Jr. Hi Basketball finishes season

Junior High Boys' Basketball traveled to Garfield to face Garfield-Palouse on Dec. 1, using tough defense to stay close but getting edged 39-38.

"It was a tough-fought game from start to finish, but the difference was at the free-throw line where we were 6 of 12, while G-P was 12 of 18," commented Coach Brock Ledgerwood. "We were up early 14-4 at the end of the first quarter, but Cooper Wells took over scoring all of his game high 17 points in the last three quarters. We stayed close with some tough defense, but could not overcome a poor shooting night and suffered a 39-38 loss."

Conrad Nelson led in scoring with some strong play inside with 12 points. "We were extremely balanced after that with Nolan Newberg 7, Rory McKeirnan 6, Braxton McKeirnan 5, Vinnie Vecchio 4, Tyler Dixon 1, Robby VanVogt 1, Cayle Mullins, Sam Wolf, and Kole Zimmerman.

Pomeroy hosted Endicott-St. John/Lacrosse and came away with a 51-37 victory Dec. 5. "We started out hot, jumping out to an 15-5 lead, but ESJL switched to a sagging zone defense," Ledgerwood said. "They gave us all the open three-point shots we wanted, but we could not hit. The boys were executing the offense effectively, we just were not hitting shots. We were able to slowly pull away in the second half by moving the ball and attacking their zone for some balanced scoring."

Braxton McKeirnan led with 12 points and 5 assists.

"It was great to see the ball movement be effective against the zone later in the game giving our teammates easy shots inside," he said.

Scoring were Dixon 4, R. McKeirnan 6, Newberg 7, B. McKeirnan 12, Mullins 2, Vecchio 3, Nelson 2, VanVogt 6, Wolf 7, and Zimmerman 7.

The Pirates played one of the best games of the year at Oakesdale Dec. 8.

"Rory McKeirnan took charge and his teammates helped out in holding down Oakesdale's star, Ryker Reed, to 22 points," Ledgerwood said. "Reed took a majority of their shots and only two other Nighthawks scored. It was key for us to make him work so hard to get his points. Credit to our guys for stepping up defensively, especially being down a few guys to illness."

Braxton McKeirnan lit the fire for Pomeroy offensively in the pivitol third quarter, Ledgerwood said, where the Pirates outscored Oakesdale 20-10. He scored all of his team-high 19 points in the second half.

Scoring was by R. McKeirnan 10, Treyton Kimble, Mullins, Nelson 10, VanVogt 4, Wolf, Zimmerman, B. McKeirnan 19 and Vecchio 2.

The final game of the season was at home against All Saints Catholic.

"They are a very quick and physical team, who also shot the ball well," Ledgerwood said. "We struggled with their aggressive play for most of the game, but made a strong run in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to two in the final seconds, but we dropped the game 39-37.

Braxton McKeirnan led scoring with 10, Dixon 4, R. McKeirnan 5, Newberg 2, Vecchio 9, Nelson 5, and Van Vogt 4.

"We are extremely proud of this team," Ledgerwood said. "The Varsity finished the season 6-4, which included a one-point and a two-point loss," Ledgerwood said. "The boys are great kids who worked extremely hard for us. They have a bright future ahead of them and we think they learned a lot this season!"

The JV Boys team finished their season with a loss to All Saints Catholic, which was their only loss this season. The JV finished a strong season at 9-1, Ledgerwood said.

"We are happy to see the progress of our younger boys, especially with some of them so new to the game," he said. "We look forward to seeing them progress in the future. It was a fun, hard working group of JV kids that were always ready to learn.

The JV Team had wins at Garfield-Palouse 39-22, vs ESJL 36-17, and at Oakesdale 36-31. We also played a couple of C-squad games, beating All Saints 23-19 and beating Oakesdale in half game, 18-2.