Reserves Key L-W Upset Win

District 9 B

Shane Hammond may be LaCrosse-Washtucna’s sixth man, but he was No. 1 in Tigercats fans’ hearts Friday.

Hammond, a forward, came off the bench to hit 7 of 9 field goals in L-W’s 53-46 win over St. John-Endicott in the District 9 B boys basketball championship game at Friel Court.

Hammond and fellow junior Matt Meyers, also a reserve, combined to score the game’s final 10 points. SJE led 46-43 with 3 minutes, 31 seconds left, but never scored again. The Eagles had won 15 consecutive games.

The Tigercats, who were 0-3 against the Eagles this season, qualified for their second State B tournament. L-W played at state two years ago, when six of its current players were mainly backups.

SJE, third place at state last year, must defeat DeSales at 8:30 tonight to return to state. The Eagles were defending district champions.

Waitsburg’s girls defended their district title with a 48-32 breeze over Tekoa-Oakesdale in the night’s first game. T-O plays Garfield-Palouse at 7 tonight for a berth to state.

LaCrosse-Washtucna 53, St. John-Endicott 46

Hammond’s 18 points were one shy of his season high. L-W’s Cole Schweiger added 10 points on his 18th birthday.

SJE had leads of 8-1 and 16-11 in the first half, but the Tigercats rallied for a halftime tie.

“As soon as we kept with them early, we knew we could get them in the stretch,” Hammond said. “Our main game is bench scoring.”

Bench scoring favored L-W 27-0.

“We’ve stressed from the start that we needed the 10th, 11th and 12th guys to make it,” said L-W first-year coach Brian Koller.

Every L-W loss to the Eagles this season was by a smaller margin than the game before. The last matchup, the Whitman County League title game, was by seven points.

“We thought there would be more pressure on them,” Hammond said. “We had nothing to lose in this game.”

Meyers’ second 3-pointer tied the game at 46 with 3:15 left. Hammond and Meyers combined to hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch.

Greg Whitman led L-W with six rebounds and six assists.

Eagles junior Josh Hames hit 7 of 8 field goals. SJE’s Grant Bafus, a 1,000-point career scorer, had 17 points, but was just 6 of 21 from the floor.

LaCrosse-Wash. 9 15 14 15 - 53

SJE 10 14 9 13 - 46

LaCrosse-Washtucna (18-5) - Colter 3, Schweiger 10, Henley 7, Wigen 2, Meyers 8, Whitman 4, Goll 2, Hammond 17.

St. John-Endicott (21-3) - Miller 2, Bafus 17, Strader 2, Hames 14, Scheuerman 11.

DeSales 54, Waitsburg 44

Brian Lindgren totaled game highs of 24 points, four assists and four steals to lead the Irish over the Cardinals, who were eliminated.

Jamahl Fitzgerald of the Irish added six rebounds and three blocked shots. DeSales also knocked out Waitsburg from last year’s tournament.

Waitsburg’s T.J. Scott and Mike Ruzicka combined for 24 rebounds.

DeSales 13 11 9 21 - 54

Waitsburg 10 10 15 9 - 44

DeSales (12-10) - Lindgren 24, Barry 8, Richard 6, Dutton 8, Donnelly 6, Driver 0, Wolfram 0, Fitzgerald 2, Harri 0.

Waitsburg (18-8) - Archer 5, Zuercher 3, Scott 15, Ruzicka 6, Martin 5, Mason 4, J. Landin 0, Johnson 6.

GIRLS

Waitsburg 48, Tekoa-Oakesdale 32

The Cardinals held T-O scoreless for a stretch of more than 10:30 in the first half. Waitsburg seized a 25-6 lead with its 20-0 run.

Waitsburg’s lead grew to 26 points with 3:15 left in the third quarter.

The Nighthawks had no answer for Waitsburg’s zone defense and the inside presence of Anne Bickelhaupt. The 6-3 senior post finished with 16 points, on 7-of-9 shooting from the floor, and added 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“The only thing I can say is that last year, the first time of winning the district, was a thrill,” Bickelhaupt said. “This year our eyes are set on something else: a championship.”

Waitsburg has won 18 consecutive games since back-to-back losses to Garfield-Palouse and Pullman. The Cardinals opened last year’s state tournament with a loss to St. George’s. They placed fifth by winning their final three.

“We were awfully nervous going up there last year,” said second-year Cardinals coach Jerry Baker. “I think we’ll be a bit more calm this time.”

Senior point guard Wendy Jones added five assists and four steals for Waitsburg. Senior Heather Cox had team highs of 11 rebounds and 11 points for T-O. But she and the other Nighthawks had a poor shooting night, making just 13 of 58 from the field.

Tekoa-Oakes. 6 3 9 14 - 32

Waitsburg 19 8 12 9 - 48

Tekoa-Oakesdale (19-6) - Driscoll 0, Smith 7, Wagner 0, Smart 8, Hurley 0, Graffis 2, Buergel 0, Bruce 4, Cox 11, Perrins 0.

Waitsburg (22-2) - Jones 7, Huilce 0, Menino 0, Ryckman 8, Smith 0, Abbey 6, McCaw 8, Seney 0, Cunz 0, Bickelhaupt 16, Wyatt 0, Conover 3.

Garfield-Palouse 63, St. John-Endicott 38

Katie Coles had a game-best 18 points and nine rebounds and the Vikings eliminated the Eagles.

Tasha Swinney added four assists and three steals for Gar-Pal. The Vikings shot 59 percent from the field and held SJE to 22 percent shooting.

Casey Gossard had five rebounds and Kim Colyar three steals for the Eagles.

SJE 4 15 7 12 - 38

Garf.-Palouse 11 21 16 15 - 63

St. John-Endicott (15-13) - Gossard 8, Ki. Colyar 9, Loomis 6, Kjack 7, D. Kile 2, White 0, A. Kile 0, Schmick 0, Zuger 6, Bass 0, Hedlund 0.

Garfield-Palouse (20-8) - Nelson 2, Iverson 11, Fox 0, Smick 0, Tronsen 2, Coles 18, Hayden 10, Swinney 8, Sheffler 11, Kildew 1, Hershaw 0, Roper 0.