Davis overcomes slow start against West Valley, now sets eyes on postseason
YAKIMA, Wash. – With a freshly minted league-championship trophy in hand after a pregame ceremony and the chance to avenge its lone league loss of the past two seasons, the Davis boys basketball team greeted Saturday night’s matchup against West Valley with all the energy of a sloth.
Largely listless in a first quarter that left them in a nine-point hole and star Cesar Hernandez saddled with two fouls, the Pirates lacked their usual frenetic pace that’s carried them to nine Columbia Basin Big Nine titles since 2010, including the last two.
Then, as Hall of Fame coach Eli Juarez’s crew often does, Davis flipped the switch.
Using the length of their 2-3 matchup zone and Hernandez’s game-high 29 points, all but two of which came in a foul-free final three quarters for the sophomore, the Pirates topped the Rams, 71-62, to wrap up conference play.
The two teams will run it back Friday in the district championship also at Davis, with the winner punching its ticket to the Class 4A regional round of the state tournament.
“I was kind of fortunate that team understood what they did yesterday, which was come out for a half, they decided, ‘Hey, maybe we’ll come out flat again today,’” joked Juarez, alluding to Friday night’s conference-title-clinching victory against Eisenhower in which the outmanned Cadets led 34-33 at halftime.
Fortunately for the veteran coach, Davis didn’t wait for the intermission Saturday to hit reset.
With the length of 6-6 Blake Garza and 6-5 Finnegan Anderson manning the back of the Pirates’ zone and seemingly endless sets of arms shrinking the Rams’ passing lanes, West Valley’s lead quickly evaporated in the second quarter. Brandon Lee Jr. canned all three free throws after being fouled on a nearly 40-foot heave at the buzzer to give Davis a 33-29 halftime lead.
The Pirates wouldn’t trail again.
“Blake is an instigator in that – he’s just the person who starts that.” Juarez said. “The kids worked hard and we’re still trying to recover from the flu, so they’re not quite at 100 percent, but I appreciate the effort they gave on the defensive end.”
Hernandez scored 18 in the second half, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Anderson added 15 and Lee chipped in for the Pirates (15-5 overall, 11-1 CBBN).
Sophomore Landen Birley led the Rams with 26 points, going back-and-forth with Hernandez during a stretch of the fourth with each hitting a pair of deep 3-pointers in the period.
Brady Komstadius totaled 14 points and Parker Mills added 11 battling in the middle for West Valley (12-7, 8-4).
“Knowing we hadn’t lost in league play in two years and just getting our revenge here at home felt good,” Hernandez said. “We gotta work on the energy and come out strong, and not let them get ahead of us and get that good of a lead.”
