Delp, Navarre combine for 55 as Zillah scores early win over 2A Selah, 81-76
ZILLAH — After a furious first half in which he set himself up to flirt with a career-high Tuesday night against Selah, Zillah senior Clay Delp — the reigning South Central Athletic Conference West player of the year — was relegated to spectator late in the nonleague thriller that threatened to be a runaway early.
Luke Navarre scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half to go along with Delp’s game-high 29 – all but six coming before intermission – and the Leopards, ranked No. 3 in SBLive's coaches poll, held off Selah 81-76 at Zillah Alumni Gymnasium.
“At that point I’m just trying really to coach them up,” said Delp of fouling out with 2:53 left in the game and the Leopards having seen their 16-point halftime lead trimmed to as few as two points. “(I told them to) just play ball really and not do dumb stuff.”
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Delp is showing no effects of a broken collarbone suffered nearly two months ago, nor is he wearing any protective gear.
“I bet you I’m to a 100 percent, not; this was my eighth week and it’s supposed to be a six- to eight-week recovery time,” he said. In Zillah’s romp season-opening romp against Cashmere, Delp eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career.
While Delp is Zillah’s unquestioned leader, the Vikings are still adjusting to life without three-time Central Washington Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player Noah Pepper, who is at Central Washington.
Based on Tuesday night, it could very well be a Pepper — or Peppers — again pacing the Vikings, who check in at No. 5 in SBLive’s preseason poll.
Levi Pepper, a junior, scored a team-high 27 points, 17 in the second half before fouling out with just more than a minute left in the game, while freshman Jackson Pepper connected on five 3-pointers en route to 17 points.
The two combined for 19 in the third quarter as Selah matched the 27 points it scored in the first half and slashed the deficit to 61-54 headed into the final quarter.
“We talked at halftime about showing a little more grit,” Selah coach Tim Garza said. “The environment was great for experience going forward.”
Ashton Waldman added a dozen points for Zillah, which continues its nonleague scheduled with a trip to Prosser.
The Vikings (1-1) travel to Spokane this weekend for a pair of games. Selah will play Asotin on Friday and Clarkston on Saturday as part of the Knights Classic at East Valley High School.
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—Jerrel Swenning; @JSwenning
