The Morton-White Pass boys basketball team showed vast improvement from its first matchup with Toutle Lake but couldn’t escape with a victory in a 52-48 loss in Randle Friday night.
The Timberwolves lost to the Ducks by 33 points back on Dec. 17 in Toutle, but they came out of the gates with a different energy Friday.
Both teams went jab for jab in the first quarter, finishing deadlocked at 11 heading to the second quarter. MWP separated itself with a 15-10 second quarter and led by two after three.
But the Ducks came alive in the fourth quarter and pulled off the comeback win with a 16-10 advantage in the final frame.
“We definitely played them a lot better than we did the first time around. We played very, very poorly when we played them earlier in the season,” MWP head coach Kevin Dunlap said. “We led most of the game tonight, and to lose it in the second half, that’s frustrating. We’ve struggled in the second half.”
Dunlap credited his team for the work they’ve put in over the last month to narrow the gap against Toutle Lake, but he’s hoping to see MWP put it all together for four quarters.
“We’ve spent a ton of time on fundamentals. I’ve preached working hard for 32 minutes, not taking breaks,” Dunlap said. “We are definitely working a lot harder. We are continuously improving.”
Logan Mays led the way with 14 points, while Michael Biacan added 10. Kohen Ingalsbe tallied eight, and both Samuel Zapalac and Owen Loucks had six.
MWP (1-15, 1-11 Central 2B League) will face four of the top five teams in the C2BL in its final four games, starting with Toledo (10-2, 9-1 C2BL) at home on Monday.
