Walla Walla boys drop heartbreaker to Kamiakin, 72-69

RICHLAND-The Walla Walla boys varsity basketball team played the Kamiakin Braves in a conference game Friday, January 31st. Just like in their first meeting of the year, the Braves started out hot, scoring on their first five possessions going up 12-2. Walla Walla came back on seven straight points from #2 Dylan Ashbeck and a three-pointer from #14 Diego Jaques gave Walla Walla the lead briefly at 14-12. Each team traded points for the remainder of the first quarter which ended 18-17 Kamiakin.

In the second quarter, Wa-Hi fell behind 38-28 from a combination of several turnovers trying to work the ball inside and being unable to stop the big men for Kamiakin; 6'9" Kyson Rose and 6'6" Messiah Jones. At the half, the score was 38-30 Kamiakin.

The third quarter would see Wa-Hi fall behind by the score of 46-35 before coming alive with a three-pointer fueled run from Jacob Coram (four three pointers) of 18-6 to close the quarter with Wa-Hi once again ahead 53-52. Wa-Hi started the fourth quarter off well and were ahead 58-56 before Messiah Jones drove and dunked the ball to tie the game which ignited the home crowd. Each team traded three- pointers and after that point Kamiakin began to pull away. They would go on to defeat Wa-Hi 72-69.

Coach Adam Berg had these thoughts following the game. "Yeah, I mean I thought we battled all game. They are just a tough team to stop. We just couldn't get enough stops. Our offense got going and I'm proud of the way the guys bounced back. They got down a couple times and they just kept fighting and winning some possessions here and there and battled back. So, that's a really good team and that's going to get us ready for the playoffs. I just wish we could have got a couple more stops there at the end. Overall proud of the guys, proud of the effort."

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total

Walla Walla 17 13 23 16 69

Kamiakin 18 20 14 20 72

Scoring

WW: Dylan Ashbeck 19, Michael Cornia 9, Dillon Wasser 9, Diego Jaques 17, Jacob Coram 15.