Pirates in hunt for state berth

POMEROY––After registering a first-round 50-37 decision over Liberty Christian, the Pirates were dropped into the consolation bracket by a 43-33 loss to Sunnyside Christian, setting up a 5 p.m. Wednesday, February 15 matchup with Tekoa-Rosalia at Dayton High School in a loser-out game.

The Pirates beat TR by seven in early January at home, and lost an overtime barn-burner at Rosalia, 63-65, so the next game is highly anticipated to keep fans on the edges of their seats.

A win would advance the Pirates to the final game in the consolation bracket against the winner of the Oakesdale-Yakama Tribal contest, which follows the Pomeroy-TR game this Wednesday. The final game will be at 4:15 p.m., Friday, February 17, at Dayton High School. The winner advances to the state playoffs which begin with the opening round February 21, a second round at date, time and locations to be determined, followed by the Spokane Arena Round of 12 March 1-4.

A two-point second quarter came back to haunt the Pirates against fifth-ranked Sunnyside Christian, who took a 10-8 first-quarter advantage to a 20-10 half time margin then held their own to notch the win.

"This was definitely a defensive game," said Head Coach Chris Wolf. "It was probably the best defensive effort we have had in several seasons. We played extremely hard and played great position defense.

"We held one of the best players in the state (Cole Wagenaar) at the 1B level to six points," Wolf said. "We were very connected and played great team defense to give ourselves a shot at winning, but we struggled offensively all game long.

The Pirates struggled to get the ball to the block in the first half, Wolf said, and were forced to shoot several mid-range and three-point shots.

"When we got the ball down low, we had the most success but struggled from there in the second quarter, too," he said. "The second quarter we didn't have a field goal and only scored 2 points."

Trevin Kimble was whistled with two early fouls and the Pirates missed his offensive leadership. Ollie Severs's second foul in the second quarter led to some of the team's woes, Wolf said.

"In the second half, I felt like we were pressing to catch up all at once and weren't as patient as we needed to be," he said. "We had eight second-half turnovers that hurt our chances of coming back. We also gave up a few key offensive rebounds that hurt, too."

Kimble led scorers with 12 points and five assists, and Severs added nine points and eight rebounds.

"The effort was good enough to win a big game, but we will have to execute offensively better next week to advance," Wolf said. "I like the matchups for us next week and think we have a great shot to advance."

Wolf credited solid defense in the Pirates' 13-point first-round win over Liberty Christian February 9.

"This was the first district win we have had in a few years, so it felt good to get that done," he said.

"We were solid offensively but struggled to knock down open shots," Wolf said. "We only had eight turnovers and moved the ball pretty well but will need to knock down some more of those open threes if we are going to beat some of our upcoming opponents.

"When we were patient and able to get the ball inside," the coach added, "we were at our best."

Severs led with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Kimble had 19 points and six assists. Trace Roberts was covered up early but found some space in the second half and had eight points and seven rebounds while shutting down Drew Ott, Wolf said.

Sunnyside Christian 43, Pomeroy 33 (2/11)

SSC 10 10 14 8-43

Pom 8 2 11 12-33

Pomeroy (33) Severs 4 1-1 9, Bott 1 0-0 2, Slusser 1 0-0 2, Kimble 6 0-2 12, Magill 0 0-1 0, Schmidt 0 1-2 1, Roberts 0 0-0 0, Totals, 15 3-9 33

Sunnyside Christian (43) Duim 2 1-2 5, Jansen 0 0-0 0, DeBoer 2 0-0 6, Bosma 7 1-5 15, Smeenk 3 5-6 11, Wagenaar 3 0-0 6, Totals 17 7-13 43

3-point goals Sunnyside Christian 2, DeBoer 2, Pomeroy 0.

Pomeroy 50, Liberty Christian 37 (2/9)

LC 9 5 12 11-37

Pom 14 10 14 12-50

Pomeroy (50) Severs 8 4-4 20, Bott 0 0-0 0, Jett Slusser 0 0-1 0, Kimble 8 0-0 19, Magill 1 0-0 3, Schmidt 0 0-0 0, Jayden Slusser 0 0-0 0, Roberts 4 0-1 8, Totals 21 4-6 50

Liberty Christian (37) Smith 4 1-3 10, Bishop 4 0-0 8, Ott 1 0-0 2, Hayden 4 0-0 8, Hogaboam 1 0-0 3, Haak 0 0-0 0, Grover 2 0-0 4, Cole 0 2-2 2, Totals 16 3-5 37

3-point goals- Liberty Christian 2, Smith, Hogaboam, Pomeroy 4, Kimble 3, Magill.