By PAUL SHUGAR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

All West Valley boys basketball coach Jim Berndt can do is look at the numbers and shake his head.

West Valley's Jordan Juarez, left, looks for an outlet after grabbing a rebound as Enumclaw's Chris McKinney plays defense Monday in the Tourneytown.com Shootout.   JEFF HALLER/Yakima Herald-Republic View all photos for this story.

Trailing by only four points at halftime, the Rams lost their shooting touch in the second half of a 54-36 loss to Enumclaw at the Tourneytown.com Shootout Monday in the SunDome. West Valley hit only 25 percent of its shots after the break.

“The second half killed us,” said Berndt, whose team falls to 8-5. “We didn’t shoot well at all. ... You’re not going to win any games when you shoot 25 percent.”

While the Rams struggled, Tanner Sayler couldn’t miss for the Class 4A Hornets (7-5). He went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line on his way to a game-high 21 points.

No one on West Valley could match Sayler’s touch and the Rams’ shooting only got worse as the game continued. The Rams shot 2 of 10 from the field and 2 of 6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

“We made them take the hard shots pretty well tonight,” Enumclaw coach Phil Engebretsen said. “We thought that we could defend them the length of the court today and really wear down their shooters. I think we were pretty effective at that.”

Drew Cavanaugh, West Valley’s leading scorer averaging 17.1 points per game, showed how well the Hornets followed their game plan. He managed only 10 points in the game on 2 of 13 shooting. Half of his points came on free throws.

“(Cavanaugh) was pushing his shot a bit,” Berndt said. “He was trying to get back into the scoring and he started taking shots that were outside the realm of our offense.”

Enumclaw had its offense running well at the start of the game, exploding to a 11-2 lead early. But West Valley battled back to take one of its two leads in the game, 14-13, with seven minutes and five seconds left in the second quarter.

Enumclaw’s Chris McKinney hit back-to-back 3-pointers to take back the lead for good and help give his team a 25-21 cushion at halftime.

Sayler took over after the break, scoring all the points in a 10-0 run to give the Hornets at 37-23 lead with four minutes and 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

For the rest of the game, the Enumclaw’s tough man-to-man defense kept West Valley from mounting a comeback. Jordan Juarez, one of three players on the team playing through the flu and 102 degree fevers, was the only other Ram in double figures with 10 points.

“We just got in the gaps so they couldn’t drive on us,” Sayler said. “Coach told us before the game that they like to shoot, so we just made sure to get our hands up.”

With Sayler the only Hornet in double figures, Justin Howick chipped in nine and McKinney netted eight. Tyler Wieland grabbed eight rebounds and had seven assists.