Entering the 2B District 4 Tournament, the Rainier High School boys basketball team is content to win ugly if it means surviving and advancing.
The Mountaineers didn’t put forth a dazzling performance on offense in the district opener against Winlock, but their defense saved the day in a 44-39 win at Rochester High School Saturday, Feb. 8. Rainier scored just 18 points in the first half before catching fire with 16 in the third quarter alone, and the Mountaineers’ defense held on in the fourth.
“It was an ugly win, but I thought defensively, we really locked in in the second half. I think that’s what won the game for us was our defense,” Rainier head coach Ben Sheaffer said.
Just eight days after pulverizing the Cardinals 70-32 in Rainier, the Mountaineers looked poised to rout Winlock once again early in the district opener, jumping out to a 12-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. Seniors James Meldrum and Hunter Howell carved out a spot under the basket on numerous runs to the rim. The Cardinals’ offense finally snapped out of its drought late in the first quarter with five unanswered points, and they took their first lead on a triple by sophomore Freddy Patching to cap off a 15-2 run. Howell’s buzzer-beating putback layup cut the deficit to 19-18 at halftime, but Rainier could only muster six points in the second quarter.
For a Winlock team that hadn’t been to districts in five years, the Cardinals looked ready to play in the second quarter, creating open shots and hounding Mountaineers ballhandlers.
“We just started believing. This is the first time these kids have ever been in this situation,” Winlock head coach Rich Cline said. “A lot of it is you hit a couple shots. Them never giving up and fighting back, that’s something we’ve done all year.”
Rainier senior Josh Meldrum brought the Mountaineers’ offense to life with eight unanswered points to break a 20-20 tie and flip the game in their favor. The Mountaineers entered the fourth quarter with a nine-point lead, but the Cardinals did what they’ve done all year: fight.
James Meldrum’s triple and Jordan Pringle’s layup gave Rainier its largest lead at 41-29 with 3 minutes and 13 seconds, but Winlock chipped away thanks to a triple by Landen Cline.
Peyton Sheaffer and Jake Meldrum knocked down clutch free throws to put the game out of reach, and Rainier prevailed 44-39.
“We had a couple good adjustments where we actually got the ball in the paint. Josh finally broke the seal and hit a couple jumpers,” Ben Sheaffer said. “This time of year, it doesn’t have to be pretty. Defense wins, and I thought we played really good defense.”
Rich Cline said he was proud of how his team handled the bright lights of the district stage despite the youth and inexperience of the Cardinals.
“There’s a couple of kids that understand, and most of them do, but there were some mental breakdowns and points where they got lazy,” he said. “I think in that third quarter, we came out a little slow and they jumped on us. We just woke up too late.”
Josh Meldrum led the Mountaineers with 12 points, while Landen Cline scored a game-high 23 points for Winlock.
Rainier will take on Forks, the top seed out of the Pacific 2B League, on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. at Rochester High School. Winlock heads to a loser-out game Friday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Castle Rock High School against the loser of the Onalaska and Napavine quarterfinal Wednesday night.
