Bulldogs crank up for big return

Basketball action will return to the Colfax gym with two home games over Friday and Saturday in the local gym which last saw hoop action Dec. 20 before the holiday break. Bulldog teams will return to the home boards after three road trips.

The Bulldogs will host Liberty on Friday night for their third league matchup in the NE-South, and then will host Northwest Christian from the north side Saturday night.

Liberty boys began their campaign this year after graduating six seniors off last year’s team. Their record dropped to 6-4 when they were downed by Okanogan 56-63 in the Friday round of the Eagle Holiday tournament at West Valley.

Thursday at West Valley they defeated Pomeroy 80-38.

Colfax boys will host after booking split at West Valley.

They defeated Okanogan 65-57 in the Thursday round at the holiday classic, and they were nipped by Newport Saturday after getting within seconds of making a comeback win.

Thursday in their first day of the Eagle Classic, Colfax scratched out a four-point lead over Okanogan at halftime. The Bulldogs then out-paced Okanogan 20-9 in the third quarter to take control of the game.

Okanogan knocked seven points off the big Colfax lead in the last quarter, but they couldn’t close the gap. Carson Cloaninger led Colfax with 29 points, and Kelan Becker hit 13.

Cloaninger hit four three-point shots and Hunter Claassen hit three and finished with 12 points.

The win advanced Colfax to 7-2 on the season. They skipped the Friday action and made a return to West Valley Saturday to play Newport in a noon game.

Newport nipped Colfax 46-45 in the last round. A NE-A team with an 8-1 record, Newport collected two toss shots in the last six seconds to erase a one point last-minute lead posted by Colfax.

Colfax jumped to a 11-3 lead in the first quarter, but Newport came to life and it finished 22-25 at the half. It was tied at 38-all going into the last quarter.

Cloaninger, who hit two toss shots to give Colfax a short lived 45-44 lead in the final seconds, finished with 26 points.

The one-point loss left Colfax at 7-3 when they resume league play tonight against the Lancers.

They are now 2-0 in the NE south side race with wins over LRS and Asotin.

Newport 46-Colfax 45: 3-11 19/14 16/13 8/7: B. Deerwester 0 1-2 1., T. Smith 6 2-2 14, M. Owen 3 2-2 8, S. Thomas 1 0-0 2, Ben Krogh 2 0-0 4, T. Prange 2 (3pt ) 0-0 5, D. Bradbury 1 (3pt) 9-10 11, L. Nichols 0 1-2 1. Total 15 15-18 f-12 46. Colfax: Hunter Claassen 2 ( both 3pt) 0-0 6, Cameron Hiatt 3 (2 3t) 0-0 8, Carson Cloaninger 9 (6 3-pt) 2-2 26, John Lustig 1 (3pt) 2-2 5. Total 15 4-5 f-18 45.

Colfax 65-Okanogan 57: 13/13 17/13 20/9 15/22: Claassen 4 (3-3pt) 1-1 12, Hiatt 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Cole Baerlocher 1 0-0 2, Bryan Rubin 1 2-2 4, Cloaninger 9 (4-3pt) 6-10 28, Lustig 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Kelan Becker 5 3-4 13. Total 21 9-13 f-15 65. Okanogan: K. Picard 2 (3 pt) 2-3 7, M. Grooms 1 0-0 2, H. Rubert 2 (both 3pt) 2-2 8, F. Vega 1 0-0 2, J. Ramos 2 2-3 6, L. Veenhuizen 2 (3 pt) 0 -0 5, G. Wilson 5 (2 3t) 2-4 14, C. Wilson 6 1-1 13. Total 21 13 f-18 57.