Pirates notch trio of convincing wins

POMEROY––It was a great week for the Pirates, taking three games by significant differences and improving their league record to 4-1, 7-4 overall, with two more weeks of league play remaining. Pomeroy thumped Liberty Christian 62-35, slashed Garfield-Palouse 53-32 and clobbered Touchet 70-26.

After last Tuesday's non-league game versus Dayton-Waitsburg, St. John-Endicott/LaCrosse visits Friday and Saturday the Bucs travel to Palouse for the first of three straight road games.

"Great overall performance to finish off a big week for us," Head Coach Chris Wolf said.

"Ollie Severs and Trace Roberts are passing and rebounding really well right now and that is really opening up our offense," Wolf said. "Trevin Kimble led the way against Liberty Christian with 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Ollie Severs had 12, and Jett Slusser added 11 with three threes. Trace Roberts had eight points, nine rebounds, two assists, and three steals."

Wolf credited a dialed-in defense during the entire game as contributing to not only the Liberty win, but the others, too. "We did a great job of stopping penetration and we were in great help-side tonight," Wolf said. "Our defense keyed our success this week, and I hope we continue to build on it.

"Offensively we are starting to consistently move the ball and are doing a good job finding the mismatch and taking advantage of it," the coach commented. "Our posts are making great decisions when they double down on the post and it is leading to open threes for our guards."

Wolf said the Buccaneer defense holding the Vikings to two first-quarter points was a good start against Gar-Pal Jan. 13. "We got off to a little bit of a slow start offensively, but took good shots and moved the ball well," Wolf said.

Kimble sparked the Pirates with 18 points, and Jett Slusser scored 11.

Pomeroy outscored Touchet 23-4 in the first quarter and never looked back.

"We were up 18-0 three and a half minutes into the game and did a good job of maintaining our intensity the rest of the game," Wolf said. "Our defense led to several transition baskets and the boys moved the ball well and played a great offensive game.

"We did as good of a job of moving the ball tonight as we have all season and did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball," he said.

Severs led the way with 24 points on 10-13 shooting, Wolf said. Kimble added 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, and nine steals. Trace Roberts had a great game tonight with eight points and four assists. "He really passed the ball well from the high post tonight and created easy shots for his teammates," Wolf said.

Pomeroy 62, Liberty Christian 35 (1/14)

Pom 17 15 14 16-62

LC 7 7 12 9-35

Pomeroy (62) Severs 4 3-5 12, Jett Slusser 4 0-0 11, Kimble 9 1-3 21, Magill 1 0-2 2, Ledgerwood 0 0-0 0, Schmidt 2 0-0 5, Reisinger 0 1-2 1, Roberts 2 4-6 8, Herres 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 9-18 62

Liberty Christian (35) Smith 2 1-2 6, Bishop 5 5-7 15, Culver 2 1-2 5, Hogaboam 1 0-2 3, Haak 1 0-1 2, Dunham 2 0-0 4. Totals 13 7-14 35

3-point goals: Liberty Christian 2. Smith, Hogaboam. Pomeroy 7. Severs, Jett Slusser 3, Kimble 2, Schmidt.

Pomeroy 53, Gar-Pal 32 (1/13)

Pom 10 20 15 8-53

GP 2 11 6 15-32

Pomeroy (53) Severs 4 1-2 9, Bott 2 0-0 5, Jett Slusser 4 1-1 11, Kimble 6 3-4 18, Magill1 0-0 2, Ledgerwood 1 0-0 2, Jayden Slusser 1 0-0 2, Roberts 0 1-2 1, Herres 1 0-1 3. Totals 20 7-12 53.

Gar-Pal (32) B. Pfaff 2 0-0 4, Collier 4 4-7 12, B. Snekvik 1 0-0 3, K. Snekvik 0 3-4 3, Orr 3 3-3 9 C. Pfaff 0 1-2 1, Totals 9 11-16 32

Pomeroy 70, Touchet 26 (1/10)

Pom 23 13 28 6-70

Tou 4 6 13 3-26

Pomeroy (70) Severs 10 4-6 24, Bott 0 2-4 2, Jett Slusser 2 4-4 9, Kimble 8 1-3 19, Magill 2 0-2 4, , Reisinger 1 0-0 2, Roberts 4 0-0 8, Herres 1 0-0 2. Totals 29 11-19 70

Touchet (26) Godinez 2 0-0 6, Mendoza 2 0-0 5, Zessin 2 0-0 4, Crumbah 2 0-0 6, Kincaid 1 0-0 2, Huntley 1 1-1 3. Totals 10 1-1 26.

3-point goals Touchet 5. Godinez 2, Mendoza, Crumbah 2. Pomeroy 3. Jett Slusser, Kimble 2.