Wesselman hits winner as Medical Lake tops Clarkston 50-48

Cardinals advance to play CWAC's Wapato at EWU's Reese Court Friday at 6 p.m.

By PAUL DELANEY

Staff Reporter

Medical Lake escaped to play again.

Jake Wesselman's open jump shot from the top of the key caromed off the backboard and through the hoop with 2.5 seconds to play to give the Cardinals a 50-48 District 7 2A playoff victory over the Clarkston Bantams last Saturday afternoon at Central Valley High School.

Medical Lake, the Great Northern League's No. 3 seed, plays Wapato Friday at 6 p.m. at Eastern Washington University's Reese Court in a loser-out contest. Earlier in the week Medical Lake (9-14) lost 51-33 in Pullman.

But it was the unlikely hero Wesselman - primarily a defensive guy who on the season had all of 30 points and 66 fouls, including four Saturday – who suddenly found himself open as time wound down.

With the Cards' leading scorer and hot hand Kendyl Dunn double-teamed, Wesselman, stood alone and canned the shot as if it were a pressure-less shoot around. In three postseason games Wesselman attempted just two field goals, but hit the one he'll remember for years to come.

“I was just open,” the speechless senior said amongst the mob of players, fans and parents that rushed the floor. The play was set up when Clarkston's Trevor Sperry had a chance to put his team back in the lead, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Ismael Teshome grabbed the rebound.

Cardinals' head coach Arnold Brown survived his second close call in less than a week and had special praise for Saturday's savior. “He's worked his butt off this year,” Brown said of Wesselman.

“He (Dunn) started going and I yelled stop, stop, stop,” Brown said. “Then he found Jake.”

After playing, and splitting with the Bantams (13-10) in the regular Great Northern League season – winning 53-43 and losing 61-57 – “I told our guys we lost a lot of close games, it's our time to get one,” Brown said.

While it was the unlikely Wesselman who delivered the deciding points, it was the usual cast of Cardinal characters who got the game to that point. Dunn scored 16, Teshome 13 and Austin Garza 11.

However,Dunn played much of the game in foul trouble, getting tagged with his third with just 10 seconds to play in the first quarter and his fourth with 1:54 remaining in the game.

“Our five guys stepped up, hung in there and got us the lead,” Brown said. Among them were Adam Paulson who scored on back-to-back possessions, one a 3-point shot, that returned the lead to Medical Lake 24-20 with 1:40 remaining in the half.

The game boiled down in large point to a personal battle between Dunn and Clarkston's Drew Adams.

Adams gave his team its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer with 4:20 left in the half. Adams led all scorers in the game with 25 points. In the fourth quarter, he tried to single-handedly keep his senior season alive as his eight straight points made it 40-38 Bantams with 4:30 remaining.

Then it was Dunn's turn.

His one-hand turn-around jump shot at the 4-minute mark tied the game at 40-40. Then Dunn's drive through the lane and basket with 2:08 to play broke a tie and ML led 46-44. After a pair of Adams' free throws tied it again 30 second later Dunn sunk a pair for a 48-46 lead. But Adams' steal and layup with 55 seconds to go tied it one last time.

Garza also contributed some key baskets. His inside move to the basket gave Medical Lake an 8-2 lead in the first. Then he delivered six second quarter points to keep his team close in a second quarter that saw Clarkston with the lead much of the time.

Tuesday, Pullman (20-2) used a big 19-8 second quarter edge to pull away from Medical Lake, which trailed just 9-5 after eight minutes. Austin Drake scored 15 points and Brady Barrett 13 for the Hounds while Teshome led the Cards with just eight points.

Wapato comes into Friday's game with a 16-6 record following a 58-39 loss to Ellensburg (18-4) in the CWAC championship game. Shawn Craig led the Wolves with 12 points. No. 1 CWAC seed Ellensburg will also venture to Cheney to face the winner of Friday's Toppenish-West Valley of Spokane game 6 p.m. Saturday at Cheney High School.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].