Riverside, Lakeside return to winning ways

YAKIMA – They acted calmly, like this was an everyday occurrence in the Riverside boys basketball program.

When Riverside beat Chelan 57-45 in a loser-out game at the State 2A tournament at the SunDome, it was the Rams’ first win in 10 state tournament games spanning five state tournaments.

“Going 0-2 would have been just like, ‘Oh yeah, we went to state,’ ” senior guard Adam Anderson said. “Now we’re going down in Riverside history.”

The Rams weren’t the only team to bounce back Thursday, as Lakeside blew out Steilacoom by 25 to stay alive in the consolation bracket.

Riverside 57, Chelan 45: It looked early like the Rams (16-10) were still struggling with the remnants of Wednesday’s five-point loss when Chelan (16-10) jumped out 8-3.

Then Riverside went into an active half-court trap, and the Goats fell apart.

A 21-2 run over 11 minutes gave the Rams a 24-10 lead, forcing eight turnovers and getting most of their points inside from senior big men Jason Paul and Cameron Craddock.

Paul was especially tough, going 10 for 15 from the field for 22 points and pulling down 14 rebounds. That was after a 17-rebound performance on Wednesday.

“He’s progressed so much this last year, he’s not even close, he’s just blossomed,” Rams head coach Brent Monroe said. “He used to just flounder around under there, now he’s got timing and anticipation.”

As far as the guards went, Anderson, recruited to play safety at Idaho, and 5-8 senior Caleb Watt were physical and aggressive, and Chelan wilted under the pressure.

They also found their shooting stroke, as the Rams shot 48.9 percent from the field (after 29.4 on Wednesday), with Anderson adding a couple deep 3-pointers to end quarters on the way to 15 points.

Riverside advances to play Hoquiam (21-4) at 10:30 a.m. for a chance to secure the Rams’ first trophy.

Lakeside 56, Steilacoom 31: It isn’t easy to play the first game on Thursday when you envisioned yourself in the state championship game, but after Wednesday’s disappointing overtime loss, Lakeside came back with some fire.

“We knew that if we came back and won this game, it would be all good,” Lakeside senior point guard Joel Noland said. “One loss shouldn’t stop us from getting as far as we should be.”

The Eagles dominated every facet of this one, easily handling the Sentinels (17-10).

It helped to have a first quarter where Lakeside (16-8) came out hot, outscoring Steilacoom 17-4 behind nine points inside from 6-foot-2 junior post Travis Corigliano.

“I think that once we put yesterday behind us, we decided to get revenge on them,” said Noland, who led all scorers with 18 points.

“I guess we took it out on them after an overtime loss, and we were a lot looser.”

Steilacoom got back within six in the second quarter at 22-16, but six straight Noland points put Lakeside up double digits, and the Sentinels wouldn’t get any closer than an 11-point halftime deficit.

The Eagles advance into a 9 a.m. game against Forks (20-5), with the winner guaranteed a trophy.