Bantams break Pullman's five-year home streak

PULLMAN - The Pullman girls waited until the bitter end to apply the finishing touches while the Clarkston boys opted not to dilly-dally with their own opponent and wrapped up win No. 12 by the start of the fourth quarter during Friday's Great Northern League doubleheader between the Greyhounds and Bantams at Bohler Gym.

Emily Drake neared 30 points, but Anne Mari Petrino's contributions from the free throw line in the final minute proved most important to the Greyhounds in delivering Clarkston its first GNL loss of the season, a 60-57 decision.

Later, the Clarkston boys, ranked No. 1 in Washington's 2A classification, finally broke their Palouse curse and did so in dominating fashion, toppling the two-time state champion Greyhounds by a final score of 61-39.

Clarkston boys 61, Pullman 39

In some ways, it felt like a ceremonial passing of the torch. In others, it felt like a good old regular-season spanking, done Clarkston style.

The Bantams got out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter, gave the Greyhounds a sniff of the lead up 18-17 in the second, then left their opponents in the dust after holding the reigning state champs to just two points - which came on free throws - in the third quarter.

"To beat a team like Pullman, we're excited about that," said Clarkston coach Justin Jones, who not only beat the Hounds and beat them handily, but became the first team to beat Pullman at Pullman since 2010.

The Bantams have now seen everyone in the GNL aside from East Valley, which took a 72-53 loss to Pullman in the Greyhounds' league opener.

Clarkston's four league wins have come by an average of 23.5 points and the Bantams' lowest margin of victory came in a 13-point victory on the road against Cheney.

Just four games in, Clarkston won't pride itself on being in the drivers' seat just yet, though getting Pullman out of the way did feel semisweet.

"It feels really good, moving on from the drought I guess you could call it, from the last two years," Clarkston senior CJ Johnson said of the Bantams' three-year dry spell on the Palouse. "At the same time, it's just another game. We're going for our ultimate goal, the state championship."

For now, at least, it appears that the Bantams won't lose sleep over Pullman getting in the way of that.

The Greyhounds went on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, but Clarkston held its ground and led 31-23 at halftime.

Then came the knockout punch - a third quarter that truly showed who had jumped whom on the GNL food chain.

The Bantams outscored the Greyhounds 16-2 in the period, led by as many as 24 points and by the start of the fourth, had essentially handed Pullman its first home loss since a two-point loss to West Valley four year ago.

"As a team, we just need to focus a bit more on how to attack those guys," Pullman coach Craig Brantner said.

A task easier said than done, especially considering that six Bantams had seven or more points Friday and Clarkston didn't need Trevon Allen's usual 20-plus to make things hard for the Greyhounds.

Though the Bantams did fall seven points shy of their season scoring average (68.3 ppg).

"The thing with this team, I mean Trevon's a heck of a basketball player, he really is," Brantner said. "But everyone else is not that far behind."

The Pullman coach knows that luxury better than most.

"Kind of like us last year," Brantner said. "What we had over them probably last year was a good senior group and that might be what they have over us right now."

Jett Sobotta, with three 3-pointers, led Clarkston with 15, Johnson added 11, Trevon Allen finished with 10, Trevor Sperry and Davian Sobotta contributed eight apiece and Jake Dwyer came off Jones' bench to provide seven more.

Kyle Imler had a team-high 11 points for Pullman, while Micah Lagerquist led all players with 10 rebounds.

CLARKSTON (12-0, 4-0)

Wyatt Neal 0 0-0 0, Trevor Sperry 2 4-6 8, Jett Sobotta 6 0-0 15, Davian Sobotta 3 2-2 8, Jake Dwyer 3 0-0 7, Travis Hansen 0 0-0 0, Trevon Allen 3 4-4 10, Keaton Brenner 1 0-0 2, Callen Wessels 0 0-0 0, CJ Johnson 4 3-3 11. Totals 22 13-15 61.

PULLMAN (8-2, 1-1)

Micah Lagerquist 3 1-2 7, Tim Pendry 4 1-2 9, Jake Cillay 1 1-2 3, Kyle Imler 4 0-0 11, Caleb Nilsson 0 2-2 2, Jared Anderson 0 1-2 1, James Miles 2 0-0 6, Sam Druffel 0 0-0 0, Will Pitzer 0 0-0 0, Ethan Barke 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 6-10 39.

Clarkston 18 13 18 12-61

Pullman 9 14 2 14-39

Three-point goals - J. Sobotta 3, Dwyer, Imler 3, Miles 2. Total fouls - Clarkston 13, Pullman 13. Fouled out - none.

Pullman girls 60, Clarkston 57

Soon after Pullman slipped away with its favorite win of the new year, Greyhound senior Emily Drake slipped on a Weber State sweatshirt.

For the better part of four quarters, Pullman's best player showed exactly why the Big Sky's Wildcats have plucked Drake to join them in Ogden, Utah, as a preferred walk-on in the fall.

Drake scored 29 points and the Greyhounds survived the scariest of scary scenarios in the fourth quarter after losing grasp of a 17-point advantage.

The hosts led by that margin early on in the final quarter, but once Clarkston put a double team on the Greyhounds' top scorer, Pullman went silent and allowed the Bantams to close their deficit to a single point with less than 30 seconds remaining.

"Oh, goodness," Drake started, asked to describe the final minute or two.

And just about everyone sporting the home colors had that very reaction after Charlie Dimke's basket made it 56-55 Pullman.

There were plenty more gasping when Anne Mari Petrino went to the free throw line on the next possession. Petrino hit twice on her first trip, then was sent back after Brooke Morrow's layup made it a one-point game once again.

Petrino made the first, but couldn't sink the second, though Sequoia Swan's long-range effort at the buzzer clanked off the backboard, then off the rim to secure Pullman's first league win.

"I love games like that," Drake continued, "because it's really intense and it's good to come out with the win, especially for the team morale."

Riley Denton and Dimke each had 12 points for Clarkston.

CLARKSTON (5-7, 3-1)

Riley Denton 4 3-3 12, Hailey Denton 0 0-0 0, Alea Wohl 2 0-0 4, Makinzie Packwood 0 0-0 0, Brooke Morrow 3 0-0 6, Charlie Dimke 5 2-4 12, Santana Jose 0 0-0 0, Jayde Eke 1 2-2 4, Sequoia Swan 3 0-0 7, Jaclyn Meyers 4 5-10 13. Totals 22 12-19 57.

PULLMAN (6-5, 1-1)

Emily Drake 7 10-10 29, Anne Marie Petrino 3 5-10 11, Rebecca Wickard 3 0-0 7, Madi Mueller 2 0-0 4, Savannah Paul 1 3-4 5, Kelsey Nestegard 0 0-0 0, Alexa Yadama 0 0-0 0, Cicely Warnick 0 0-0 0, Carolena Sears 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 18-24 60.

Clarkston 14 7 11 27-57

Pullman 10 18 18 14-60

Three-point goals - R. Denton 2, Swan, Drake 5, Wickard. Total fouls - Clarkston 21, Pullman 22. Fouled out - R. Denton, Mueller Wickard.

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Lawson may be contacted at tlawson@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2260. Follow him on Twitter @TheoLawson_Trib.