SPOKANE — Neah Bay used a third-quarter scoring burst to take control and held off a feisty Taholah team to win its boys Class 1B state tournament loser-out contest 66 to 51 against the Chitwins.
“A good win, a good start to Spokane week,” Red Devils coach Ben Maxson said.
Neah Bay (19-4) defeated Taholah last year on the way to the first state championship in school history. They faced another familiar foe Thursday night against Sunnyside Christian (23-3), a squad the Red Devils defeated in the state semifinals last season.
Wednesday night, Neah Bay and Taholah were playing their third contest of the season against each other, each having won at home, and that familiarity showed as the squads traded scores, missed baskets, turnovers and fouls through a tightly-contested and officiated first half.
Taholah’s largest lead was three, 7-4 in the first quarter. Neah Bay’s biggest advantage was four, 18-14 just under midway through the second quarter.
“We came out slow, got into foul trouble, couldn’t make a doggone layup for the life of us, the rim was capped,” Maxson said.
“First night at state, different air, different gym, different rims, and some excitement and nerves.
“I expected a little of it, but we did start slower than I thought we would.”
Forced to go deep into their bench because of foul trouble, the Red Devils scored the final three points of the first half to take a 24-21 lead into the break.
Neah Bay played without starters Cole Svec, Rweha Munyagi and Cameron Moore for extended stretches of the first half.
Cameron Buzzell made his first appearance after dealing with an ankle injury dating back to the football season.
“So nice to have Cameron Buzzell back for us defensively,” Maxson said. “He’s an asset.”
“Sean Bitegeko played a lot more physical today than I’ve seen in the last couple weeks. And we’ve been asking for him to play like that. Nate Tyler, a tough, physical player got in there and battled.”
The Neah Bay run continued in the opening four minutes of play in the third period as Svec and Munyagi got involved on both ends of the court and the Red Devils went on an 18-3 run to push the lead to 39-24.
“I attribute it to the same group of guys that have played ball together all year,” Maxson said.
“That was our starting group and we know our rotations, they know how to read and help each other so some of it was that natural chemistry, that mojo came out in that third quarter. And also we played uptempo. We pushed the ball, we got some turnovers that created easy baskets, and we scored off of turnovers.”
Playing the passing lanes at the top of the Red Devils’ 1-2-2 zone defense, Munyagi intercepted a couple of Taholah passes on the perimeter and raced up court for runouts, including a smoothly delivered one-hand slam dunk.
Munyagi finished with a team-high 15 points.
Svec scored nine of his 13 points in the third period as Neah Bay opened up a 47-31 lead after three quarters.
“They had a great scouting report on Cole. Cole put up 12 in the first half when we played them down in Taholah,” Maxson said.
“Cole just had to settle down come and play ball. He did great that second half.”
The Red Devils endured a rough patch to open the final frame, an 11-3 Taholah run, as the Chitwins pressed in the back court and trimmed the Red Devils’ lead to eight, 50-42.
Reserve Phillip Greene III then stepped up and scored six of his nine points down the stretch, including two clutch free throws to maintain a steady 10-point advantage.
“Nice to have Phil find his shot again after having some struggles,” Maxson said.
“Phil provides senior leadership as well. He’s a firecracker. When we needed him to settle down and play ball though, he came through.”
Now to face Sunnyside Christian.
“It will be a fight to the end,” Maxson said.
“I think the game will be one for the history books. We had them in the semifinals, they have a lot of the same kids back, we know them, they know us and it will be a ball game.”
Neah Bay 66, Taholah 51
Taholah 11 10 10 20 — 51
Neah Bay 11 13 23 17 — 66
Taholah (51) — Cain 18, Jackson 12, Mowitch 11, B. Orozco 5, Purdy 5
Neah Bay (66) — Munyagi 15, Svec 13, A. Bitegeko 10, Greene 9, Moore 8, Doherty 7, S. Bitegeko 2, Johnson 2, Buzzell, Tyler.
