Lions to face their past in tournament final

MOSES LAKE — Two teams long gone but the shadows of their pasts remain just ten months later.

In March, Tri Cities Prep upset the top-ranked Class 1B boys basketball team Moses Lake Christian Academy in the state final 48-41.

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. both schools with vastly different lineups will play for another title — the championship of the Moses Lake Christian Academy Christmas Tournament.

Game on.

“I am ready,” Lions’ first-year coach Duke Wood said. “Of course its two different teams that lost a lot of their big guns from last year, but it’s just the thought. We have guys that were there and they still remember the loss and they want to win.”

The Lions advanced to the final with a sloppy 61-47 win over Bridgeport last night in the second semifinal of the evening.

Bridgeport came out strong against the taller Moses Lake Christian Academy squad taking a 16-14 lead in the first eight minutes.

“We started out really slow,” Wood said. “They came out and zoned and pressed us and we missed a lot of wide open layups. They gave us what we wanted and we didn’t finish. We’d get to the rim and they just weren’t falling.”

But the Lions turned it up ten notches in the second quarter to outscore the visitors 21-7 to take a 35-23 lead into the locker room.

Wood called for a shift to a zone defense to protect against building foul trouble and to improve their rebounding.

“Isaac Murrell also started getting hot,” Wood said. “He hit three three-pointers during a four-possession stretch. That lit a spark under us and we played much better compared to the first quarter.”

Moses Lake Christian Academy (3-1) came out flat again to start a half, getting outscored 12-5 in the third.

“We came out rock solid and scored five points in the first couple of possessions and that was it,” Wood said. “We went five minutes scoreless and had probably seven turnovers. They were committed with us trying to fast break and we would throw it away or travel. Just silly stuff.”

Finally the host Lions bared their teeth with the score at 46-40 and Bridgeport pushing for one last rally with four minutes left.

“We were sitting back in the zone and being lazy,” Wood said. “I said we were going to man, going to get in their face, and we were going to rebound. And that was the end of the that.”

The Lions ended the game on a 15-7 run to put the game out of reach.

Joe Timofeyev led the Lions with 17 points and seven assists, Stefan McNamara added 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Murrell finished with 14 points.

Johnny Roberts chipped in with eight rebound and three blocked shots.

The squad also committed 22 turnovers.

“I’ll always take a win but we’re not jelling and making silly mistakes,” Wood said. “We are committing turnovers and we aren’t even under pressure. We will come down on a 3-on-1 and throw the ball off the wall. We can’t afford to do this against Tri Cities Prep. They are more disciplined and if we play like we did (Monday) they will take advantage of every mistake we make and that will end up not being pretty.”

Tri Cities Prep 52, Warden 49

They dug themselves inch-by-inch out of the hole they built themselves but in the end the Warden Cougars couldn’t quite get all the way out in a 52-49 loss to Tri Cities Prep last night.

The game was the first of two boys semifinal games at the Moses Lake Christian Academy Lions Christmas Tournament.

Warden trailed 28-26 at halftime before a lethargic beginning to the second half allowed Tri Cities Prep to go on a 12-0 run to start the third quarter.

The Cougars (3-5) went to a zone defense at the intermission hoping to stop Will Hoppes who scored 17 first half points.

“We changed defenses and we got a little lethargic and lazy so we switched back to a man defense and that kind of woke us up,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “That got our offense going. We also had some younger guys playing in positions they weren’t used to so we were definitely out of sync.”

Hoppes ended the night with 22 points for the victors who are the defending Class 1B state champions.

Part of Hoppes’ second half struggles coincided with the performance of the Cougars who finished the third quarter on an 8-2 run and then started the fourth quarter with an identical spurt to cut the deficit to 44-42.

“Some of the guys that were helping us were younger guys and this will help them down the line,” Richins said. “Tri Cities have leaders on that team and return a couple of a studs from their championship team. We battled but we just had a tough time getting over the hump. If we had a made a few plays earlier we would have been in a better position to win.”

Yet Richins’ squad still found itself with a chance to win behind some tough three-point shooting and a swarming defense.

But in the last two minutes Warden went cold missing their last six behind the arc, five of which could have brought them within one.

Another missed the mark at the buzzer and a chance of sending the game into overtime.

“If we hit couple of those its a little different ball game,” Richins said. “We needed a break down the stretch but we couldn’t quite get it.”

Nathan Brown led Warden with 11 points, seven rebounds, and four steals, while Eric Bates chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds.

Warden plays Bridgeport today at 4:30 p.m. in the tournament’s consolation bracket final.