Jaden Ghoreishi provides inside presence for Mt.Spokane boys in win; Central Valley girls pull away from Wildcats

The legacy of power forwards for the Mt. Spokane boys basketball team over the past decade is a big responsibility, but Jaden Ghoreishi is feeling more and more comfortable in the spot with each passing game.

Ghoreishi, a 6-foot-8 junior transfer, scored 21 points – 19 in the first three quarters as he sat most of the fourth – with a dozen rebounds and eight blocked shots and the Wildcats led the whole way for an 80-61 win over visiting Central Valley in a Greater Spokane League 4A/3A game on Tuesday.

Lucas Dickau had 12 points and Jake Lenberger came off the bench for 11 for the Wildcats (9-5, 2-0). Orland Axton led the Bears (6-7, 2-1) with 19 points and point guard Cameron Wells added 17.

Ghoreishi knows he’s walking in the footsteps of Tyson Degenhart, Maverick Sanders and a trio of graduates off last year’s team – Ryan Lafferty, Bode Gardner and Drew Rayment.

“It’s a big responsibility,” he said. “All of those guys were asked to do a bunch and right now I’m trying to do my best and put out all the effort I can. They’re raising the bar for me, so I need to step up and be that guy.”

“He is potentially going to be that kind of recruit,” Mt. Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “He’s a special kid who is understanding that we’re going to try to play through him and with that it means a lot of responsibility.

“He’s taken that on and he knows, ‘Hey, these are things we used to do with Tyson,’ and we’re putting them in with him. That’s kind of a ‘Oh, OK, I gotta step up.’ And he is doing that.”

Ghoreishi said the difference in the game was concentrating on defensive effort.

“We offensive rebounded and we hustled on defense,” he said. “Last game we weren’t hustling as much and this game we were getting in the gaps and came up with a bunch of steals.”

“(Ghoreishi) really has started to step up on the defensive end,” Wagenblast said. “That’s where I’ve been really proud of him. The whole season he’s been scoring, but I thought today he impacted the game on defense.”

Mt. Spokane used Ghoreishi’s inside presence early, feeding him for a layup and dunk, and he ended up with eight points in the first quarter as the Wildcats got out to a 21-10 lead.

“Jaden’s a very, very good player. He is just coming into his own,” Wagenblast said. “A big part of that is learning how to play with these new group of guys. Every season it takes awhile for guys to gel. But these guys are starting to learn how to play together and trust each other.”

Dickau took over in the second quarter, hitting a 3-pointer on the first possession and a series of floaters to score nine in the quarter. Mt. Spokane led 41-24 at halftime.

“(Dickau’s) biggest growth is how he’s taken over leading the team,” Wagenblast said. “This is his team, with regards to energy and talking and communicating. And just playing hard on every possession.”

Jacen Phillips hit the first of his two 3-pointers early in the third quarter and the lead grew to 20.

Despite the inevitable comparisons to previous Wildcats players and teams, this year’s squad is starting to forge its own identity.

“It’s a whole new roster,” Ghoreishi said. “I transferred in here, so people may not know what’s going on. They should take notice and come see us play to know we’re still here.”

Girls

Central Valley 72, Mt. Spokane 54: Only recently has the CV girls team been at full strength – they just returned all-league guard Drae Domebo to the lineup over the weekend from her early season injury. But watch out when they fire on all cylinders.

Even though its starting five have only been together for two games, CV is averaging 68 points per game and outscoring its opponents by 35.

Brynn McGaughy scored 21 points, Eden Sander added 14 and the visiting Bears (11-0, 2-0) pulled away from the Wildcats (5-7, 0-1).

“We’re getting there,” Sander said. “We still seem to struggle in first halves a little bit, but then we figure it out.”

Sander scored nine and McGaughy eight in the first half as CV built a 35-22 advantage at halftime.

McGaughy added nine points in the third quarter, CV outscored its hosts 24-11 in the period and the lead grew to 20-plus.

“We just got back to our principle of running,” Sander said. “That’s been our big thing this year – get out and run. We weren’t doing that great in the first half, so we really had to focus on that.”

Sloane Gardner led Mt. Spokane with 20 points.