Gorillas best UCA, LRS, fall to Colfax
SPOKANE VALLEY - The Davenport boys basketball team will be playing at least through next weekend. The Gorillas have won two of their three games at the District 7 2B Tournament and enter this weekend with a chance to finish as high as third.
Davenport started postseason play with a comfortable 61-34 win over Upper Columbia Academy in a loser-out matchup Thursday, Feb. 1.
Jaeger Jacobsen led the way with 20 points and five rebounds, while Caige Colbert added 14 points and six rebounds. Nick Kruger recorded 12 points and Maddox Schumacher had eight points for the Gorillas.
"We definitely moved the ball more, and our defense really stepped it up," Jacobsen said.
The Gorillas' reward for the win was a matchup with top-seeded Colfax. Davenport hung tough for three quarters, but the Bulldogs pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 68-50 victory.
The first half went back and forth. Colfax led 17-16 after a quarter and 27-26 at halftime.
Jacobsen kept Davenport close with a 15-point first half outburst, while Jayce Kelly led Colfax with 10 points.
Colfax began to build its lead in the third quarter, constructing a 45-36 lead heading into the final quarter. Davenport cut it to six points, but Colfax ended the game on a 12-0 run to pull way.
"We play a limited rotation and sometimes, the energy that we need to compete is tough in this league," Davenport head coach Matt Henry said. "Mentally is normally where it happens. They know how to work their tails off, and I'm proud of how hard they worked, but sometimes it just creeps up on you."
Kelly dominated the second half and finished the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Seth Lustig added 16 points for Colfax.
Jacobsen led Davenport with 19 points, while Colbert and Schumacher added 15 and 10 points points respectively.
The game of the week came Wednesday night, when Davenport eeked out a 62-56 overtime win over Lind-Ritzville/Sprague that the Gorillas snatched from the Broncos in the last minute.
LRS led most of the game, albeit by margins no higher than seven points. The Broncos took a 17-11 lead in the first quarter behind seven points and five boards from Shawn Steinberger and a pair of threes from Brock Kinch.
The Bronco lead stayed about two possessions through the last three quarters of regulation. Victory seemed nigh for LRS, which held a 51-45 lead in the final three minutes, but Davenport hung around and cut the lead to two on a pair of Colbert free throws, when Kruger forced a steal. Davenport missed a layup, but Tommy Furman was there to put it back and tie the game 51-51 with a minute to play.
"The kids did a really good job of executing what we called," Henry said. "It was a struggle against their defense. That's a really quality defense...it was really fun to see them execute in that time."
LRS couldn't score in multiple chances to send the game to overtime. There, Colbert took over with eight points as Davenport pulled away and hung on.
"(We) were able to get the ball to the rim and (knocked) down the shots we needed to knock down," Colbert said.
Jacobsen carried the Davenport offense in regulation and finished with 24 points and eight rebounds. Colbert had 17 points and eight rebounds, while Schumacher had 10 points and five rebounds.
Kruger snared 12 rebounds and Furman grabbed nine rebounds for the Gorillas.
Davenport plays Liberty to go to the third/fourth place game at 6:30 p.m. at West Valley High School Friday, Feb. 9. The loser goes to the fifth/sixth place game.
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