MATTAWA — Holding a two-point lead and possession of the ball with just seconds on the clock, Wahluke players passed the ball to one another on the offensive end, attempting to bleed out the clock and leave with a district tournament win.

“Be prepared for the half-court trap or the press,” Wahluke coach Clayton Buck said of what the Warriors discussed during a late timeout. “Other than that, have game situational awareness of what’s going on, spread out and be ready to come and get the ball and help each other out.”

A late Warrior turnover gave possession of the ball back to La Salle, who marched down the court with four seconds left and connected on a buzzer-beating three-pointer off the hands of junior Jaxton Caffrey, defeating the Warriors 65-64 in the first round of the South Central Athletic Conference district tournament.

“I was debating about once it hit halfcourt — ‘Timeout, or let it go?’” La Salle coach Josh Caffrey said. “I saw Jaxton run by me and I thought, ‘Well, Hayden (Brumback) sees him,’ I’m going to let him throw it ahead and see what happens. Clutch moment for that kid, it’s pretty neat.”

Wahluke, who was consistently down by two to three possessions throughout the game, took the lead midway through the fourth quarter and went up by four with under a minute to go when junior River Buck ran down the court for a transition basket to go up 65-61. La Salle converted on both free throw attempts on its ensuing possession to cut the Warrior lead to two before winning at the buzzer.

“I think that’s just the ebb and flow of the game,” Josh Caffrey said. “Wahluke’s always going to be close at the end, so I think that (lead) may have been a bit of fool’s gold, those eight-point leads. We always expected it to be close at the end.”

Facing a deficit for most of the game, Clayton Buck credited the Warrior bench for stepping up and regaining the lead in the fourth quarter.

“It’s just putting the right guys in there; the guys that wanted to fight, the guys that wanted to battle and the guys that wanted to win,” Buck said.

Sophomore Keaton Zirker led the Warrior bench with 10 points, all of which came in the fourth quarter. Zirker’s three-point play early in the fourth quarter jumpstarted the Wahluke offense, cutting the Lightning lead to three points.

“(Zirker) came in there and exceeded expectations,” Buck said. “He’s been doing that in the last couple of games; he did it at Ki-Be, played strong, did it at Royal, came in and hit some big shots. He’s starting to show and progress.”

River Buck finished with 31 points Thursday night, including scoring 12 of Wahluke’s 17 third-quarter points. 

“He wanted it,” Clayton Buck said. “He’s been wanting it all week, he’s been putting in practice and trying to lift this team up and push them.”

Wahluke freshman Manuel Ruvalcaba-Jimenez was second on the team with 15 points, followed by Zirker’s 10 points.

Josh Caffrey said the focus on Wahluke’s final possession was that to only foul if necessary.

“The call was deny-and-foul if we don’t get a steal,” Caffrey said. “Fortunately, it worked out for us … it was a lucky little snafu that worked out in our favor.”

With the loss, Wahluke dropped to the consolation bracket where they faced Connell on Saturday night in a loser-out game. Scores were not available in time for press deadline.

“We’ve been here in this type of position a few times, and we’ve won some and lost some,” Buck said. “The biggest thing that I’ve seen when we did win, was the guys came in here and battled and fought.”

The winner of Saturday’s consolation game will play the loser of Saturday’s SCAC semifinal between Royal and Wapato.

“I think we’ve got more in us than what we’re showing,” Buck said. 

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

LSL: 13-19-17-19 68
WAH: 8-19-17-23 67

    Wahluke sophomore Keaton Zirker (23) attempts a three-pointer in the first half against La Salle.
  

    Wahluke freshman Manuel Ruvalcaba-Jimenez, in white, goes up to attempt a shot in the fourth quarter against La Salle on Thursday.