Ach Runs Away From Springdale

Northeast B

Start with a pinch of focus and a dash of intensity. Sprinkle heavily with a one-game-at-a-time attitude, add a little redemption and you have the basic recipe of the Almira/Coulee-Hartline boys basketball team.

After finishing seventh in last year’s State B championships, the Warriors (18-4) swept past the Springdale Chargers (17-8) 65-40 Tuesday night at Spokane Falls Community College in the District 7-B tournament.

ACH will play Republic Thursday, with the winner advancing to the state tournament at the Spokane Arena and the loser moving to the losers’ bracket. Republic defeated Valley Christian 60-43.

In the girls bracket, Reardan defeated Valley Christian 58-55 and Ritzville beat St. George’s 49-36. Ritzville and Reardan will play Thursday for a state berth, with the loser going to the losers’ bracket.

“We didn’t come out intimidated. We didn’t come out scared to play in the district tournament, because we’ve been through it,” said ACH coach Jim Wacker.

“There’s another goal ahead. (We) make it to districts, now let’s make it to state. That’s their goal. They’ve kept it very focused,” he said.

The Chargers stayed with ACH in the first half, despite a 7-0 Warriors lead. Springdale’s Josh McCurdy hit two 3-pointers, one coming at the end of the first quarter, to cut ACH’s lead to 16-8. McCurdy led the Chargers with 16 points.

“We didn’t anticipate McCurdy being as good as he was. He’s a good ballplayer,” Wacker said.

The Warriors built a 24-15 lead on a 3-pointer and two free throws by Kevin Evers. Evers finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. Topher Goodwin led the Chargers with 19 points.

Evers wasn’t sure what to expect from Springdale’s 6-foot-6 center Ben Peterson.

“He really surprised me,” he said. He was pretty good and he banged it pretty hard down there. I like to have good competition.”

The Chargers opened the second half with two quick baskets before ACH could score. Josh Farnsworth answered for Springdale with a 3-pointer to make it 30-27.

“I think we had too many turnovers and that hurt us pretty badly. A lot of guys stepped it up and played really good defense, and that has helped out our offense,” said Evers.

Brandon Leander’s layin for Springdale gave them some breathing room, but McCurdy’s 3-pointer from the corner closed the gap to 32-30.

Two points was as close as the Chargers would get for the rest of the night. ACH went on a 14-0 run that carried through to the final quarter as the Warriors eventually built a 20-point lead 54-34.

ACH closed out strong in the final minutes by hitting 5 of 6 from the line. Jason Pierce’s layup ended the scoring at 65-40.

ACH 65, Springdale 40

Springdale 8 12 14 6 - 40

ACH 16 12 14 23 - 65

SPRINGDALE Gardner 0, Brisbois 2, Ralph 0, McCurdy 16, B.Peterson 7, Canfield 1, Lozano 6, Montgomery 0, Klemish 2, Farnsworth 6, Carlson 0, D.Peterson 0.

ALMIRA/COULEE-HARTLINE R.Higginbotham 3, Pierce 4, Thomas 0, Elder 0, Leander 12, Pate 9, A.Higginbotham 0, Emerson 0, Goodwin 19, Evers 18.

Republic 60, Valley Christian 43

The Tigers (22-2) scored 21 points in the final quarter to beat the Panthers (15-10). Kris Kuchenmeister scorched VC for 20 points and added eight rebounds. The Panthers’ Brian Sears led with 12 points.

Republic 13 10 16 21 - 60

Valley Christian 6 13 13 11 - 43

REPUBLIC Dinkins 0, Dav.Hanks 4, Baldwin 17, Dan Hanks 0, Rickard 12, Grimm 6, Kuchenmeister 20, Russell 0, Davenport 0.

VALLEY CHRISTIAN Dahl 3, Schlafmann 0, Decker 5, Evans 7, Teterud 5, Spuler 5, Meyer 0, Sears 12, Sandin 0, Smith 2, King 4.

Girls

Reardan 58, NW Christian 55

The Indians (15-7) held on to a slim lead in the final minutes to slip past the Crusaders (12-12). Reardan’s Katie Supinger led all players with 27 points. NWC’s Jana Huston had 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Northwest Christian 8 10 14 23 - 55

Reardan 8 21 14 15 - 58

NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN Nicolai 0, Cofer 0, Moen 4, Postlethwaite 0, Smeltz 0, Ogle 5, Nelson 0, Montague 11, Casimir 8, Strandy 0, Clouse 6, Huston 21.

REARDAN Cassaro 0, Jayne 3, Schwartz 3, Hicks 0, Krupke 6, Evans 0, Rinker 0, Soliday 1, Plummer 0, Turner 18, Ray 0, Supinger 27.

Ritzville 49, St.George’s 36

The Broncos’ (20-3) scoring duo of Shannon Russell and Erin Weber helped Ritzville defeat the Dragons (14-11). Russell led with 18 points and Weber notched 13 points.

St. George’s 9 11 12 4 - 36

Ritzville 10 13 15 11 - 49

ST. GEORGE’S Liu 8, Davis 8, DeNiro 2, Chiu 0, Boutz 0, Webster 2, Grant 0, McKelvey 0, MacKay 0, Routh-Corker 11, Appling 5, Moore 0.

RITZVILLE J.Wellsandt 0, Warriner 0, Kramer 0, Weber 13, Horpedahl 2, M.Wellsandt 5, Kirkendall 0, Russel 18, Yerxa 7, Alspach 4, Zicha 0, Janzen 0.

, DataTimes