After regionals this week, Raiders will head to state playoffs at arena

The Raiders beat league rivals the Oroville Hornets in the District 5-6 basketball tournament in Chelan Friday before losing to the Kittitas Coyotes Saturday, and will play in the regional tournament this coming Friday.

Their 55-31 victory over the Hornets Feb. 15 was something the Raiders have wanted for a while now. At the beginning of the season Head Coach Jeremy Crollard said he wanted to defeat Oroville, who had beaten LR twice by only one point in the 2017-18 season. During the 2018-19 regular season Oroville defeated LR twice again, both times by five points.

"It felt really good," Head Coach Jeremy Crollard said, "I was just excited for the kids to get another opportunity at them. That was probably the best defensive performance as a team I saw for us. We held their point guard, Jameson, to four points, where he was averaging 22 against us the prior two games."

Jameson was guarded by Raider Cameron St. Pierre. "He did a really good job on him," Crollard said.

Sam Wapato led the Raiders with 18 points, with Hunter Whitelaw, Trevor McCraigie, and Adam George each scoring nine.

"We kind of took the life out of them early," Crollard said. "They got frustrated and made some dumb fouls, but the thing I was most proud of was our kids never let up."

The Raiders lost against Kittitas 65-48 Saturday, Feb. 16, in the district championship, thus placing second in the tournament.

The final score doesn't reflect how close the game was against the Coyotes, who have won the past two state championships.

The Raiders jumped to an early lead with seven unanswered points in the first three minutes of the game.

But Kittitas came back, leading 17-16 at the end of the first quarter.

Down 30-21 at one point in the second quarter, the Raiders hung in there, closing the half down by only two, 30-28.

The teams took turns with the lead, answering each other's three-point shots in the third quarter.

Raider Cameron St. Pierre hit a three to make the score 39-38 for Kittitas, and a layup from Adam George gave the Raiders a 40-39 lead.

Sam Wapato hit a three-pointer to give the Raiders a 43-41 lead with two minutes left in the third.

But the Coyotes pulled away from the Raiders in the fourth quarter, getting a comfortable lead, and finally winning by 17 points.

Crollard said that the Coyotes' Brock Ravet, who is going to play basketball at Gonzaga University on a scholarship and is the all-time high school scoring leader in the state - currently with 2,971 points, closing in on 3,000 - is "the engine that makes that team run."

Many of the shots Ravet made, Crollard said, were very difficult shots that not many high school players in the nation can make.

The Raiders play again Saturday, Feb. 23, also against Kittitas, at 6 p.m. at Ellensburg High School in the regional tournament.

We're going to try to limit [Ravet's] opportunities," Crollard said. "If we can do that, it's going to be another competitive game. We'll be ready. The kids are excited to have another shot and try to pull off an upset."

The Raiders are ranked eighth in the state, qualifying them to move onto the first round of state regardless of winning or losing in regionals against the top-ranked Kittitas team.

Crollard said LR hasn't gone to state since 2012.

"It's amazing," he said. "It just shows the work these kids have put in. The determination to be successful from these guys is what's driven it. To have a senior like Trevor, who has pushed to put these kids in the gym and put extra time in, as a coach it's nice to have a senior captain who is like another coach out there. We put a lot on his shoulders in the games. To go to state in his senior year is great. We feel like we can compete with any of the teams at state."