Two wins include OT battle

The Raider boys capped last week with an intense overtime victory at home, one of two wins of the three games played and a lesson in pressure.

The week left them at "2-1 overall" and "moving in the right direction," Head Coach Matt Simpson said. "We wanted to go 3-0 this week for sure; however, we played well when it needed to happen and grew as a team in multiple ways."

The week started off with a trip up to Tonasket for a league matchup against the Tigers Jan. 6, the Raiders came away with a 66-48 win.

This win was a booster going into the home matchup with the Central Washington 2B North-leading Brewster Bears Jan. 8, when the Raiders stayed close with Brewster the entire first quarter.

A Jacob Palmer three pointer closed the first quarter with a one-point lead for LR, 12-11. Palmer opened the second with another three pointer that started a Raider rally, building a lead over the Brewster. Then Bears came roaring back to take the lead by seven points going into halftime, 34-27.

After the half, the Bears came out hot and the Raiders struggled to respond. Midway through the third LR and Brewster traded three's, but the Bears still held on to a 10-point lead, then began to pull away to a 19-point lead going into the final quarter, 58-39.

In the fourth, the Bears began to cruise while scoring another 19 points. LR tried to keep their heads up and scored 12 points during the fourth. The final score was Brewster 77- LR 51.

"They are very talented, coached well, and run their stuff well," Simpson said. LR, he said, won the rebounding battle, and the teams each had about the same amount of turnovers.

The Raiders looked to bounce back from the loss against the Waterville Shockers at Grand Coulee on Saturday.

Early in the game, Chance Garvin fell hard to the floor and left the game for a few minutes. Many in the crowd and on the Raider bench looked for a foul that was not called. Waterville took advantage of the shakeup to take an early lead on a 9-0 run. Then, Jacob Palmer and Garvin hit back-to-back three's to revitalize their offense and give the Raiders a 15-2 run to close the first quarter leading 19-11.

In the second, Waterville put on the pressure and kept it close with the help of Raider fouls. At halftime the score was LR 32, Waterville 29.

Waterville came out of the half swinging and retook the lead, but neither team gained an advantage in the third quarter, ending it 46-44, for LR.

Tempers began to flare in the fourth and fouls became a factor. Waterville capitalized on the fouls to stay in the game. LR tried to hold on to a lead and close the game, but the Shockers made a last second-shot to push the game to overtime, with the score was knotted up at 62 apiece.

In OT, Waterville ran out of gas and began to foul out. LR made the free throws and pulled away for the victory, with Merle Picard hitting five of six from the free-throw line.

Lake Roosevelt won 75-67.

"Waterville is always tough and physical and really a battle," Simpson said. "You cannot re-create those games or that atmosphere, so our guys needed to learn how to execute, perform under that pressure, and learn how to put games away."

This week, the Raiders play three games again, including the last non-league matchup of the season. Last night the Raiders played the second-place Okanogan Bulldogs in Okanogan. Tomorrow at Grand Coulee, starting at 7:30 p.m., the Raiders host the Liberty Bell Mt. Lions, who are currently in fourth place in the CWL 2B North.

On Saturday, the last non-league game of the season will be played at Grand Coulee as the Raiders take on the Pateros Billygoats, starting at 5:30 p.m. Pateros is tied with Entiat for first place in the Central Washington 1B League.

1 2 3 4 Final

LR 12 15 12 12 51

Brewster 11 23 24 19 77

LR Scoring

Nault 2, Garvin 21, Rosenbaum 5, Palmer 6, Picard 2, Jackson Louie 15

Brewster Scoring:

Najera 15, Hammons 19, Najera 2, Williams 25, Taylor 8

1 2 3 4 OT Final

LR 19 13 14 16 13 75

Waterville 11 18 15 18 5 67

LR Scoring:

Nault 5, Garvin 19, Rosenbaum 2, Palmer 6, Picard 12, Nicholson 4, Redstar 4, Jackson Louie 23

Waterville Scoring:

Riggs 5, Wall 15, Rund 11, Thomsen 4, Pate 3, Shafer 22 Prengschat 4