LONGVIEW — A shorthanded Winlock team found tough sledding against 1B power Willapa Valley as the Cardinals struggled to find the bucket in an 81-32 defeat at the Martin Luther King Jr. Basketball Tribute at Lower Columbia College on Monday.
It was the Cardinals’ second loss to the Vikings this season as the two squads face each other on Dec. 29 at the Jack Q. Pearson Holiday Tournament. On Monday, it was more of the same.
“We’re familiar with them, we’ve played them before, they shoot the ball really well and we knew we were gonna have our hands full,” Winlock coach coach Nick Bamer said.
It was all Valley from start to finish as the Vikings raced out to a 13-3 lead in the first quarter, then reeled off an 18-0 run to start the second quarter to go up 46-11 at the half.
Cole Fray-Parmantier was the Cardinals’ lone bright spot, knocking down three 3-pointers in the first half to score nine of Winlock’s 11 first-half points. Fray-Parmantier would finish with a team-high 12 points, all from 3-pointers.
“He can shoot it,” Bamer said of Fray-Parmantier. “He’s gonna be a problem if he figures out the rest of it.”
The second half was more of the same as Valley increased its lead to 67-19 at the end of three quarters and outscored the Cardinals 14-13 in the final frame to cruise to victory.
The one bright spot was the Cardinals began gaining traction offensively as the game went on, scoring more points in the fourth quarter alone (13) than they did in the entire first half (11).
“I thought we got better and the kids competed,” Bamer said. “We played a lot of younger kids so it’s a tough situation to be in. But we just gotta play and get better and keep battling.”
Also scoring for the Cardinals was James Cusson with five, Justin Allman and Isaac Ramirez each knocked in a 3-pointer a piece and Lincoln Ruiz tallied two points and four boards.
Derek Fluke led the Vikings with a game-high 22 points, while Tyler Adkins added 16, Riley Pearson had 15 and Wil Clements finished with 14
Winlock (0-12, 0-3 C2BL) hosts Wahkiakum in a Central 2B League matchup on Wednesday.
