Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Davenport advances to quarterfinals
Davenport senior Cash Colbert shoots from the elbow in the first half of the Gorillas' 75-60 win over Adna in the opening round of the 2B state tournament at Cheney High School on Friday, Feb. 24.
CHENEY - Being ranked No. 1 in the state tournament tends to place a proverbial target on one's back. That didn't seem to bother the Davenport boys in the opening round of the tournament, as the Gorillas romped past No. 8 Adna 75-60 to advance into the state quarterfinals Friday, Feb. 24.
The win also ensured at least two games at the Spokane Arena this weekend for Davenport.
Two plays early in the game set the tone for the night.
Adna tried double-teaming Tennessee Rainwater from the jump. On a baseline out-of-bounds play, Cash Colbert lobbed it to Rainwater, who caught the ball at the elbow despite two defenders draped on him.
The pair of defenders meant Colbert was wide open under the basket, and the ball had no sooner touched Rainwater's hands before he tapped it back to Colbert for an easy layup.
It was one of Rainwater's 10 assists on the evening.
Two plays later, the Gorillas forced a turnover and Brenick Soliday knocked down an open three, indicating it would be a long night for the Pirates.
"We just wanted to share the ball and get open shots, which we did," Soliday said.
Davenport had no trouble scoring in the first quarter, taking a 22-12 lead behind seven points from Rainwater, six points on two more threes from Jaeger Jacobsen and five points from Soliday.
Defensively, Davenport tried to blanket the sharpshooting Pirates on the perimeter. This showed some success when Adna hit just two threes in the first half, but the Gorillas did allow some easy lay-ups in the second quarter to allow the Pirates to draw within 11 by halftime at 39-28.
But any Adna run was quickly shut down in the first three minutes of the second half, as Davenport built a 49-30 lead that expanded to 58-38 after three quarters.
"It's frustrating when you have wide open lay-ins, but long-term it really was just making sure we get out on the shooters and not letting them get comfortable," Davenport head coach Matt Henry said.
The Gorillas took a dominant performance from their starters into the fourth quarter. Adna got hot from three in the final eight minutes but couldn't draw within 11 points as Davenport held on in probably its best wire-to-wire performance of the postseason thus far.
Colbert notched another complete game with 22 points and eight rebounds. Rainwater had a double-double with 16 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, one of which came on an offensive rebound and putback dunk in the fourth quarter to put an exclamation point on Davenport's victory.
Soliday had 15 points, three of which came in the fourth quarter when he stole an Adna inbound pass, drew contact and finished the layup for a three-point play that poured more salt in Adna's wounds.
Jacobsen hit four threes for 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Evan Gunning added seven points for Davenport.
"We've got kids that have played a lot of basketball, so the game kind of slows down for them," Henry said. "When they get the ball in the post, they normally make real good decisions, so it was nice to see that we made good decisions when they brought the double (team)."
Seth Meister and Braeden Salme scored 15 points apiece to lead Adna. Lane Johnson added 14 points for the Pirates, who were outrebounded 34-11.
Davenport is now three wins away from a state title and head to the Spokane Arena for those games. The pressure is mounting with each game, but Soliday said that doesn't bother the Gorillas.
"I kind of think we like the pressure," Soliday said. "It just gets us ready knowing what's on the line, and we want it."
Davenport will open its Arena run by trying to beat District 7 rival Northwest Christian for the fourth time in as many tries at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, March 2. The winner heads to the state semifinals Friday afternoon, while the loser goes into the loser-out bracket and can finish no better than fourth.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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