MOSES LAKE - Lowell Kirkwood drained 21 points and dished out five assist to lead Moses Lake Christian Academy (MLCA) to a 71-46 win over Columbia Basin Secondary School (CBSS) last night. The Lions scored the first six points of the ball game as the Phoenix looked tight as the team missed their first four shots. Eric Curtiss got CBSS on the board with a left handed shot to close the gap to 6-2. But MLCA went on a 16-8 run to finish out the quarter up 22-10. Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the second quarter of play until Michale Northup sank a shot from behind the arc for CBSS to narrow the gap to 22-13. A myriad of mental mistakes and fouls put the Phoenix deeper in the hole as the Lions raced out to a 44-20 half time lead. It did help matters much when point guard Allan Curtiss fouled out of the game with 43 second to play before the break for CBSS.

"We wanted to come out and attack the basket from the start and get to the fee throw line often," coach Duke Wood said. "And we did just that. But we had trouble putting together four solid quarters of play."

The second half of play saw the Phoenix put 26 points on the board, but the Lions added 27 of their own to win going away.  Alex Allsbrook added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Lions. Thomas Knopp tallied 10 points and six boards and Paul Torres finished with 10. MLCA is back in action Monday night when the team travels to Soap Lake for the first round of the 1B district tournament. The team will play Wilson Creek or Thorp at 7:30 p.m., depending on the outcome of their game tonight.

"We are going to have to clean up some of the mental mistakes we made tonight if we are going to make a deep run in the post-season," coach Duke Wood said. "If we do that, I really like our chances."

The Phoenix are back in action Monday night as well as the team takes on Wahluke in Kittitas.