MOSSYROCK — It didn’t take the Winlock offense long to get going on Wednesday in Mossyrock.
Fresh off a Tuesday win in Pe Ell, the Cardinals put up 25 points in the first quarter …
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MOSSYROCK — It didn’t take the Winlock offense long to get going on Wednesday in Mossyrock.
Fresh off a Tuesday win in Pe Ell, the Cardinals put up 25 points in the first quarter against the Vikings and never looked back, rolling to a 73-51 win.
“I’m just proud of my guys,” Winlock coach Rich Cline said. “This is the first time all year we’ve put it all together.”
It was clear early on that the Cardinals were clicking.
Freddy Patching hit an early three for the first field goal of the game, and less than four minutes later, Winlock led 13-4 and forced a Mossyrock timeout.
That was the first of five threes for Patching, who finished tied with Landen Cline with a game-high 21 points.
Carter Svenson also connected on three threes for nine points, and as a team, the Cardinals finished 11 for 20 (55 percent) from beyond the arc.
“We shot the ball well today,” Cline said. “It’s been a long time since we have.”
Cline added seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, while Patching also logged six rebounds and three steals.
Arean Thapa scored seven points and brought down five rebounds, while Mason Ruiz scored four points and had five rebounds of his own.
While the Cardinals were scoring in bunches on offense, they were also doing their part on the defensive end by suffocating the Vikings and clogging passing lanes.
They forced 12 turnovers in the first half and went into the locker room up 20.
With each turnover and each three on the other end, a small Winlock student section that made the trip got more amped up behind the Winlock bench.
“They were all over it last night and tonight,” Cline said of the student section. “That’s what gets our guys going.”
Mossyrock played better at times in the second half offensively, but never got closer than 14 points.
Mossyrock interim coach Kelly Ross, who’s been coaching the team since head coach Tom Kelly suffered a medical episode last month, said that it can be frustrating watching the team struggle with consistency on the offensive end.
“It seemed like we were always a step behind (tonight),” Ross said. “We’ll have a stretch in some games where everything is great. And then we’ll have stretches and games like tonight, where it’s like there’s no flow and we can never really get momentum.”
Ethan Johnson led the Vikings in scoring with 15 points, while Easton Kolb and Shaun Fry both scored 12. Mason Atter added seven, and Xavier Gomez scored three. Colby Cournyer and Gunnar Calllies both scored one.
The Vikings (3-11, 3-10 C2BL) currently hold onto the last district spot in the C2BL, and they’re a game and a half up on Toutle Lake for that spot.
Ross said that the focus on the final three regular season games — where they hope to lock down that district spot and potentially move up to be the No. 7 seed — will be on limiting the mistakes that have hurt them over the course of the season.
More specifically, he mentioned some of the younger guys on the bench who may need to see more time in the postseason if the starters run into foul trouble like they did on Wednesday.
“We gotta be able to adjust and show growth,” Ross said. “It’s like ‘How do we prepare for this and how do we get these guys in so they can do what we work on?’ That’s what we gotta learn from.”
Mossyrock will look to bounce back at Toledo on Friday.
With the win, Winlock (6-11, 4-9 C2BL) moves into the No. 6 seed in the C2BL standings, a half-game up on Morton-White Pass, which defeated the Cardinals twice.
Cline said that he’s been pleased with what he’s seen in their last two wins, and he’s hopeful the team can continue to build momentum over their final three games before districts.
That stretch starts with a home game against Toutle Lake next Wednesday, Jan. 29.
“I think right now we’re right where we want to be,” Cline said. “We’re not quite peaking yet, but after this one, I’m hoping we can get to where we need to be. We still gotta battle, we’ve got three more games against good opponents … We gotta take care of business.”