Richland Drops Bomb On Bullpups

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 Richland was 6-of-7 from beyond the arc in the first half in building a 33-27 lead it never relinquished in a first-round 4A regional victory. Leading scorers for the Pups were David Stockton with 13 points and Ryan Nicholas finished the night with 14.

A lethargic effort Tuesday in the first night of the 4A regional has put Gonzaga Prep’s boys basketball team in a hole.

The Greater Spokane League champions were outplayed in every facet of the game by visiting Richland and lost 54-45.

“The object is to play games, right?” a disgruntled Gonzaga Prep coach Mike Haugen said afterward. “We just got ourselves some extra games. We’ll see what we’re made of.”

The Bombers’ (15-7) rebounding, coupled with 6-for-7 3-point shooting in the first half, put G-Prep on its heels. Stifling defense kept the Bullpups there.

Even though Richland didn’t score a second-half field goal until 3 minutes, 33 seconds remained in the third quarter, the visitors never lost ground. They had but four baskets the entire second half and still stretched a lead that was six points at intermission.

They did it by keeping pressure on the guards out front, yet denying G-Prep any semblance of an inside game.

Some of that was of G-Prep’s own doing, Haugen said.

“I thought we made it easy in many ways for them,” Haugen said. “I didn’t think our movement was very good and didn’t think we got the ball inside nearly well enough. That’s so crucial to us.”

Richland hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter while taking a 16-10 lead.

If a Bomber player missed, they were quicker to the ball than the Bullpups.

Although G-Prep twice rallied to lead by a basket in the second quarter, they were short-lived. Brett Jacobs, who had one of the first-period 3-pointers, hit two more to put Richland ahead for good.

The score was 33-27 at intermission and the closest G-Prep came in the second half was to within three points. Richland’s only field goal of the fourth quarter came with less than a minute remaining, but the Bullpups couldn’t capitalize and the victors made 10 free throws in 15 attempts to head home with an upset.

Ryan Nicholas scored 14 points and David Stockton 13, but both were troubled by turnovers. Jacobs had 11 of his 14 points in the first half. Calvin Douglas, a 6-foot-6 sophomore scored 14 points and Clint Smith added 13, including a critical 3-point play that put the Bombers up 42-36 to end third-quarter scoring.