Trey Williams’ late bucket lifts Mt. Spokane over Gonzaga Prep in early league test; Mt. Spokane girls upset G-Prep

With only nine league games, every Greater Spokane League game can mean the difference between a playoff spot or not, or a league title and second place.

So it was on Friday, when the Gonzaga Prep boys, ranked No. 6 in 4A by the state media poll, hosted Mt. Spokane, ranked No. 3 in 3A.

With a capacity crowd and the defense from both sides at high levels, it had all the makings of a playoff game – except the calendar said Jan. 13.

With offense at a premium, a role player found himself with an open look late, then a returning all-leaguer knocked down a 3 for the margin of victory, and the Wildcats escaped with a 46-38 win to take over first place alone.

“That was a fun atmosphere and a fun game,” Mt. Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “Defensively, to hold that team to 38 – I mean, that’s incredible. And so defensively, I was super proud of all of our efforts.”

Ryan Lafferty led Mt. Spokane with 15 points, scoring 11 in the third quarter.

“It’s a big win,” Lafferty said. “They’re a good team, so that’s a big win for us. Gives us a lot of confidence going in the rest of the year.”

“I thought it was going to be low-scoring,” Gonzaga Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “I thought every possession was going to be critical, which it was. It just came down to a couple of plays here and there and they made a lot of good plays.”

The Bullpups’ league title hopes took an early hit.

“I’m not disappointed that we played them on Jan. 13,” McIntyre said. “But we still got a long way to go. And that game felt like a playoff game. But it’ll serve both of us well.”

“We don’t have to play ‘em again,” Wagenblast said. “But we got each other both better for the postseason.”

Wagenblast lauded the schedule, which allows league teams to play in holiday tournaments against tougher competition.

“We don’t get ready for this game without going over and playing the teams that we played in the Curtis tournament.”

With Gonzaga Prep’s defense packing the paint, Trey Williams got loose along the baseline for his only basket of the game to put the Wildcats (12-1, 3-0) up by four with just more than 1 minute to play.

“Oh man, I was happy to get involved on offense,” Williams said. “I mean, they’re sagging off a lot on (Lafferty) so I got to make an impact somewhere else. I tried to crash the boards and really tried made an impact on defense.”

“You hope that’s gonna happen,” Wagenblast said of the designed play. “It was an opening that the kids took advantage of and Trey put it in.”

“(The defense) was totally by design,” McIntyre said. “We were doing that to help out on the post. So yeah, they hit that at the right time.”

“You couldn’t be more excited for a guy like Trey Williams,” Wagenblast added. “He just battled and played and he’s out there with a bloody lip and then he makes one of the biggest backdoor plays for us and when we really needed the bucket.”

Mt. Spokane’s Maverick Sanders (13 points) hit a corner 3-pointer next time down. After Gonzaga Prep (11-3, 2-1) fouled on an offensive rebound, Andrew Rayment made both ends of a 1-and-1 at the line for a 45-38 lead with 20 seconds left.

“Anytime you get to play in an atmosphere like this for kids, that’s what high school basketball should be about,” Wagenblast said. “Two teams playing really, really, really hard, that know each other very well. And there was no surprises out there.”

It was a slow offensive start to the game, with the defenses really getting after it, and Mt. Spokane led 8-7 after one quarter.

Sanders hit a follow-up, then used a spin move in the lane to give Mt. Spokane a 16-9 lead midway through the second quarter.

Jamil Miller (11 points, 12 rebounds) went 3 for 4 at the line, then followed a late miss with a two-handed slam and the Wildcats led 18-14 at the half.

Gonzaga Prep scored the first six points of the second half, including a steal and slam by Miller, and the Bullpups led 20-18 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

Lafferty started to exert himself on the offensive end, scoring a couple of quick buckets then knocking down a late 3, and the Wildcats led 29-26 entering the fourth quarter.

“We knew that coming out the half we had to put more points on the board, and honestly it started with our defense,” Lafferty said. “But yeah, we got stuff going in the third, started moving the ball a little bit. Got some good buckets.”

“(Lafferty) really just was showed what he can do and how much of a team player he is,” Wagenblast said. “But when it came down to it, when we couldn’t score in those moments, he made several in a row.”

“Coming out of halftime we executed really well,” McIntyre said. “We went on a little bit of a run. But points are hard to come by in a game like that, and we weren’t able to contain Lafferty there in the third quarter.”

Mt. Spokane opened the final quarter with a 7-2 run, with Nalu Vargas hitting a long 3, and led 36-28 with 5 minutes left.

But G-Prep post Carter Verrett converted a three-point play to make it a two-point game with 2 1/2 minutes left.

“He had some really big moments when we needed him,” McIntyre said. “He was a defensive presence.”

Girls

Mt. Spokane 37, Gonzaga Prep 30: Sophomore Abby Priddy scored 14 points, hitting 10 of 12 at the line, and the Wildcats (6-6, 2-1) upended the Bullpups (9-4, 2-1) in the early game.

“Abby gives us so many extra possessions,” Mt. Spokane coach David Pratt said. “She just hustles so well for us.”

Gonzaga Prep led 17-15 at the half, but the Wildcats outscored the Bullpups 7-2 in the third quarter and led 22-19 entering the fourth.

Mt. Spokane’s Bryten Gumke made it a two-possession game at the 4-minute mark with a corner 3-pointer and the Wildcats’ Lilly Main made it 34-28 with 1:45 to go with one from the wing.

“Signature win for us, along with the one against Chiawana,” Pratt said. “It was a big game for us. We’re just learning how to play. We’ve got some young kids, inexperienced, and we’ve just grinded. The kids came in today for shootaround ready to go. I was really proud of them.”

Jillian Bears led G-Prep with eight points.