Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Last Saturday in Spokane, it may have seemed the Oakesdale boys were startled by a ringing phone in an unfamiliar place and answered it to hear Ryan Moffett on the line.
“It was a little unexpected,” said Carl Crider, Oakesdale coach, of his team's 65-32 loss to Odessa in regionals Feb. 29. “You'll have a couple, what you would call 'stinker' games per year.”
Oakesdale had played Odessa in January at home and lost by nine points, the game tied with two and a half minutes left.
This time, the Tigers led 19-9 at the end of the first quarter and 32-16 at haltime.
“The closest it got was 2-1,” said Crider.
His team got out-rebounded 38-18. It shot 1-for-14 in three-point attempts. Odessa was 10-for-22 and shot 50 percent overall for the day to Oakesdale's 33 percent.
The Nighthawks held state all-time scoring leader Moffett to 20 points, but he could have scored zero and the outcom would be the same.
Matt Hockett led the Nighthawks with 14 points in the loss while Kit Hockett had eight. Simon Anderson led in rebounds with nine.
“Obviously, you don't ever want to have games like that,” said Crider. “But everything's still in play for us. I think this is kind of that wake-up call.”
They nonetheless advance to state to play Tahola at 2 p.m. in a first-round game Wednesday at Spokane Arena.
“They're like most teams that get to Spokane,” said Crider. “They've got a good combination of talent and size.”
The winner will advance to meet no. 2-seed Yakama Tribal in the second round Thursday. The loser was eliminated.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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