Mount Spokane's Class 3A district championship-winning formula? 'Put the ball in the basket'

KENNEWICK, Wash. - There is a reason Mount Spokane’s boys basketball team is No. 2 in the latest WIAA RPI rankings.

The Wildcats had limped into the locker room with a slim first-half lead on the road Thursday night.

But something happened during halftime, and Mount Spokane’s players brought out of the locker room a better version of themselves to run over Kennewick, 73-40.

The victory gave the Wildcats (22-1) the Class 3A District 8 championship, and also the state-tournament berth that comes with it.

"Halftime speech," deadpanned Wildcats senior Maverick Sanders, when asked what happened in the third quarter. "Coach (David Wagenblast) told us to put the ball in the basket."

Wagenblast might have been a bit more eloquent than that.

"I said ‘Every once in a while, slow down. Run our plays,’" Wagenblast said. 'You know how it is in a championship game. You get a little tight. We were taking great shots. They just weren’t going in."

In fact, the Wildcats shot a paltry 33 percent (7 for 21) from the floor in the first half, while Kennewick shot 44 percent (8 for 18).

The saving grace for Wagenblast’s team those first 16 minutes is they were forcing the Lions to foul them when they were driving to the basket. But even then, Mount Spokane was 11 for 18 from the free throw line.

Wagenblast gave some credit to the Lions, too.

"Kennewick is a physical team," he said. "They can’t be pushed around. The biggest thing for us was to get back to a one-and-done (defense) on their shots."

And that’s what happened in the third quarter.

Mount Spokane got its defensive stops, kicked up the fastbreak, and found its shots started to go in.

Altogether, the Wildcats connected on 12 of their 14 shots from the floor in those eight minutes.

Kennewick’s Nathan Knapik’s putback kept the Lions close at 32-29 with six minutes remaining in the third quarter.

From there, it was all Wildcats. They went on a 22-5 run to end the quarter. In the fourth quarter, Mount Spokane continued with a 15-4 run to complete the rout.

"Our defense and our culture is great," said Sanders, who finished with a team-high 20 points, eights rebounds and four steals. "But our defense gets our offense going."

Indeed, Mount Spokane outscored Kennewick 24-6 in points off of turnovers.

Ryan Lafferty added 15 points and added nine assists, while Andrew Rayment finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Jonah Gebers led Kennewick with 14 points.

Wagenblast is hopeful for a good tournament draw come Sunday.

"I hope on Sunday that we stay that way as No. 2," he said.

Kennewick still has a chance to qualify for the state tournament. The Lions will host Walla Walla at 7 p.m. Saturday for the district’s second state berth.

MEAD GIRLS 74, KENNEWICK 48: The visiting Panthers (18-2) outscored Kennewick, 19-8, in the second quarter and never trailed, winning the District 8 championship and earning a state-tournament spot in the process.

"We’re fast, but I really love this group’s camaraderie," said Mead coach Quantae Anderson.

Teryn Gardner had a monster game for Mead, scoring 26 points, grabbing eight rebounds, dishing off seven assists, and getting six steals. Teammate Natalie Braun added 19 points and eight rebounds.

"We knew Kennewick would come out hard," Gardner said. "But we stuck to our game plan, which was to be physical from the start."

Junior Haylee Johnson led the Lions (14-9) with 26 points and five rebounds.

Kennewick still has a chance to earn a state tournament berth. The Lions will host Mount Spokane at 5 p.m. Saturday for a state play-in game.