Cardinal boys drop pair of games at Eagle Classic

Medical Lake’s boys basketball team was never able to fully recover from slow start in their final game of the Eagle Holiday Classic at West Valley High School falling to Greater Spokane League Rogers 66-56 Dec. 29.

Two days earlier the start was strong, but the finish not in a 72-71 loss to Lake Roosevelt in the Cardinals opening game against the 2B Raiders from Grand Coulee, Wash.

Medical Lake (2-1 Northeast A, 4-5 overall) watched as Rogers (3-8) sprinted to a 17-9 lead after the opening quarter and played basically even the rest of the way. The Cardinals got to within a point in the third quarter but the Pirates had a couple of runs that reestablished their lead.

Garren Garza led the Cards with 17 points with Nick Mason adding 14 more. Rogers’ Ethan Kaesemeyer was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points, including five 3-pointers.

Among the challenges the Cardinals faced from Rogers on the court, they were missing a key element in Ashton Hamilton-Becker.

“He is a key contributor this season,” head coach Noel Hachtel wrote in an email. “Not having him and our shallow bench forced us to play a 2-3 zone defense to keep out of foul trouble.”

Rogers opened the game with a 13-0 lead and once Medical Lake changed defense they closed the gap, but the hole was too deep.

In their tournament opener against Lake Roosevelt (6-3), Medical Lake stumbled out of the halftime break and lost its 35-28 lead when the Raiders had a 23-12 third-quarter edge which effectively decided the game.

“It was our best start of the season, but we came out flat in the second half,” Hachtel said. “Lake Roosevelt is a terrific team, but we made some mental mistakes in the second half.”

Sam Gollehon’s 19 points and five long-range 3s topped the Cardinals. LR’s Soarin Marchand also 19 points. Alex Stith (16), Garza (13), Ashton Hamilton-Becker (11) and Mason (10) were other Cardinals with double-figures in a balanced Cardinal scoring attack.

Medical Lake will try to snap their current two-game losing streak when they got back into Northeast A League play Jan. 4 with the start of four home games in five outings against Deer Park at 5:30 p.m. The Cardinals host 1A Cashmere from the Caribou Trail League in a nonleague game, Saturday, Jan. 5 at 4:30 p.m.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].