Rainier sophomore Jake Jeske scored a game-high 21 points and 10 Mountaineers in all scored in a 72-22 victory over host Winlock in 2B Central League action on Wednesday.
Rainier jetted out to a 19-8 run to start the game and held a 33-13 advantage at the break to run away with the victory.
The Mountaineers scored at least 14 points in every quarter, highlighted by a 25-point fourth quarter. The Cardinals struggled to find the bucket and were held to single-digit scoring in all four quarters.
“They got a little momentum, and everyone knocks down shots with a comfortable lead,” Winlock coach Nick Bamer said. “We turned the ball over too much, but we’ll go back to the drawing board and see if we can get better.”
Josh Meldrum added 10 points for the Mountaineers, Ian Sprouffske had nine and Curtis Keller and Thomas Ronne each had six.
Winlock senior Landon Tiemens led the Cards with a team-high eight points, while junior Nolan Swofford had seven, Aiden Freitas chipped in four and Abraham Mohsin finished with three.
“I’m very optimistic we’ll get to be where we need to be in the next couple weeks,” Bamer said. “No one works harder. We’re just having trouble holding onto the ball.”
Winlock (2-4 overall) hits the road to Kalama on Friday. Rainier (3-5 overall) travels to Cathlamet to face Wahkiakum on Friday.
Morton-White Pass led by two with seconds left to play, deflected a Toutle Lake inbounds pass, Ducks’ star freshman Zach Swanson picked it up in the far corner with his back to the basket, turned around, heaved it up for a hail mary shot and sank the buzzer-beater for a 61-60 victory.
“It was unreal,” MWP coach Chad Cramer said.
It was the first lead of the game for the Ducks since midway in the second quarter as the Timberwolves looked primed to knock off two of the league’s top-three teams in back-to-back games. MWP had just come off a 74-71 win on Monday over previously-unbeaten Napavine.
But it wasn’t meant to be as a crazy season for the Timberwolves, who had previously lost a triple-overtime game to Kalama, got even crazier.
“These things tend to balance themselves out over the course of the season,” Cramer said.
Still, it was an impressive performance for the T-Wolves, who look like they can topple any team in the league on any given night at this point in the season.
I think we’re playing as good as anyone in our league,” Cramer said.
MWP’s Tyler Blake led all scorers with 23 points to go with nine boards and four steals. Layten Collette added 11 points and three assists.
Swanson scored a team-high 21 for the Ducks.
MWP (2-6) travels to Stevenson for a 6 p.m. matchup on Monday.
Laythan Demarest caught fire from long range, draining 9-of-13 from downtown to finish with a game-high 29 points as Napavine smashed Stevenson, 78-31, at home on Wednesday.
The Tigers found their rhythm after coming off their first loss of the season to Morton-White Pass on Monday.
“It was a nice bounce-back win,” Napavine coach Rex Stanley said. “We came out and shot the ball really well. We wanted to keep them in single-digit scoring in every quarter, and we were able to do that.”
The Tigers shot an absurd 57% from the field as a team.
Freshman James Grose added 13 points and Keith Olson chipped in 12 points and a team-high five rebounds.
Napavine (6-1) travels to Toutle Lake on Friday.
