ACH hangs on to advance to State 1B final eight

MOSES LAKE – It wasn’t like most of the Almira/Coulee-Hartline boys basketball games this season.

Then again, the No. 1-ranked Warriors haven’t had many tightly contested games.

The most important thing, though, is Almira/Coulee-Hartline withstood a late run, holding off the Liberty Christian Patriots 52-49 in a 1B state regional game Friday at Big Bend Community College.

ACH (24-0) advances to the final eight next week at the Spokane Arena.

Dallas Isaak hit a fadeaway jumper to extend the Warriors’ lead to 50-37 with four minutes remaining.

Liberty Christian (15-9) used a 10-0 surge – that included two deep 3-pointers – to pull within 50-47 with 56 seconds to go.

The finish wouldn’t have been as frenzied had the Warriors made free throws. They missed the front end of two one-and-ones and only converted on 2 of 8 foul shots in the final 2:08.

“You always expect a good team to make a run and they’re a good team,” ACH coach Graham Grindy said. “We made our run in the first half. Hats off to them. They’ve got good kids who play hard and disciplined. It’s playoffs.”

The surge by the Warriors in the first half came in the final three minutes of the second quarter.

The Patriots completed a four-point play for a 20-18 lead with 3:49 to go before intermission.

ACH used a 12-0 run that saw Isaak and Charles Hunt each hit a 3-pointer. Key in that stretch were two steals off a 1-3-1 press.

Isaak made two free throws with 40 seconds to go to send ACH into the locker room with a 34-12 lead.

“We’ve been able to push it all year and it worked for us again in this game,” Hunt said of the pressure.

Twice in the second half ACH pushed the advantage to 13 points. The first time came when 6-foot-7 senior Logan Bohnet, off a nice dump pass inside by Payton Nielsen, gave the Warriors a 38-25 lead early in the third.

LC trimmed the lead to eight before ACH had another little surge early in the fourth.

It was Isaak’s last basket that put ACH ahead 50-37.

And then ACH forgot to finish.

“Trust me, as a coach, I’d love to make free throws and I’d love to not see the gap close like that,” Grindy said. “You win any way you can. Sometimes you hang on.”

ACH, which had a height advantage, missed about seven easy shots inside that would have allowed it to open an even bigger lead.

Nielsen led ACH with 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Isaak had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while Hunt finished with 11 points – including three 3-pointers.

“I guess we like to make it interesting when it matters,” Isaak said. “It was self-imposed errors a little bit and not playing our best basketball game. You’ve got to give them credit, they hit some tough shots.”