Cardinal boys win pair

Derek Steege has flown under the radar his entire career as a Medical Lake basketball player.

That ended last week for the senior shooting guard, who rocketed onto the scene Dec. 5 when he scored 30 points to lead his team to a 57-56 nonleague victory over Davenport.

But Steege was not finished.

Last Friday, he led the Cardinals with 13 points in a 46-41 Northeast A League win over Riverside and capped it with 11 more in a 75-51 nonleague loss to Lakeland in Rathdrum, Idaho.

Medical Lake (2-0 NEA, 3-2 overall) plays three times this week, Dec. 12 at home against Chewelah (1-0, 2-0), home against Kellogg on Dec. 13 and at Deer Park (1-0, 2-0) Friday, Dec. 15 at 5:45 p.m. to close out the 2017 portion of the season, resuming play Jan. 2.

"I believe he doesn't get the recognition he deserves because of his size," head coach Noel Hachtel wrote in an email regarding Steege. "He can deliver a seven-footer's effort in his 5-10 body."

Four years in the program, Steege was 6 of 13 from the 3-point line and pulled down eight or so rebounds versus Davenport. And he did it all in just 25 minutes of work.

Davenport was a difficult match-up, Hachtel explained, particularly as his team was missing starters Skylar Johnson and Porter Westfall. "We were really hurting both inside the paint and outside the arc," Hachtel said.

"I believe that late run Davenport put on in the fourth quarter was a reflection of tired bodies," Hachtel said of the 21-19 edge the Gorillas had in the final eight minutes.

Jacquez Johnson, Garren Garza and Steege just wore down. "It's hard to ask players to perform at their highest level when they are completely gassed," Hachtel added.

Davenport led periodically throughout the fourth quarter, and 56-55 with just six seconds to play. That moment provided another lesser-known player his own memorable court time.

While sophomore Jordan Petersen had his official varsity debut against Riverside, it was a six-second role in relief for those exhausted starters when he made a pass to set up Garza's lay-up - the last of his 16 points - that defeated Davenport.

Against Riverside, Medical Lake raced to a 17-9 first quarter lead and was up 29-22 at halftime. "Riverside came out in a match-up zone to start the third quarter which confused our guys a bit," Hachtel said.

"Once we figured out their scheme we were able to take real good looks that just didn't go our way," he added. The Cardinals were outscored 8-2 as the Rams closed to within 31-30.

"Honestly, we weren't prepared for Riverside's post player Kory Cross," Hachtel said of the Rams' leading scorer who also connected for 13 points. Medical Lake regained their shooting eye in the final quarter with Petersen scoring the first five points to put his team ahead 36-30.

On the strength of an 8-0 run, the Rams pulled ahead 38-36. But Jacquez Johnson started a 10-3 run for the Cardinals with his 3-point play. Skylar Johnson (nine points) connected on a pair of field goals and Steege sunk three of four free throws down the stretch.

A mismatch in personnel played a big part in ML's loss to the Lakeland Hawks.

"Lakeland was a solid team at every position," Hachtel said. "They had a 6-9 post player that we had to compete against with a 6-3 guard. They also had 3-point shooters everywhere."

Steege and Skylar Johnson, who added 10, were the only Cardinal players in double figures.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].