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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

2B Boys: Third-seeded Toledo ends Colfax’s season

 (AP)
By Greg Lee For The Spokesman-Review

Reece Jenkin didn’t think his Colfax boys basketball players’ offensive struggles had anything to do with themselves Wednesday.

He gave much of the credit to the third-seeded Toledo Indians, who defeated the Bulldogs 52-37 in the opening round of the State 2B tournament in the Spokane Arena.

“Their athletic ability and size kind of wore us down,” Jenkin said. “We got off to great start, but they did a great job defensively. Unfortunately, they knew where our shooters were.”

No. 11 Colfax ends the season at 18-7. Toledo moves on to face fourth-seeded Adna on Thursday.

Not only did the Bulldogs not shoot well, shots were difficult to come by.

Still, Colfax had the run of play for the first quarter and early into the second.

A fadeaway 10 footer from Carson Cloaninger put the Bulldogs ahead 17-8 at the 7:39 mark of the second period.

That’s when the Bulldogs hit a scoring drought that reached 5 minutes, 4 seconds.

“We had some good looks in that (span) and that gave those guys the momentum going into halftime,” Jenkin said.

Fano Arceo-Hansen scored on a putback to give the Indians a 20-18 lead with 33 seconds to go before halftime.

A surge allowed Toledo to build a 27-19 lead in the third period.

But Colfax fought back within 29-25 when Reece Wallace hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Indians a 32-25 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Making matters worse was Reece hit a 3-pointer to open the final period, and the Bulldogs began to lose touch.

“We didn’t shoot the ball real well and we took some careless turnovers,” Jenkin said. “I give those guys credit. That’s a good team.”

Exacerbating things for Colfax was its rebounding woes. Toledo owned a 32-19 advantage.

“I don’t know what the final rebounding numbers were, but I’m guessing they handled us in the second half,” Jenkin said. “Coming into this game that’s what we talked about is, ‘Hey we find a way to rebound it’s going to be a great game.’ ”

It was Colfax’s first trip to state since 2013.

“I’m proud of what our kids have done this season,” Jenkin said. “We’ve been in loser-out games the past two or three weeks, its seems.”

Colfax couldn’t manufacture any runs in the second half.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a way to make any plays in the second half, we couldn’t get any momentum to get us going,” Jenkin said. “Their athletic and physical ability made it tough on us in the second half.”

Cloaninger led Colfax with 14 points and Brett Kincaid had 10 to go with five rebounds.

“We were struggling in our half-court sets trying to get an open look,” Reece said. “It was going to take our best basketball to win. Once you get to state, every team is good. You’ve got to come out and play well. Wish we could stick around a couple more days.”

Toutle Lake 60, White Swan 44: The Ducks (20-7) built a 39-18 lead by halftime and cruised past the Cougars (12-15).

Logan Grabenhorst led Toutle Lake with 11 points and six rebounds and Zach Vetter added 10 points and five assists.

Toutle Lake moves on to face defending state champ and top seed Kittitas/Thorp (22-1) on Thursday.

Morton-White Pass 48, Friday Harbor 40: The Timberwolves (21-6) rallied from a 31-23 halftime deficit to oust the Wolverines (14-9).

Matthew Poquette led MWP with 28 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.

The T-Wolves move on to face No. 6 Liberty (21-3) on Thursday at 7:15.

Brewster 60, Life Christian Academy 55: The Bears downed the Eagles to book a quarterfinal showdown with Saint George’s at 9 p.m. today.