CHENEY – After a cross-state bus ride, No. 6 Toledo ran into a buzz saw when it played No. 3 seed Reardan in the opening round of the WIAA State Basketball Tournament Saturday at Cheney High School. The Screaming Eagles jumped on the Riverhawks early and cruised to a 73-35 win.
Between the playing of the National Anthem and the time the last stragglers had settled into their seats, the Screaming Eagles had outscored Toledo 18-0. Reardan overwhelmed the Riverhawks with its smothering pressure defense, making it nearly impossible for Toledo to get a shot off. On the offensive end of the court, Reardan’s six feet four post, Jakari Singleton, found the basket five times in the first eight minutes to give his team a 20-2 lead after one quarter.
“Reardan punched us in the nose right off the bat,” Toledo coach Grady Fallon said. “We saw them on film–pressure, pressure, pressure, but we couldn’t simulate in practice what we saw tonight.”
Fallon gave his team a stern talk between quarters, and they responded. Adam Kruger opened the second quarter with a 3-point basket to get things going for the Riverhawks. With baskets from Eli Weeks, Tyce Vigre, Cooper Fallon and Trevin Gale, the Riverhawks outscored Reardan 19-16 in the quarter but still trailed 36-21 at the half.
After intermission, Justin Vaughn came out shooting for Reardan. He sank two bombs from well behind the arc and scored eight points in the quarter to help Reardan extend its lead to 51-31 as the teams headed into the last frame.
The last quarter was nearly a carbon copy of the first. Reardan put 22 points on the board compared to Toledo’s four as they cruised to the 38 point win.
Singleton ended the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Vaughn scored 16 points. Fred Frolov scored nine points and Maveric Sobotta and Rysen Soliday both scored seven. Sobotta also had eight rebounds and Soliday had five rebounds and four steals.
Zander Thornton and Evan Krupke both scored six points and Bryson Flaa and Levi Collier each chipped in two.
Kruger led the Riverhawks in scoring with 12 points, followed by Weeks who had 10. Fallon and Vigre each scored four points and Gale and Rhyder Buswell scored three and two points, respectively. Fallon also had nine rebounds and a blocked shot.
“We started out strong, but then got the jitters,” Singleton said. “We took a deep breath at halftime and came back out and did our stuff which made us look a lot better.”
Singleton said the key to winning was attending to the small details.
“We worked hard and when we did the little things we played well. When we let up in the second quarter it was because we didn’t do those things. Once we cracked down. We were able to extend our lead.”
Reardan head coach Jake Green said that after starting out with a bang that his team let down in the second quarter.
“A win is a win and at this point it’s survive and advance,” he said. “We came out good, fell asleep in the second quarter, locked back in in the second half and did what we do.”
Green praised the Riverhawks for their effort.
“Toledo’s effort was great,” he said. “I have a ton of respect for their energy and how they play. They never stopped.”
Green reserved special praise for Vaughn.
“He was sick as a dog and almost didn’t play. When he got in there he worked hard and did his thing. I was proud of him but was proud of all of the boys.”
Vigre said the Riverhawks’ undoing was their high number of turnovers.
“We weren’t ready for Reardan’s pace,” he said. “They were pretty athletic but I think we could have done more if we had driven to the hoop.”
“Reardan’s a good team,” Fallon said. “They’re all on the same page. We’ve been playing our best basketball so I thought we’d give them a game, but they sure blew us out of the water. I thought we would compete harder than we did. Defensively, we broke down and they had us playing on our heels the whole time.”
Fallon hopes his team can leave this game behind as they move forward in the tournament.
“We are in Spokane, which was our goal. We have to have fun, play like we’ve got nothing to lose, and who knows, we might just win.”
With the win, Reardan improves to 22-2. Their next opponent is undetermined, but they will play at the Spokane Arena on Thursday, March 6 at 12:15 p.m.
After their loss, Toledo’s record is 22-4. They play at the Spokane Arena in a loser out game against Okanogan on Wednesday, March 5 at 9:00 a.m.
