GSL basketball: Jaden Ghoreishi scores 31 points, Mt. Spokane scores last 19 points in 77-68 overtime win over Camas

Jaden Ghoreishi was nursing a cold on Saturday. And during the game he took a fair amount of abuse, leaving for several minutes in the fourth quarter after rolling an ankle. But the 6-foot-9 Colorado State-bound power forward found another gear, made an overtime-forcing bucket and helped lead his team to a third-straight victory to start the season.

Ghoreishi finished with 31 points – all but four in the second half and overtime, Mt. Spokane scored the last 19 points in the game and the Wildcats beat the visiting Camas Papermakers 77-68 in the concluding game of the East vs. West Preseason Shootout.

Mt. Spokane was down by 10 at halftime and had scored just 23 points.

“First half was tough, just four points,” Ghoreishi said. “I went in at halftime and I was like, ‘I gotta do more for my team,’ because you could tell in the first half we were down. Came out in the second half, and I trusted my teammates, they trusted me, we got the ball in the paint like coach preaches and when we do that stuff starts falling.”

“I don’t think we’ve had that happen before,” Wagenblast said of the 19-0 run at the end of the game. “There was a lot of things that had to go our way. Basketball is a fun game in which you’re never out of it.”

Mt. Spokane has knocked off three state playoff teams from last year to start the season.

“It’s tough to take on three quality opponents right off the bat, but you’re going to have to do that at state anyway,” Mt. Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “That’s the reason why we scheduled it this way.”

Sophomore Tysen Lewis scored 19 points – seven in the first quarter with Ghoreishi on the bench – and point guard Rock Franklin had 12 for the Wildcats.

“When there’s a moment where Jaden isn’t going … it just felt like someone needed to step up, so I took the opportunity to do so,” Lewis said.

Ethan Harris, Camas’ 6-8 forward headed to University of Iowa next year, scored a game-high 36 points with six 3-pointers, but fouled out with 24 seconds left and missed Ghoreishi’s game-tying put-back and overtime.

“When they have a player like Ethan Harris, you just gotta go,” Ghoreishi said. “Knowing him – he can guard me, I can guard him. We’re perfect matchups, and I just had to tough it out and hold him to whatever I can do. It all worked out.”

Harris hit a step-back 3, drove the lane for a jam with Ghoreishi out tending to his ankle, then Ethan Sobolik came off the bench for a corner 3 with 1:40 left in the game to put Camas up by 10. Those were the last points the Papermakers would score.

Jace Reijonen hit a 3, and the Mt. Spokane ratcheted up its defense, scoring off several turnovers. Ghoreishi scored in the paint to get it to four, then again to make it a two-point game with 25 seconds to go.

Mt. Spokane (3-0) got another stop, and Reijonen was fouled with 5.3 seconds left. He missed the first free throw, then missed the second intentionally. The ball went toward Ghoreishi, who wrestled it away from a defender. His contested layup at the buzzer was good to tie it at 68.

“We called an ‘X’ where we cross (on the rebound) and it worked to perfection,” Ghoreishi said.

“After I missed the first one, coach kinda said ‘Do it again’ ” Reijonen said. “I just slid over a bit and missed it the same way. I knew they were crossing, and Jaden could go get it.”

“Jace’s missed free throw was the greatest missed free throw of all time,” Wagenblast said. “Most kids would try to rifle the ball (off the rim). But he had the right approach, the right touch, and when you have 6-9 with long arms you say, ‘Go get it.’ “

It was all Wildcats in overtime as they outscored Camas (2-2) 9-0 in the extra session.

“It helped that they had (Harris) on the bench, but we had to take advantage of that,” Ghoreishi said. “We just had to go to work.”

Harris scored 17 points – on five 3-pointers and a put-back – in the first quarter as Camas built a 25-13 lead after one. The scoring dried up in the second, with the teams combining for two buckets over the first 4 minutes of the frame.

Franklin drove the lane for a pair of layups, and Kelan Moore’s late 3-pointer drew the Wildcats within 10, 33-23, at halftime.

Harris barely played in the second quarter, sitting with two fouls until 1:40 left in the half, and didn’t score in the period.

Gonzaga Prep 48, Bellarmine Prep 41: Vincent Moore scored 12 points, Ryan Carney had 11 and Carter Nilson added 10 and the Bullpups (3-0) topped the visiting Lions (0-2) of Tacoma in the East vs. West Preseason Shootout.

G-Prep was up by four after three quarters and held Bellarmine Prep to six points in the fourth.

Birk Johnston led BP with 14 points.