KALAMA — In the closing seconds against King’s Way Christian, Kalama coach Wes Armstrong went to a strategy he had never used before — fouling with the lead.
“I have never done it; I’ve always been chicken,” Armstrong said. “But then (assistant coach Matthew) Poquette kind of got in my ear a little bit, and I said ‘OK, let’s give it a go.’ ”
The Chinooks were leading by three with 9.1 seconds to go. Instead of giving King’s Way a chance to shoot a tying 3-pointer, the Chinooks fouled.
King’s Way junior Patrick Carney hit the first free throw with five seconds left, then intentionally missed the second.
But as the Chinooks had done twice before on a missed free throw in the final minute, Abel Koski pulled down the rebound to help seal a 54-52 win over the Knights in a Trico League boys basketball game Thursday night.
“It was pretty big,” Kalama senior Drew Schlangen said. “Coming off that loss to Fort Vancouver (on Tuesday), that stung. But it was nice to pick up a win tonight.”
It was even nicer that the win came with the Chinooks missing two starters because of injury.
With that loss to Fort on Tuesday and facing first-place Seton Catholic on Saturday, the Chinooks were looking at the strong possibility of a three-loss week after King’s Way went on a 16-0 run in the first half to take 23-12 lead in the second quarter.
Trailing 28-21 at halftime, the Chinooks changed strategy on defense at halftime.
“At halftime, we completely changed our defense,” senior Gavin McBride said. “We did something we were working on in practice, brand new. We worked on it one day in practice, ran in well. We’re going to try it out today, and it worked out for us.”
Armstrong said the Chinooks went from their traditional man-to-man defense to a matchup zone. It was a little bit of strategy and a little bit of necessity.
A little thin on the bench, Kalama got into a bit of foul trouble in the first half.
“It’s kind of little bit of blind luck there,” Armstrong said. “But that was one of the reasons why we want to go to our zone because we got in foul trouble early. We want to be able to protect ourselves because Abel (Koski) and Drew (Schlangen) are just huge pieces of our system.
“But we also didn’t want to just sit there and take it on the chin. We wanted to be the aggressor.”
The defense shut down the Knights while McBride and Schlangen helped Kalama open the third quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 30-28 lead.
The game was tight the rest of the way. In the final three minutes of the game, there were only three made field goals by both teams — a 3-pointer by Schlangen that put Kalama up 51-46, and a 3-pointer by Jackson Lovato and a fast-break basket by Rathan King that helped King’s Way tie the game 51-51 with 1:22 left.
From there, the game was decided at the free-throw line. Schlangen hit a free throw with 40 seconds left to put Kalama up 52-51.
McBride made another free throw with 17 seconds left to make 53-51. A missed free throw was rebounded by Koski, who added one more free throw to make it 54-51.
After Kalama fouled the Knights late and Koski pulled down a defensive rebound, the junior had a chance to seal the win, but missed two free throws. King’s Way Christian got a half-court shot off at the buzzer, but it was off the mark.
Kalama made just 3 of its last 10 free throw attempts. However, King’s Way Christian made just two of its last eight from the line.
“We got to make our free throws,” Armstrong. “We didn’t hit our free throws down the stretch, which is upsetting. Both teams didn’t shoot very well from the line. But we got hit those shots, those freebies at the end. We make it a little bit less stressful.”
Koski led the Chinooks with 23 points, while McBride had 14. Lovato had a game-high 25 points for King’s Way, and Carney added 15.
It wasn’t easy for Kalama, but a win is a win. And victories in the Trico League this season won’t come easily.
“I just told the guys, it’s on to the next game,” Armstrong said. “Turn the page. We can celebrate this one tonight, but tomorrow we’ve got to get to work in the gym after school and get ready for a really talented Seton Catholic team.”
KALAMA 54, KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 52
KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN — Radley Matson-Blighton 0, Kaulin Butcher 2, Cooper Sprague 2, Daniel Flora Da Silva 0, Jackson Lovato 25, Patrick Carney 15, Rathan Kang 4, Reece Johnson 4, Jesse Hartsell 0. Totals 19 (4) 10-20 52.
KALAMA — Gavin McBride 14, Drew Schlangen 7, Quin Hahn 0, Abel Koski 23, Nolan Scott 0, Sylis Fobbs 0, Gabe Crawford 10. Totals 20 (3) 11-28 54.
King’s Way 13 15 9 15—52
Kalama 13 8 14 19—54
