Colfax boys roll to Spokane Arena after 78-33 win over Warriors

Above: Cal Gregory of Colfax waits for the sky to clear before putting up a shot at Pullman Saturday. Jackson Kimmel is attempting to block for Crosspoint.

Left: Caleb Berquist leaps for a Bulldog bucket after making a steal.

After slow start, Colfax boys turned on the gas in the second quarter and powered past the Crosspoint Warriors 78-33 in regional elimination game at Pullman High School Saturday night.

The big win advanced the Bulldogs to the last pre-state elimination game.

Wednesday against Toldeo, a 42-45 loser to Liberty in the regional round at W. F. West High School in Chehalis.

Colfax Wednesday was shooting for a start on the state grid which already includes St. George’s and Liberty, the top two finishes out of the NE last week at West Valley.

Colfax advanced its record to 19-6 with Saturday’s win. The 78 points bagged against the Warriors from Bremerton marked the top total for the Colfax team for the season.

The big win over the Warriors followed a run of Colfax elimination wins at the NE finals to get the Bulldogs into the regional round.

With six seniors in the squad, Colfax took aim at a first ticket to the state finals since 2013 when the Bulldogs went all the way to the final game.

NE foes St. George’s and Liberty landed in the bottom bracket for state and could face each other in the semis in the event they took Thursday wins. The Lancers last week lost to the undefeated Dragons by just two points in the NE title game last week at West Valley.

St. George’s, which was assigned the WIAA number-two rating behind Ilwaco, claimed their state slot with a 72-48 crunch on the Toutle Lake Ducks Saturday afternoon at University High in Spokane.

Saturday at Pullman, the Bulldogs marked a quick start against Crossroads with Jaydon Soncarty making a bucket after an unguarded run along the baseline.

The Bremerton team, headed by Coach Derrin Doty, then put their defense in gear and began to hit shots. They finished with a 14-11 lead after the first quarter and the balance of the battle appeared to be a case of “game on.”

It didn’t happen. Colfax stacked a 23-3 edge in the next quarter after putting a full court press on the Warriors. The Bulldogs hit 14 straight unanswered points in the period.

Colfax led 34-17 at the break.

At the start of the second quarter, the Warriors rallied with Grant Baker hitting a pair of three pointers. The big Colfax lead shrunk to 13 points, 38-25, with 5:50 left in the quarter.

Colfax scoring went dormant until 3:21when Caleb Berquist bagged a steal and scored. That was followed by the first of three trey shots by Carson Cloaninger mixed with another bucket by Soncarty and a steal and score by Cal Gregory. Third quarter score finished at 53-27, and the Bulldogs capped it with a 25-6 crunch in the last quarter.

Cloaninger finished with five three-point shots for the night and a total of 21. Gregory finished with 17 points, and Berquist finished with 12. Each hit two three-pointers.

Coach Reece Jenkin called out the bench in the late going and most of the reserves picked up a few points.

Seniors wrapping up their careers at Spokane are Soncarty, Berquist, Gregory, Brett Kincaid, Chase Baerlocher and Austin Ring.

Colfax 78-Crosspoint 33: 11/14 23/3 19/10 25/6: Bryan Rubin 0 3-4 3, Bennett Gray 0 1-2 1, Jaydon Soncarty 5 (3pt) 1-2 12, Carson Cloaninger 7 (5 3pt) 2-2 21, Caleb Berquist 5 (2 3pt) 0-0 12, Brett Kincaid 1 0-0 2, Cal Gregory 6 (2 3pt) 3-4 17, Kelan Becker 2 0-0 4, Lorenzo Torlai 0 2-2 2, Austin Ring 2 0-1 4. Total l 28 12-16 f 17 78. Crosspoint Aydan Laurion 0 2-2 2, Grant Baker 4 (all 3pt) 0-0 12, Jackson Kimmel 0 2-2-2, Hunter Feldbush 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Derrin Doty, Jr. 0 1-3 1, Nathan Taylor 1 1-2 3, Alex Wierth 2 4-5 8. Total 9 10-15 f-17 33.

Brett Kincaid seems surrounded by Crosspoint defenders in the playoff game Saturday at Pullman.