Raiders win first-week district playoff games

The Raiders won both their games in the first week of the 2B District 5-6 tournament, and move onto the second week this Friday in Chelan.

The Raiders defeated Liberty Christian 70-52 Friday at the Hanford Middle School gym in Richland.

“It was a good game,” said Head Coach Jeremy Crollard. “We jumped out on them 22-13 at the end of the first quarter and maintained that 10- to 12-point lead throughout the game. The kids played really hard.”

Crollard said the Raiders played great defense, holding Liberty Christian’s best player to only two points in the second half.

The top five leading scorers for LR were Trevor McCraigie, with 20 points; Tyler Jordan, with 14; Soarin’ Marchand, with 12; Sam Wapato, with nine; and Adam George, who scored eight.

The next day the Raiders defeated Tri-Cities Prep in overtime, winning by one point, 57-56.

“Their top guy had 16 in the second half and hit some really tough shots,” Crollard noted.

The Raiders led 26-15 at the end of the first half, but Tri-Cities Prep fought back, and the Raiders were actually down four points with 40 seconds left in regulation.

“We put our full-court press on it, got a steal, and sent it to overtime,” Crollard said.

“In overtime it was back and forth, back and forth,” Crollard said. “Tyler hit four clutch free throws in the last minutes of overtime — two to tie it, and then two to go up.”

The Raiders fouled an opponent who otherwise would have made a layup in the last seconds of the game. Crollard said he called a timeout during the free-throw shots to hopefully get into the kid’s head. The kid hit his first shot, but missed the second. The Raiders got the rebound and the clock ran out.

“It was a pretty fun game to be a part of, especially since we ended up on top,” Crollard said. “The kids were so pumped and excited. We put in a lot of work this year to get where we are.”

Leading scorers for the Raiders were McCraigie, who scored 22 points; Jordan, who had 13; Wapato, who put in nine; and Hunter Whitelaw, who added eight.

The Raiders continue the district tournament on Friday, Feb. 15, at the Chelan, where they’ll play the Oroville Hornets at 7 p.m.

A win means they will play in the district championship on Saturday at Chelan High School at 4 p.m. A loss would mean they will play for third or fourth place at 12:15 p.m., also at Chelan High School.

The Raiders have already qualified for regionals/first round of state the following week, but district results will determine seeding for that.