The Warriors pulled out an 84-82 overtime thriller against the Spartans in round one of the SCAC District Tournament in Mattawa Tuesday evening Feb. 6, but were blown out 105-65 by Zillah at River View High School Friday, and now find themselves on the brink of elimination in a loser out game with Connell at River View Thursday.

A forty-point loss to the Leopards seems almost unimaginable from the talented Wahluke ball club whose widest margin of defeat was 10 points in the regular season. But after giving up 189 points in the last two games, one has to wonder if the Warriors have anything left in the tank?

“We are working on fixing our adjustments on defense. Giving up that many points in two games definitely hurt our chances of winning,” coach Clayton Buck said. “Granger just could not miss a shot — from the arc and short jumpers. We executed our game plan very well in the first half against Zillah — felt good coming out of halftime. They just caught fire from everyone and everywhere, pushing the ball moving the ball and not missing a shot. Zillah is at the top because they can do that to anybody. Just so happen to be us Saturday night.”

Wahluke came out hitting on all cylinders leading 26-17 at the end of the first quarter. But the Warriors had trouble getting the ball to drop through the rim and allowed Zillah back in it up 36-33 at intermission.

The Leopards exited the locker room fired up, erased the three-point deficit, and then exploded for another 69 points to run away with the contest.

Antonio Salinas posted a double-double with 32 points and 10 rebounds; Sebastian Godina scored 13 points to go with 11 boards and Weston Ide added a 17-point effort in the win.

Ricky Cabrera knocked down a team-high 29 points for Wahluke. Sergio Pineda finished with 16.

Wahluke 84

Granger 82

Sergio Pineda drained a game-high 31 points, Ricky Cabrera added 25, Abraham Olivares hit for 14 and Alex Valdez finished with 10 and the Warriors pulled out an 84-82 overtime win over the Spartans in the first round of the district playoffs at Wahluke High School.

This one had the fans on the edge of their seats throughout as the game was nip and tuck the entire way.

Wahluke held a slim 14-12 led at the end of the first 8 minutes of the game. A 22-17 second quarter run put the Spartans up top 34-31 at the half.

Granger hit two treys to start second half scoring. Two more buckets from the Spartans and two free throws from Pineda made it 43-35 Granger. The Warriors then went on an 8-0 run to tie it 43-all. The Spartans answered back with a 12-4 spurt to push the score to 55-47 heading into the final 8 minutes of regular play. The teams traded mini-runs and Wahluke tied it once more 60-60 when Cabrera drove the lane for a bucket with four minutes to go.

An offensive charge call against Cabrera and the Warriors down 62-60 with just under three minutes left brought a chorus of boos from the home crowd. Two Pineda free throws, a steal by Olivares and a bucket by Cabrera gave Wahluke its first lead of the second half with 37 ticks left on the clock. Granger tied it 68-all with nine second to go and then got a steal and a shot off from long distance at the buzz that was short of its mark and the game went to overtime.

Cabrera sank two shots from the charity stripe to put the Warriors out front 81-73 with 40 seconds to go and it looked like Wahluke had put this one to bed. But back-to-back treys from the Spartans made it a 2-point game with nine seconds to play.

With time nearly expired Granger was forced to foul in the inbound play which sent Cabrera to the line for two shots where he sank them both to make it 83-79. A mental mistake by Cabrera gave Granger life when he fouled a Spartan on a 3-point attempt, who sank all three shots from the line to make it a one-point game with five seconds on the clock. Pineda sank one of two shots and the Warriors led 84-82. Granger got off a desperation shot at half court as the buzzer sounded, but it was wide right and Wahluke hung on for the win.