Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Davenport senior Tennessee Rainwater kicks into high gear against the Burbank defense Thursday, Dec. 22. The Gorillas pulled away from the Coyotes 66-49.
DAVENPORT - Despite an uptick in opponent difficulty, the local boys basketball team has yet to surrender a loss this season.
Last week was the Gorillas' most impressive stretch of the young season thus far and included convincing wins over Napavine and Columbia (Burbank)... two Top 10 teams in the state.
Davenport came into its matchup against the then-No. 1-ranked and undefated Coyotes on Thursday, Dec. 22, having dispatched of the No. 6 Tigers 74-50 in a neutral site game in Brewster the night before.
Columbia (Burbank) was down its starting point guard, but still posed the top threat the Gorillas had faced this season.
The first quarter was highly competitive. Both teams threw haymakers back-and-forth before Brenick Soliday hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Davenport a 15-13 lead after 8 minutes.
Soliday's trey was the start of a 13-0 run by Davenport that extended deep into the second quarter and featured two forced timeouts by the Coyotes.
Davenport led 29-15 before 6 straight Coyote points forced a Davenport timeout.
Davenport then put its foot on the gas in the final 2 minutes of the half to take a 40-24 lead into the break.
"We watched it on film, they had that zone," Soliday said. "We were getting good looks moving the ball around (and) screening. Everyone contributed huge and got us open."
The Coyotes showed fight in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 47-37 and forcing Davenport star Tennessee Rainwater out of the game with 4 fouls.
The Coyotes cut the deficit to 5 at the start of the fourth quarter, but two treys from Jaeger Jacobsen kept the Coyotes at bay. Rainwater checked back in with 6 minutes left and scored 12 fourth-quarter points to put the game away.
"We preach next man up mentality, and you never know when you might get called. It's really tough to go through a season and not be in those situations," Davenport Coach Matt Henry said. "The guys have really jumped and believed that they might need to have that opportunity."
Rainwater led Daven-port with 23 points and 6 rebounds. Soliday was effective in the first half and finished with 17 points, while Cash Colbert had 11 points and 9 rebounds. Jayvee Fudurich contributed to Davenport's second quarter run with four first-half steals off the bench.
For the Coyotes, Michael Lenke had 16 points while Quincy Scott scored 14 points and nabbed 9 rebounds.
"We try to look inward, but it's nice to look outward and play some good teams in good environments and come out playing pretty good basketball," Henry said.
Davenport came into the West Valley Tournament this week undefeated at 7-0 and was ranked No. 1 in the A.P. poll. Are the Gorillas the best 2B team in the state?
"I like to think so, but we have to keep playing like it," Soliday said.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
Reader Comments(0)