Columbia High held off Goldendale in the fourth quarter Monday to win its Columbia Gorge Holiday Classic opener, 52-45, in Stevenson.
Carlos Mendoza scored a game-high 18 points and Mark Lovrin and Dylan Rabinowitz each had 10 to help the Bruins improve to 6-2 under first-year coach Jason Suess.
The Bruins led 42-35 after three quarters of play but saw their lead trimmed to 44-42 early in the fourth on a goal by the Timberwolves’ Reed Lindhe.
But baskets by Mendoza and Rabinowitz, and free throws by Felix Torres and Lovrin sealed the victory for Columbia.
CHS trailed 13-11 after one quarter but went into the halftime break up 29-27 on Lovrin’s runner just before the buzzer.
In the third quarter, Columbia took the lead for good on a 3-point shot by Lovrin with 5:04 remaining. It then built its largest lead of the game—nine points at 42-33—with eight consecutive points by Mendoza.
At the opening of the fourth quarter, Goldendale’s Lindhe and Enrique Granados of CHS traded baskets before Kaden Milliren hit a 3-pointer and Lindhe scored again to pull the Timberwolves within 44-42.
Columbia countered, however, with a seven-point run that pushed its lead to 51-42 with 44 seconds left in the contest.
For Goldendale (3-3), Austin Ross netted 12 points, Lindhe tallied 11, Milliren added five and Chad Wing, Jordan Foley and Blake Lesko each chipped in four.
Lyle/Wishram 58, Columbia High 52: At Stevenson, the Cougars outscored the Bruins 30-23 in the second half Tuesday to notch their seventh victory of December.
Mike Eiesland, Mike Murphy and Adam Snyder powered the Lyle/Wishram attack after the intermission, combining for 23 points.
The Cougars gained the lead at the end of the third quarter, 42-41, on a layin by Alan Matai, who was one of three Lyle/Wishram players to score four points in the period.
In the fourth, the Cougars widened their lead to seven points (51-44 to match their biggest lead of the game) as Snyder and Murphy scored consecutive baskets on putbacks to complete a 9-2 run.
Columbia, which got nine points from Carlos Mendoza in the final frame, got within 52-50 on a pair of Mendoza free throws with three minutes remaining, and within 54-52 on a goal by Mark Lovrin with less than two minutes to go.
But Lyle/Wishram held on as Eiesland scored the last of his 10 second-half points for the final margin of victory.
Eiesland and Snyder each finished with 14 points and Murphy totaled 13.
Mendoza led the Bruins (6-3) with 25 points and Felix Torres chipped in nine.
Snyder got the Cougars going in the first quarter, hitting the first two of his four 3-pointers to help them take a 15-11 lead.
Columbia, however, started to find its rhythm at the offensive end in the second quarter, after Jeremy LeMarr’s 3-pointer gave Lyle/Wishram an 18-11 advantage.
In a rougly two-minute span, Mendoza scored off a Lovrin pass, Torres drained a 3, Dylan Rabinowitz hit from down low and Mendoza put in his own miss as Columbia ran off nine straight points.
Lyle/Wishram came back to reclaim the lead, but lost it at the horn when Lovrin nailed a 3-pointer to give CHS a 29-28 edge.
The third quarter featured four ties and nine lead changes.
Stevenson 62, Lyle/Wishram 25: The host Bulldogs limited the Cougars to 10 field goals in the final game of Monday’s tournament quadruple-header.
Stevenson (2-2) mounted a 19-12 lead after one quarter, then pulled away in the second, outscoring Lyle/Wishram 23-6.
Things didn’t get any better for the Cougars (6-1) in the second half. They managed just seven points and gave up 20.
Mike Eiesland paced Lyle/Wishram with 10 points and Adam Snyder added nine on three 3-pointers.
For the Bulldogs, Joshua Neblock tossed in a game-high 14 points, Kyler Dudley scored 13, Lewis Meyers had 10 and Matt Rathgeber added nine.
Klickitat 54, Griswold 39: A 23-point first quarter gave the Vandals the edge over the host Grizzlies Monday in a first-round game of the Helix, Ore., holiday tournament.
Klickitat led winless Griswold by 17 points after the first quarter and at halftime (32-15), and by 21 (45-24) through three quarters of play.
Jeromie Mason did it all for the Vandals, finishing with a game-high 20 points and four rebounds, four steals and three assists.
Matthew Brewer and Ron Prominski each netted eight points, and Michael McConville had six points and seven rebounds for Klickitat, which advanced to Tuesday’s championship game—against Waitsburg/Prescott, a 43-42 first-round winner over Imbler, Ore.—with its fourth win in six starts.
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