Central Valley boys defeat U-Hi 61-42

Nobody is more pleased to see 6-foot-4 junior Ryan Rehkow playing for the Central Valley basketball team than senior Cameron Tucker.

Tucker had to play out of position in the post last year. Rehkow earned the starting job down low this winter, and it’s a move that should benefit both players but the Bears the most.

It was evident Friday when visiting Central Valley pulled away from outmanned University 61-42 in a Greater Spokane League game.

“Coach came to me last season and said ‘Inside is going to be yours to take, you’ve just got to work hard and get your moves down and be able to come in and fulfill that role for our team’,” Rehkow said. “That’s what they were missing last year, an inside presence.”

Rehkow finished with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Tucker had a team-high 16 points and five rebounds and Josh Thomas added 12 points, nine rebounds and three steals.

“He’s a big benefit to our team,” Tucker said. “He’s got size, he’s skilled, he’s solid, he can pass well. He’s only going to get better, too. I’m really looking forward to playing with him (the rest of the season).”

“Ryan’s a good player,” CV coach Rick Sloan said. “There are going to be a lot of people that are surprised how good he is this year. A skilled 6-4 athletic post is invaluable. He’s my perfect five-man.”

The teams played a frenetic pace in the first quarter, which ended in a 17-17 tie.

Tucker and Eli Emerson hit back to back 3-pointers as CV opened a 28-19 lead in the second quarter. A basket by Rehkow with 46 seconds left allowed the Bears (3-0, 2-0) to take a 36-27 lead into halftime.

Then CV used an 8-0 run to open the second half and start building big separation.

“We came out second half and took it to them and that’s all she wrote,” Rehkow said.

Rehkow said personal accomplishments will take a back seat to the team.

“Helping the team win is goal No. 1,” Rehkow said. “Everything after that is icing on top of the cake.”

Emerson hit a driving basket to give CV its biggest lead at 58-36 with 4:01 remaining.

“Once we got on that roll that’s when we started cooking,” Tucker said. “It was a good battle but we’ve still got things to work on. We knew we could beat them. We just did what Coach said and everything we worked on in practice and it paid off.”

“Overall, our constant was defense,” Sloan said. “Their shooters didn’t get the clean looks they were hoping to get. That was a big factor.”

Noah Martin and Clark Barrington led U-Hi (2-3, 2-1) with six rebounds apiece.

CV faces Gonzaga Prep on Saturday in the Bullpups’ league opener. G-Prep had to reschedule its first three league games because the football team played so late in the season.

Lewis and Clark 65, Rogers 53: The Tigers (2-2, 1-1) outscored the visiting Pirates (1-2, 1-2) 41-35 in the second half. Naje Smith led LC with 14 points, all coming in the final two quarters, and Cameron Duncan had 12 to go with 16 rebounds. Denzel Brantley led Rogers with 22 points and KJ Hassett added 16.

Mead 54, Mt. Spokane 53: The visiting Panthers (3-1, 2-1) outscored the Wildcats (0-3, 0-3) 22-11 in the second quarter and held on to win. Kobe Hanson led balanced Mead with 13 points. Kyle Griffiths had 19 for Mt. Spokane and Sam Stiles added 17.