Pateros Billygoats pull down second in CW1B District

EPHRATA – The Pateros Billygoats varsity basketball team placed second in the Central Washington 1B District tournament last week and won a spot as the No. 2 seed in Regional play coming up this weekend.

Pateros lost its opening round by a goat hair, to Moses Lake Christian, 67-66, in the opening round of Districts on Feb. 13. The Billygoats split two regular season games against MLCA, winning the first 68-51, but losing the second by a single point, 65-64.

“We played tough but came up short,” said head coach Marcus Stennes of the District match. “We had a chance to tie but couldn’t get it done.”

MLCA led 17-14 after the first quarter but the Billygoats caught them in a 21-point second quarter surge and 35-30 halftime lead.  The Lions closed the gap by a point at the end of the third and managed to outscore Pateros 20-18 in the final quarter to win.

Andrew Gonzales with 18 points, Sam Larsen with 14, and Aiden Hall with 10 led the team in double-digit scoring.

Pateros: 14-21-13-18  66
MLCA: 17-13-17-20  67

Pateros scoring:
Andrew Gonzalez: 18 points, 3 assists.
Sam Larsen: 14 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 asst.
Aiden Hall: 10 pts, 10 reb.
Ivan Ceniceros: 6 pts, 11 reb.
Calvin Blackburn: 4 pts, 4 reb.
Ethan Freels: 4 pts, 2 asst.          
Tag Easter: 2 pts, 4 reb.
Jeremy Piechalski: 2 reb.
Omar Mota: 1 reb
Max Ewing: 1 reb.
Lucas Miller

Entiat falls
Pateros defeated Entiat, 69-51, in the semifinals on Feb. 14, after the Tigers lost opening round game to league champion Riverside Christian. Entiat is another team that split two regular season games with Pateros, winning the first 57-42 and losing the second, 54-52.

“We were able to extend our season another game with a win over Entiat,” said Stennes. “We came out cold but had a 19-point second quarter to give us the lead at half.”

During that turning-point quarter the Billygoats outrebounded Entiat and took away any second shots on offense. The win also advanced Pateros into the second spot at Regional competition.

Ethan Freels and Gonzalez led the Billygoats with 25 and 12 points respectively. Ivan Ceniceros pulled down 12 rebounds and had five steals.

Pateros: 11-19-17-22  69       
Entiat: 12-9-10-20  51       

Pateros scoring:
Ethan Freels: 25 pts, 6 reb, 5 asst.
Andrew Gonzalez: 12 pts, 3 asst.
Sam Larsen: 8 pts, 5 reb.
Aiden Hall: 6 pts, 3 asst.
Ivan Ceniceros: 5 pts, 12 reb, 5 steals. 
Jeremy Piechalski: 5 pts, 3 reb.
Calvin Blackburn: 4 pts, 1 reb.         
Tag Easter: 4 pts.
Max Ewing: 1 stl, 1 asst.
Lucas Miller                       -
Omar Mota                         -

Win over MLCA
A 60-52 rematch win over Moses Lake Christian cinched second place in District for Pateros.

“We had a huge second quarter only allowing them to score five points, which gave us the lead at half,” said Stennes. “We limited their two best players in the second half to 11 points which helped us get the win.”

Freels and Larsen led the charge with 16 and 14 points respectively.
Regional competition for Pateros begins on Feb. 22 or 23 at a time and place to be determined.

Pateros: 13-17-16-14  60
MLCA: 15-5-17-15  52

Pateros scoring:
Ethan Freels: 16 pts, 2 asst.    
Sam Larsen:14 pts, 6 reb, 4 asst.
Andrew Gonzalez: 9 pts.
Aiden Hall: 8 pts, 6 reb, 3 asst.
Calvin Blackburn: 8 pts, 8 reb.
Jeremy Piechalski: 3 pts, 2 reb.
Tag Easter: 2 pts 2 steals, 2 asst. 
Ivan Ceniceros: 3 reb. 
Omar Mota: 1 reb, 1 asst.          
Lucas Miller                    -
Max Ewing                   -