Blackhawks defeat East Valley for first league win

See a photo gallery from the event here.

Question: What do you do when your team essentially gets taken to the proverbial woodshed for a thrashing in two out of three games?

Answer: You talk about that third game.

That was Cheney High School boys basketball coach Gregg Smith's take on last week's Great Northern League play. The Blackhawks began with a 57–52 win at East Valley, and finished with a pair of 40-plus point losses to Pullman and at Clarkston, the fifth and third-ranked teams in the state 2A classification.

But against the Knights, Cheney continued the good play they found in the annual spirit game against Medical Lake Jan. 12. The Blackhawks were 42 percent overall from the field in shooting, scoring in double digits in all four quarters while limiting East Valley to single digit scoring in the second and fourth periods.

"We played with great intensity, and shot well," Smith said. "That's what happens (42 percent) when you can get to the rim and finish."

Cheney spread the scoring around pretty evenly among the nine players who got minutes at East Valley, with sophomore Camden VerStrate the only player in double figures for the Blackhawks with 10 points. Cheney also won the rebounding wars, out boarding the Knights 40–24, including 13–7 on the offensive glass.

Friday at home against Pullman, Cheney managed to get to the rim, but had trouble finishing, finding few opportunities against the taller Greyhounds front line and swarming 2-3 zone. And, Smith said they were going against a team that was focused and likely trying to send a message to the league after dropping two straight games, including getting upset at East Valley.

The Greyhounds got on top first and never looked back, opening a 39-12 halftime lead en route to their 67-26 win. No Cheney players scored in double figures, reflecting a 17.8 overall shooting percentage, which included a 1 for 14 performance from beyond the 3-point arc, although Smith said 10–11 of those looks were good.

Things got no better 24 hours later in Clarkston. The two-time defending league and state champions opened a 36-16 halftime margin and doubled that in the final 16 minutes for their 72-30 win - helped by a 10-for-23 performance (67 percent) from 3-point range.

Cheney shot a bit better against the Bantams than versus Pullman, 19.2 percent, but again had nobody scoring in double digits.

Cheney drops to 1-7 in GNL play, 8-8 overall, and enters the final third of the league season, beginning with a road trip to West Valley Tuesday (Jan. 24), and a home game Saturday against East Valley. The Knights are ranked ninth in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association's Jan. 4 RPI while the Eagles are 14th, despite being in third place in the GNL, a half-game ahead of East Valley.

Even with last weekend's losses, Smith feels his Blackhawks have a chance to still make noise in league play.

"We have an opportunity to move up still," he said.

John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].

See a photo gallery from the event here.