Chelan Pulls Away From Mabton

Top-ranked Goats end Vikings’ season ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — Having stayed within four points in the first half, and then watch Chelan standout Joe Harris foul out 11?2 minutes into the second half, Mabton believed the pieces were in place for an upset that would send the top-ranked Goats home after just two days.

But in the ensuing minutes after Harris exited, the Vikings exhaled in relief rather than step on the accelerator.

Mabton's Jesus Huecias tries to take control of the ball from Chelan's Michael Amsel Jr. at the 1A state basketball tournament, held at the Yakima SunDome, on Thursday, March, 4 2010. (Sara Gettys/Yakima Herald-Republic)

That brief lapse allowed Chelan, led by forward Matt Engstrom, to regain its bearings, and the Goats scored six of the next eight points and 10 of 15, sparking a 73-47 victory in the Class 1A state tournament loser-out game Thursday afternoon in the SunDome.

“Once Joe Harris fouled out, our intensity dipped,” Mabton guard Jesus Huecias said. “We felt like it would be easier with him out, but they’ve got other guys who can step up.

“We lost our focus. We thought we were going to win the game.”

Instead, Mabton turned the ball over on its first three possessions and five of six after the 6-foot-6, Virginia-bound Harris left at the 5:47 mark and Chelan leading 37-29.

In that same span, Chelan got four points from Engstrom, a solid 6-3 senior, and a basket from Aaron McQuaid as Chelan increased its lead to 43-31.

“It doesn’t matter if Harris was out, the other five out there will still come at you,” Mabton coach Brock Ledgerwood. “We dropped our intensity when Harris left … and we never got it back.

“If we could’ve gotten a couple of buckets or a couple of stops right after he left, we could’ve gotten that intensity back. But give Chelan credit, they got the ball to Engstrom and he wanted to be the guy. He didn’t want to go home.”

Engstrom added two free throws late in the third after Mabton got within 47-36, and then had his final basket in an 18-point effort in a 5-1 start to the fourth quarter, running the advantage to 54-37 and effectively sealing a victory that sends the Goats (24-2) into today’s game against Lake Roosevelt.

“We might not be able to get to the championship game, but we were still not ready to go home,” Engstrom said, alluding to Wednesday’s 66-52 loss to defending champion Vashon in which Harris also fouled out. “After Joe left (Thursday), I huddled the guys up and told them that we were not going to let Joe fouling out affect us.”

“Matt Engstrom was huge. He’s been a battler for us all year,” Chelan coach Joe Harris said, adding, “We had tons of guys step up.”

True.

In addition to Engstrom, who made 7 of 8 shots and added 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals, Chelan got big efforts from McQuaid and freshman point guard Michael Amsel Jr.,

The 6-4 McQuaid led the Goats with 19 points — 13 in the second half, including nine in the fourth quarter — while Amsel had 17 points and eight assists. McQuaid made 8 of 10 shots and Amsel 6 of 12, who along with Engstrom, helped Chelan top 64-percent shooting in each half and finish at 67 percent (26 of 39) for the game (26 of 39).

Mabton managed to shoot just 29 percent (16 of 56). In the second half, the Vikings shot 18 percent (5 of 27), including 1 of 11 on 3-pointers, and had 14 of its 22 turnovers.

Although Mabton (15-10) felt it played better than in Wednesday’s loss, it was still a disappointing end to a solid season.

“We wanted this one really bad,” Huecias said. “We do feel like we played hard, but we felt we could’ve done much better. Sometimes, things don’t fall your way.”