Prep Boys Basketball Roundup: Scores and Reports from The Blast Zone
Exit 49 Kerfuffle — Castle Rock blitzes Toutle Lake in 69-45 victory
Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com
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Graunitz’ gains carry Rockets over Ducks
CASTLE ROCK — The Rockets picked up steam in a hurry Friday night on the way to a 69-45 win over Toutle Lake in a non-league boys basketball tilt otherwise known as the Exit 49 Kerfuffle.
Riley Graunitz scored a game-high 16 points for Castle Rock and chipped in five rebounds to go with three steals. That effort helped the hosts run out to an eight point lead in the first quarter and a 32-19 advantage by halftime.
“(We) used a balanced attack to beat Toutle last night in our home opener,” Castle Rock coach Jordan Spencer said. “Owen Keatley played really well in the paint.”
Keatley added 13 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the Rockets, while Colton Warren posted 10 points and five rebounds.
The hosts continued to add on after the intermission but the growing gap on the scoreboard didn’t lead anyone to turn in early. After all, it was the biggest event in North Cowlitz County and the teams full of future brothers in law still had pride on the line.
“Any time Castle Rock and Toutle get together you know it’s going to be a fun night of basketball,” Spencer said. “Both teams played to the end. I was proud of my guys and the effort they put in.”
The visitors from up Spirit Lake Highway didn’t have as good of a time but they fought like proper Ducks anyhow. Jonas Schelb led Toutle Lake with 11 points and River Moss added 10.
However, shooting woes and turnovers plagued the Ducks as they hit just 38 percent of their attempts from the field and coughed the ball up 21 times.
Caleb Webber added seven points, while Jakob Grabenhorst tallied six points in the loss.
“I felt the highlight of the night was the Rockets defense,” Spencer said. “This has been a focus of ours this season… (and) Jacob Lafever was a dog on defense all night.”
Trevor Rogen filled up that stat sheet with seven points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals in the win, and Aiden Mead chipped in seven points to go with eight rebounds.
Those are the types of efforts that will be needed to help the Rockets achieve liftoff even under adverse conditions this season.
“There are so many things they did on the floor that don’t equate to a mark on the stat sheet so, to see the team do all the little things well last night was encouraging,” Spencer noted.
Castle Rock (1-1) will host Rochester on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a potential District IV Tournament preview.
Toutle Lake (0-2) will return to league play at Adna on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Fallon’s double-double with cheese puts Toledo over MWP
It was a TGIF kind of night in Cheese Town and everyone at Murdock Gymnasium was just hanging with “Mr.” Cooper Fallon as the Toledo junior big man put up a monster double-double in a 51-41 win over Morton-White Pass.
Fallon posted 29 points, 21 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals for the Riverhawks in the Central 2B League victory.
“With his size he’s finally starting to play with that aggression,” proud dad/Toledo coach Grady Fallon said.
Rumor has it that Cooper spent the offseason working on his shooting range, but that wasn’t a factor on Friday as he converted one good look after another and shot 64 percent from the field.
“He didn’t shoot a jumper or a three-pointer. He shot rebound putbacks. He drove to the hole a couple of times.. Drop step. Pump fake. He was just real solid,” Coach Fallon said. “He had six blocks and would get his own rebound on that, too. He’s just a big presence for us in there and sometimes doesn’t know how big he really is... Maybe he’s figuring it out.”
But “Coop” Fallon was the only Riverhawk to notch a double-double in the win. Tyce Vigre added 16 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to help grease the wheels and Eli Weeks added a dozen points.
Toledo led by just one point after the first quarter but took a 27-20 advantage into the locker room at the half. The Riverhawks then shut out the T-Wolves in the third quarter to pull away for good.
Judah Kelly led MWP with 19 points and Logan Mays added a dozen points on four 3-pointers.
Toledo was missing Adam Kruger from the lineup as he battled illness at home, which put Weeks on Kelly for the majority of the contest. Weeks held the East County sharpshooter to just seven points through three quarters until the game was no longer in the balance.
“We were sending double teams at him all night just to keep the ball out of his hands,” Coach Fallon said.
Kruger’s absence also allowed Ryker Sorensen to step into the starting lineup for the Riverhawks. But like the rest of Toledo’s unselfish bunch, his counting stats were far from the forefront of his mind.
“He’s another guy who doesn’t even care (about scoring). He came out and said, ‘I didn’t even take a shot, Coach. ”And he didn’t. But he did have five assists.”
The Riverhawks tallied 23 assists as a team in the victory.
Toledo (1-0) will head across I-5 on Tuesday for the Battle of the Cowlitz at Winlock. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. at The Nest.
Winlock takes Adna to the wire
The Cardinals nearly registered an upset that would have sent reverberations through the C2Bl, Friday night, but wound up on the wrong end of a 62-59 loss at home to Adna.
Jackson Knittle led the Pirates with 35 points and 10 rebounds.
Landen Cline led Winlock with 22 points, five assists and two steals.
“One of the best high school basketball games of the year,” proclaimed Winlock coach Rich Cline in the face of defeat.
Trailing by 10 points with just minutes remaining the Cards cut the gap to just two points. The hosts then muscled up on defense to force a five-second violation against the Pirates and got the ball back under their own hoop with only a few seconds left on the game clock. A three-point attempt from one of Winlock’s post players did not find purchase and left the Cards wondering what might have been.
Freddy Patching scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in the loss, while Arean Thapa tallied seven points and five boards.
“We got close and we’re improving every game,” Coach Cline added.
Winlock (1-2, 0-2 league) will host Columbia Adventist on Monday at 6 p.m., before bringing Toledo to the Egg City on Tuesday for the season’s first rendition of the Battle of the Cowlitz.
Beavers washed out in Washougal
Playing for the second night in a row, Friday, Woodland didn’t have the legs to keep up with Washougal in a 57-47 road loss.
The Beavers fell behind early but cut the gap to just four points midway through the third quarter of the 2A Greater St. Helens League contest.
“We were close… but ran out of steam,” Woodland coach Justin Gabbard said.
Jackson Multanen led Washougal with a game-high 22 points.
Michael Belvin posted a double-double in the loss and Jackson Gabbard added eight points for the Beavers.
“Mikey Belvin had a monster night finishing with 21 points and 10 boards,” Coach Gabbard noted. “He is learning to go to contact and he finishes really good with both hands. His footwork allows him to create just enough space and he puts in in.”
Woodland (1-2, 0-1) will play at Columbia-White Salmon on Monday at 7 p.m.
Clatskanie can’t get going at Gervais
After emerging from a slobber-knocker first quarter tied 2-2 on the road at Gervais the Tigers of Clatskanie fell 33-19 in non-league boys basketball play.
Ryder Gorley led Claskanie with seven points and two steals. Gunner Engen added five points and two steals.
Clatskanie even led 12-10 at halftime, but scored just seven points in the entire second half. The Tigers were 7 of 55 shooting from the field, including 14 misses on 14 attempts from long range. The visitors also connected on just 5 of 14 shots from the charity stripe.
Michael Simpson pulled down a team-high nine rebounds for the Tigers, while Ayden Blackshire hauled in eight boards and Brendan Schroll swiped five steals.
Alex Kuznetsov led Gervais with 14 points.
Clatskanie (0-2) will play at Riverdale on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
The Other Score*
Washougal 57, Woodland 47
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