Cards even record on eve of league play

Medical Lake’s boys basketball team plans to hang its success this season on the ability to use speed to counter size.

But as they split their final nonleague games last week, conditioning and depth might be another foe that third-year head coach Noel Nachtel needs to take into consideration.

Medical Lake (2-2) went on the road where they faced a pair of 2B schools, handily defeating Davenport 82-46 on Dec. 4, but losing 73-50 to St. George’s, Dec. 6.

“St. Georges, in my opinion, is probably one of the top teams in the state at any level,” Hachtel said. “I think they could be competitive in the GSL (Greater Spokane League), I do I honestly do — especially the 3A level.” That school is a private institution with certain abilities to attract key talent.

Sprinting out to an 18-6 lead after the first quarter, St. George’s held a 28-21 halftime lead and cranked up the offense with a 45-point second half.

The Dragons had it all. “They could run, they didn’t get tired — I kind of knew that, they’re basketball players, they’ve been playing all year around — I knew they would be ready,” Hachtel said.

Size and depth were also factors. “They were just giants,” Hachtel said. “We just got tired, their bench is deep.”

Sam Gollehon’s 16 points were tops for Medical Lake while Dan Rigsby led all scorers with 24 points for the 4-0 Dragons. One Cardinal, senior Alex Stith, continued to stand out with his fourth consecutive double-double, scoring 10 points and hauling down 15 rebounds.

Despite the 23-point spanking, some good did come out of the trip to St. George’s. “Our press worked really well,” Hachtel said.

At Davenport (3-1), it was Medical Lake that got the hot start, leading 19-9 after the first period and 39-27 at halftime. The Cardinals kept their foot on the gas pedal throughout, finishing the game with an even better fourth quarter, outscoring the Gorillas 24-9.

“They are a lot better than what that score indicated,” Hachtel said. “I think we caught them on a bad night.”

Gollehon once again led the Cardinals with 20 points with Nick Mason adding 16 and Stith pitching in with 12 — plus 11 boards. Notable among Stith’s rebounding total, his coach noted, is that of his totals, 33 33 are on the offensive end.

“On the offensive end its more difficult,” Hachtel said. “He’s always scrapping and fighting. He comes away with knuckles all scraped up.”

Opposite to their game with St. George’s, “We were able to run and get out on them a little bit,” Hachtel said. “We started slow but were able to see more shots go in.”

Medical Lake opens its league schedule playing at Lakeside (3-2), Dec. 11 and then is home for the final games before the holiday break hosting Colville (0-4) Friday, Dec. 14 and Riverside (2-2) Dec. 15, both at 7:15 p.m.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].