West Valley's Matt Borton, left, and Davis' Nico Sandoval battle for the ball in the fourth quarter of Monday's game at the Tourneytown.com Shootout.   SARA GETTYS/For the Yakima Herald-Republic View the Shootout photo galleries.

Pirates shoot past
bigger West Valley

Davis uses speed, accuracy to overcome big rebound deficit against Rams, wins 54-48
 
By SCOTT SPRUILL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

If rebounds are going to be a struggle, shooting better not be.

Davis’ boys have been familiar with this hard reality for years and have, for the most part, used their marksmanship to offset taller teams.

Monday was one of the good nights.

Despite getting outrebounded 41-15 — with only one offensive board for the night — the Pirates employed crisp shooting and good open-floor running to beat West Valley 54-48 in the Tourneytown.com Shootout.

It may have been a nonleague game but Davis came into the SunDome with an urgent intensity, having lost three in a row and two in overtime.

“We really needed to just go out and get a win. Whatever it took,” said senior Tristan Cobane, who contributed a game-high 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. “We haven’t been playing to our potential, and we’re trying to put it together. This was better.”

The Pirates, who mostly run a five-guard offense, shot 52.4 percent in the first half for a 33-27 lead and finished at 47.5 percent for the game.

“We’ve had some shooting woes and it’s nice to get out of that routine,” noted a relieved Davis coach Eli Jaurez. “We feel we have one of the better shooting teams in the league but we haven’t been showing it lately. This felt like back to normal.”

Cobane’s backcourt teammate, Nico Sandoval, scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and keyed a late rally that countered West Valley’s strong third quarter.

With the Rams leading 42-41 with six minutes left, the Pirates used a 9-0 run to retake control and Sandoval connected on two clutch perimeter shots during the streak.

West Valley’s 6-foot-6 senior post Tim Wagar, who missed the first seven games while recovering from foot surgery, produced a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Wagar’s 6-4 teammate Matt Borton, another matchup problem for Davis under the backboard, collected eight rebounds and scored 11 points.

But despite that height advantage, the Rams were only able to connect on 16 of 49 shots (32.7 percent).

“We had the same trouble at Eastmont (a 54-48 loss last week). When you miss that much it’s hard to win a game,” said West Valley co-coach Jim Berndt. “I think we settled too much for the first shot we had instead of looking for better shots.”

Berndt said his rotations are still adjusting to Wagar’s return.

“We went so long without him,” the coach said, “that we don’t look for him enough now that’s he back. We’re still sorting that out.”

It’s an adjustment for Wagar, too.

“I’m still getting back into it,” he said. “It’s hard to just jump back in like I was never gone. It’s getting better every game.”

West Valley’s best play came in the third quarter when junior Evan Berndt canned two 3-pointers during a 10-0 burst to close the period.

Cobane and Sandoval hit two 3-pointers apiece for the Pirates, who kept good care of the ball with only nine turnovers.

Davis (6-5) returns to Columbia Basin League 4A play on Friday at Wenatchee, and West Valley (6-6) is on the road as well at Hanford in CBL 3A play.