EPHRATA — Friday night had trap game written all over it.

Ephrata only had two days of practice after an emotional double-overtime loss at Toppenish before hosting a hungry Wapato team fresh off a road win against Prosser. Factor in 17 made 3-pointers from the Wolves and the Tigers had their hands full for the duration.

Kyle Hendrick’s game-high 24 points — most coming in the paint — helped counter Wapato’s 3-point barrage and Ephrata won 83-74.

“In this league there is no easy game,” head coach Brandon Evenson said. “Then once they were hitting I knew it was going to be a long night, but the Toppenish game did take a lot out of us. We had a broken down bus, it was just a weird night overall, but super proud of these guys. They’re just so fun to coach, all 12 of them. They work really hard and come in when they can and give us minutes and it’s a fun group.”

The Tigers looked in control early, closing the first quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 19-11.

However, like most of the evening, Wapato would not go away.

The Wolves began the second quarter on a 10-2 run to even the game, 21-21, and eventually built a four-point lead after consecutive 3-pointers.

“We went to the zone thing then it slowed them down a little, but then they started hitting again so we went man and they’re quick off the bounce,” Evenson said. “We knew we just had to outscore them tonight and so I thought we did a nice job of running our stuff on our side to make sure that we scored and got to the free throw line very well.”

Neither team blinked in the third quarter, with the Tigers holding a narrow advantage 27-26 to take a four-point lead into the final period.

Cue Hendrick.

Ephrata’s junior post scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, including his team’s first 10 points. Hendrick’s outburst and another seven points from Lakota Lange in the fourth helped keep the Wolves at bay until the final buzzer sounded.

“Kyle had 31 against Toppenish the other night and had a great game,” Evenson said. “He continued to do that tonight.”

Score by quarters

W 11 18 26 19 — 74

E 19 13 27 24 — 83