MOSES LAKE – The Mavericks closed out the regular season with a trip to Sunnyside on Thursday night, coming out on top of a closely contested game with a 67-66 win over the Grizzlies. 

“They’ve been playing better, scoring more,” head coach Craig Groth said. “We’ve been doing a little bit better job on defense in certain situations and winning games leading up to that. Even games we haven’t won, we’ve been in really close games. Our confidence is really good right now, we felt great going into the game.” 

Following a back-and-forth, high-scoring first half of the game, Moses Lake took a 43-39 lead into the halftime locker room.  

“A lot of fast breaks, kids were hitting shots on both ends of the floor,” Groth said.  

With both teams making adjustments, particularly on the defensive end, the second half was more of a defensive battle, Groth said. Even though Sunnyside took a narrow lead with about a minute-and-a-half left, a late defensive stand helped push the Mavericks to their 67-66 road win to close out the regular season. 

“It was tight, it was tense,” he said. “Both teams, it was tough to get good looks at the basket. Coming down the stretch, we tightened up on their main offensive player and held him to two points in the fourth quarter; did a much better job of that. For us, offensively, we were able to attack the rim a little bit and get to the free throw line.” 

Thursday’s win was Moses Lake’s third in their last four games and sixth over the last nine games in the regular season. The Mavericks finished in third place of the Big 9 with an 8-4 mark in league games. 

“The kids, their confidence is really good right now. We’re getting better each game, and the kids know that their teammates have their back,” Groth said. “If they happen to miss a shot, that another teammate has the opportunity to get the offensive rebound and put it back, or that they’ll pass up a pretty good look to get it to a teammate with an even better look. They’re feeding off each other really good right now.” 

What’s helped Moses Lake over the last month has been its balanced attack, and not relying on one scorer. Whether it’s been seniors Brayden Kast or Pavel Beloborodyy on both ends of the floor, or juniors Kyre Wiltbank, Tyce Miller, Grady Walker or Brady Jay in scoring from the perimeter, the Mavericks have had several players step up in big moments throughout the regular season. 

“That’s the great thing about this team, we’ve had guys step up all year long,” Groth said. “We’ve had six or seven different guys get in double figures at one point or another.” 

With a third-place finish in the league, Moses Lake hosts sixth-seeded Eastmont in the first round of the district tournament on Tuesday. Moses Lake won both of the regular season matchups against the Wildcats; first an 82-77 win at home on Jan. 10 before securing a 78-73 road win on Feb. 7. 

“Eastmont’s a good team, they’re capable of beating anyone on any given night,” Groth said. “Even though we’re at home and a higher seed, we cannot take them lightly. They very well can come up and score points.” 

Tipoff between the Mavericks and Wildcats is at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Moses Lake. The winner of the loser-out matchup advances to play the winner of No. 4 Sunnyside and No. 5 Eisenhower on Thursday. 

“We’re a better team now than we were a month ago, offensively and defensively,” Groth said. “Our ball movement is a lot better, we’re attacking the rim really good. (We have) confidence in ourselves, confidence in each other, knowing that everyone’s got a role and stepping into the role, and is going to be really good when asked upon.” 

    Moses Lake junior Grady Walker (15) shoots the ball underneath the rim during a Dec. 30 game against Shadle Park.