Tonasket Tigers slash Raiders

In the first road game of the season, the Raiders travelled to Tonasket to take on the resurgent Tigers Dec. 10. The Raiders came back from first-half setbacks, but it was too little too late. Lake Roosevelt lost 70-46 to Tonasket to fall to a 1-2 overall win-loss record for the season.

Tonasket used superior speed to outrun the Raiders early on. LR eventually slowed down the Tigers, but they had already built a large lead that the Raiders could not close. LR was using a new offense that had just been put in the day before. The offense is a zone offense in which the players are often cued to play for the best shot.

“We played well in spurts, had lots of great looks but got outrun,” Head Coach Matt Simpson said. “Once we slowed down their transition, we got back into the game, but by that time it was too late.”

Simpson said the Tigers are, “well coached, senior loaded, and it shows. They are going to be a solid team in the CTL and should have a good season. We’d like to improve and see them again in our Christmas tournament.”

In his first season at LR, Simpson had a list of items for the Raiders to work on: “Rebounding with a purpose, being more physical, stopping penetration, finding our man, and learning from our 1A stint, and using what we learned to better prep us for teams to come.”

Chance Garvin was the high-point man for the Raiders with 12. Merle Picard scored 11. Kadin Davis connected for eight points. Tonasket was led by Leep, who scored 16. Gage scored 14 followed by Sund with 12.

LR travelled to Entiat Monday to take on the Tigers in a North Central matchup. Entiat came into the game 3-1 fresh off wins over Bridgeport by 14 points and Manson by 13.

Simpson predicted that Entiat and Pateros would be good match-ups for the Raiders, “but we’ll be ready and focused to put out great effort and passion.” LR used that effort and passion to beat Entitat 60-50.

Pateros comes to Gailord Nelson Gym on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Billygoats are 2-2, with losses coming at the hands of Brewster and Omak. Their two wins came last week against Liberty Bell (57-51) and Columbia Basin Secondary (65-43).