MOSES LAKE - There was plenty of excitement in round ball action over the weekend as the Chiefs played host to Wenatchee Friday, then traveled to Richland Saturday.

"I though we showed a lot of character holding on to the ball and finishing out the game against Wenatchee, ' coach John Hohman said. "But we didn't play very well against Richland ... didn't execute our offense very well."

The game against the Panthers looked as if neither team wanted to win the game; in the first half of play that is as both struggled to put the ball in the hoop.

Bryce Perez got Moses Lake on the board first. Wenatchee got a bucket to tie the score 2-2. A basket by the Chiefs Jordan Garcia and five points by Cliff Phillips helped push the home team to an 11-5 lead with three minutes to play in the first quarter.

Following a timeout by the Panthers, Wenatchee went on a 5-0 run to close out the first eight minutes of play trailing 11-10.

A score by the Panthers Killin McGinnis broke a two minute drought by both teams to start the second quarter to give the visiting team its first lead, 12-11.

Garcia sank a jump shot to put the Chiefs back up 13-12. The teams traded scores over the last two minutes of the half with holding a slight 24-23 lead.

Trino Rubio stepped to the line for Moses Lake with two tics left on the clock and sank one-of -two shots to send the teams into the locker room tied 24-24.

Poor shooting from the floor (27 percent) and from the 3-point line (20 percent) prevented the Chiefs from having a big lead at intermission.

"We didn't look very good in the first half to be honest," Hohman said. "But we came out in the second half and cleaned things up a bit and started playing better.'

Moses Lake came alive in the third quarter as the home team outscored the Panthers 16-9 to go up 40-32 heading into the final eight minutes of action.

The Chiefs stretched the stretched the margin to 46-34, but the Panthers scratched their way back in the game and got within three points, 46-43 with two and a half minutes to go.

Three clutch free throws by Josh Hirz and a 3-point bomb by Kevin Bennett ignited a 14-0 run by Moses Lake to close out the game 60-43.

The win improved the Chiefs record to 5-6 in the Big Nine and 7-10 overall.

RICHLAND - Bryce Perez knocked down 22 points and Cliff Phillips added 19, but it wasn't enough to propel the Chiefs to a win Saturday. Moses Lake lost in a shootout with the Bombers, 66-58.

"Its hard to win a game a against a good team like Richland when you make a lot of mental mistakes," Hohman said. We had 17 turnovers and on top of that, we didn't run our offense very well either."

The Chiefs looking for a road win and improve their seeding for the district tournament next week dug themselves a first half hole and trailed 40-27 at the break. Although Moses Lake outscored Richland 31-26, the first half deficit proved insurmountable and the Chiefs were sent home with the loss.

The defeat dropped Moses Lake to 5-7 in league play and 7-11 overall as the regular season came to an end. Despite the loss, the Chiefs will travel to Chiawana Friday for a single elimination game against the Riverhawks in first round action ot the Columbia Basin Big Nine District Tournament. Game time is 7 p.m.

If the Chiefs beat Chiawana, they will play Richland at  7 p.m. Saturday.