Border Battle is a push: Pullman boys, Moscow girls win
PULLMAN — The Border Battle returned to the hardwood Saturday at Pullman High School with each Palouse team getting a win.
The Moscow girls opened with a 58-22 win, then the Pullman boys routed Moscow 75-44.
Here’s what we learned:
A versatile offense
The Greyhound boys opened the floodgates early against the Bears (4-2), starting the first two-and-a-half minutes on a 10-2 run.
The run included a couple of Jaedyn Brown 3-pointers and four points from junior Champ Powaukee.
Powaukee and Brown each notched double figures with 25 and 22 points, respectively. Dane Sykes also hit double figures with 16.
“That’s as well-rounded of a team as you’ll see,” Moscow coach Josh Uhrig said. “You can try to take one guy away, but they have three or four more that can hurt you in different ways.”
Powaukee has been slowly improving, coach Craig Branter said. In this one, he led the Greyhounds (6-0) in scoring and added seven rebounds and five steals.
“He’s blossoming,” Branter said. “He can hit 3s when he’s open, he’s hard to stay in front of and he’s a willing passer. When you have all of those things that makes a great basketball player.”
Failure to gain momentum
Moscow’s Ian Hillman knocked down two 3s before the end of the first quarter to pull the Bears within 19-12.
Hillman was giving Pullman headaches, as he scored nine of his 17 points in the period.
The Greyhounds emphasized putting pressure on Hillman afterward, and it worked. Moscow also lost guard Dylan Rehder in the second quarter after he took a hard fall. The Bears didn’t fare well without their two top scorers.
Pullman, the top-ranked Class 2A team in the state of Washington, took advantage, opening up a 28-12 lead.
“We worked really hard and our kids shared the basketball,” Branter said. “Once we stepped up on (Hillman), I thought that gave our defense a lot better chance. Stopping him made a huge difference.”
Game of runs
The girls game had each team hitting the other with spurts.
The Greyhounds (2-8) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, shredding through the Bears’ press defense.
Moscow (1-4) started to find itself after a timeout, going on a 7-3 run to cut Pullman’s lead to 10-7.
With 35 seconds left in the first, freshman guard Kolbi Kiblen found junior forward Lola Johns underneath for an easy basket to take an 11-10 lead.
“We missed some shots earlier, but I just encouraged them to keep shooting,” Moscow coach Alexa Hardick Tripp said. “They started to fall, and it was nice to see that.”
Moscow and Pullman played hot potato with the lead until Jessa Skinner hit an easy layup to put the Bears ahead for good 15-14 with 2:29 left in the second.
Moscow finished the half on a 13-0 run to take a 26-14 advantage into halftime.
“Once we picked up our defense a bit, they were able to get some confidence,” Hardick Tripp said. “We came out flat and it just took us a while to get into this game.”
Skinner paced the Bears with 14 points. Taylor McLuen also was in double figures with 12.
Stifling defense
A big reason Pullman had early success against Moscow was its ability to break through the press. That simply didn’t happen after the first quarter.
The Bears forced 17 turnovers, scoring 18 points off the Pullman miscues.
“We talk a lot about playing defense,” Hardick Tripp said. “It takes a lot of effort. I don’t think it takes a lot of skill to defend. I was happy with the effort that we brought.”
BOYS
MOSCOW (4-2)
Cody Wilson 1 1-3 3, Brayson Reed 0 0-0 0, Traiden Cummings 1 2-2 4, Elom Afatchao 0 0-0 0, Dylan Rehder 1 0-0 2, Grant Abendroth 3 0-0 7, Joey Williams 0 0-0 0, Caleb Skinner 2 0-0 4, Zac Skinner 3 1-3 7, Ian Hillman 6 2-2 17. Totals 17 6-10 44.
PULLMAN (6-0)
Jaedyn Brown 9 0-0 22, Tanner Barbour 2 2-2 6, Logan Thompson 0 0-0 0, Champ Powaukee 8 6-8 25, Alex Bickelhaupt 0 2-3 2, Cade Hill 0 0-0 0, Caleb Northcroft 0 0-0 0, Dane Sykes 7 1-2 16, Lucian Pendry 1 0-0 2, Austin Hunt 0 2-4 2. Totals 27 13-19 75.
Moscow 12 8 13 11—44
Pullman 19 19 24 13—75
3-point goals — Hillman 3, Abendroth, Brown 4, Powaukee 3, Sykes.
GIRLS
MOSCOW (2-8)
Punk Knott 2 0-0 5, Kolbi Kiblen 1 0-0 3, Myah Parsons 0 0-0 0, Maya Anderson 2 0-0 5, Kennedy Thompson 3 0-0 8, Jalyn Rainer 0 0-0 0, Taylor McLuen 4 0-0 12, Lola Johns 3 0-0 6, Jackque Williams 1 3-3 5, Jessa Skinner 5 4-4 14. Totals 21 7-7 58.
PULLMAN (1-4)
Meg Limburgh 1 2-2 4, Sophie Armstrong 0 0-1 0, Lacie Sines 0 0-0 0, Suhailey Reyes 0 0-1 0, Sehra Singh 3 0-0 6, Marissa Carper 4 0-1 8, Ryliann Bednar 2 0-1 4, Audrey Smith 0 0-0 0, River Sykes 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 2-6 22.
Moscow 11 15 24 8—58
Pullman 10 4 4 4—22
3-point goals — McLuen 4, Thompson 2, Knott, Kiblen, Anderson.
Pixley may be contacted at (208) 848-2290, tpixley@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @TreebTalks.
