 27 percent in the first half to 50 percent in the second, but never threatened.

“In the playoffs you have to step it up,” Hardan said. “We were a little more focused. You can’t lose any more. It kind of came to me. I wasn’t really surprised. They sagged inside. … It’s pretty easy to make the shot when you have an open look.”

Leonard Harmon added 17 points, 13 in the second half, and Scott Stocum had 14 for the Saxons.

Wenatchee’s Josh Cooprider, a good-looking sophomore point guard, had 16 points, but turned the ball over seven times.

Wenatchee 11 10 19 14 - 54

Ferris 24 22 14 24 - 84

WENATCHEE Arredondo 0 2-4 2, Cooprider 5 3-3 16, Nebel 0 0-0 0, Burke 1 0-0 2, Carey 2 0-0 5, Effinger 3 0-0 7, McLean 0 0-2 0, Fischer 0 1-2 1, Cobb 2 2-2 6, Primm 6 2-2 14, Ketchie 0 1-2 1, Melton 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 11-17 54.

FERRIS Bursch 2 2-2 7, Schuchart 0 0-0 0, Jess 0 0-0 0, Servine 0 2-6 2, Brown 0 0-0 0, Hardan 7 4-4 23, Lucke 4 1-1 10, Henneberry 2 3-7 7, Harmon 6 5-6 17, Stocum 6 2-5 14, Gordon 0 2-2 2, Weatherred 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 21-33 84.

3-point goals - Cooprider 3, Carey, Effinger, Bursch, Hardan 5, Lucke. Total fouls - Wenatchee 25, Ferris 18. Fouled out - Effinger.

Mead 56, Kamiakin 44

Obviously, the Panthers (14-9) changed their game plan from an 86-71 loss to the Braves (12-11) the second weekend of the season.

“On defense we gave better help,” Preston said. “We pressured the ball, but then we helped everywhere else.”

The Panthers held 6-foot-9 Jon Carlisle to one basket and five points. He had 20 points the first time around and 6-7 A.J. Giesa, who had 14 Tuesday, had 19 in the first meeting.

Meanwhile, the 6-4 Castaneda knocked down 7 of 11 shots in the first quarter, three from the outside, including a 3, and three inside, two on lob passes behind the taller Braves.

“Ralph really stepped up his game,” Preston said. “I knew his quickness would be a problem for them.”

Castaneda sparked a 10-0 run early in the first quarter and only three straight 3-pointers by Kamiakin reserves in the final 2 minutes made it close.

“I’m hungry,” Castaneda said. “I have to be focused; don’t take quick shots, take shots that I can make. Coach said don’t try to do too much. I think I might have tried to do that in the second half.”

The Panthers shot 55 percent in the first half (15 of 27) to 28 percent (6 of 21) for the Braves. Mead cooled off in the second half, but Kamiakin never caught fire and the shorter Panthers matched the Braves on the boards.

“Our preseason was tough,” Preston said. “We played at Pasco, Kennewick and Kamiakin. We thought we would benefit from that. Obviously, last year we were playing a No. 4 seed and we were a favorite. I think this year nobody thought we were favored.”

Mead 56, Kamiakin 44

Kamiakin 11 10 6 17 - 44

Mead 21 15 6 14 - 56

KAMIAKIN Hubbard 1 0-0 3, Mitchell 2 0-0 4, Gray 2 2-2 6, Lennox 0 0-0 0, Robinson 0 2-2 2, D.Wright 2 0-0 5, B.Morris 1 0-0 3, Utecht 0 0-0 0, Grant 1 0-0 2, R.Wright 0 0-0 0, Giesa 4 6-6 14, Carlisle 1 3-6 5. Totals 14 13-16 44.

MEAD A.Morris 2 2-3 6, Klaus 0 0-0 0, Inderrieden 2 3-3 8, Armitage 1 2-2 4, Long 6 4-5 16, Eggers 1 0-0 2, Walton 0 0-0 0, Castaneda 8 3-4 20, Myers 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 14-17 56.

3-point goals - Hubbard, D.Wright, B.Morris, Inderrieden, Castaneda. Total fouls - Kam 18, Mead 13. Fouled out - none. Technical foul - Castaneda.

Eisenhower 56, Lewis and Clark 53

Josh McDonald scored nine of his 23 points in the final quarter as the Cadets (16-7) overcame an 11-point deficit to beat the Tigers (15-9).

Eisenhower’s full-court press forced LC into turnovers, enabling the Cadets to take their first lead at 52-50. McDonald, who also grabbed 17 rebounds, hit 7 of 8 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Paul Mencke led the Tigers with 25 points and 16 rebounds and Mike Homer added 10 points.

Lewis and Clark 15 16 13 9 - 53

Eisenhower 8 9 18 21 - 56

LEWIS AND CLARK Steuckle 1 0-0 3, Homer 3 3-6 10, Lynch 0 0-0 0, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Etter 3 0-0 7, Vick 4 0-0 8, Mencke 9 7-7 25. Totals 20 10-13 53.

EISENHOWER Reeves 3 0-2 6, Hansen 2 1-3 5, Salausa 2 1-4 5, Whitfield 3 1-2 7, McDonald 8 7-9 23, Erickson 5 0-0 10. Totals 23 10-20 56.

3-point goals - Steuckle, Homer, Etter. Total fouls - Lewis and Clark 18, Eisenhower 13. Fouled out - Steuckle, Etter, Salausa.

Pasco 64, Central Valley 40

Trent Ady never missed a shot in scoring 16 points and added five blocked shots and six rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (20-3) past the Bears (13-10).

The Bears only trailed 36-27 entering the fourth quarter, but Pasco outscored the Bears by 15 points in the final period.

Central Valley 6 13 8 13 -40

Pasco 12 12 12 28 -64

CENTRAL VALLEY Nesbitt 0 0-0 0, Millar 0 0-0 0, Smith 1 1-2 3, Schuh 4 2-2 14, Abrams 3 0-0 7, Allen 1 0-4 2, Platt 1 0-0 2, Hinckley 1 0-0 2, McFarlane 1 1-1 3, May 1 1-2 3, Schulz 2 0-2 4. Totals 15 5-13 40.

PASCO Perez 1 0-1 2, Tippett 3 0-0 6, Gibbons 1 0-0 3, Collins 3 0-0 7, Fielding 4 0-0 10, Herron 5 0-0 12, Tamez 1 0-0 2, Ady 5 6-6 16, Fine 2 0-0 4, Hernandez 0 0-0 0, Hultgrenn 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 6-7 54.

3-point goals - Schuh 4, Abrams, Gibbons, Collins, Fielding 2, Herron 2. Total fouls - CV 14, P 12. Fouled out - Allen.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: REGION RESULTS Boys Eisenhower 56, LC 53 Ferris 84, Wenatchee 54 Mead 56, Kamiakin 44 Pasco 64, Central Valley 40 Girls CV 63, Wenatchee 47 Ferris 52, Walla Walla 34 Kamiakin 65, Shadle Park 44 Mead 61, Richland 38