The Star - News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area

The Oroville Hornets skimmed a victory last week at Lake Roosevelt from the Raiders, who also took lessons from unbeaten Brewster later in the week.

The score was close all night against Oroville Jan. 10, with the Raiders taking the lead on their home court briefly with about three minutes left. But the Hornets took the lead back and held onto it as the clock ran out with a final score of 59-53.

"As disappointed as I am that we didn't pull this one out in the end, which I thought we were going to, I'm still very encouraged at the same time," said LR Head Coach Levi Seekins. "I thought this was our best game from top to finish. If we play like that the rest of the year, I expect to win some more games than we did in the first half of league."

The boys' last five league games have been lost by point margins of 13, 4, 5, 6, and 19. This is as improvement over the losses earlier in the season of 50, 29, 9, and 27 points.

The Raiders played solidly until the final minutes when the boys seemed to be rushing, taking quick shots from far away rather than playing it safe, letting the play develop, and taking clear shots at the basket.

Winning at the end of a game, Seekins said, is "a skillset. ... It's something that you have to do. We haven't figured it out yet."

The loss on Tuesday was compounded Thursday as the Raiders lost on the road to Brewster, 54-35. The Bears are atop the Central Washington 2B league with 10 wins and no losses. The Raiders' win-loss ration is 1-9.

The Raiders led in the first quarter, but trailed by four points at the half. The third quarter saw the Bears increase their lead. Seekins thought the Raiders played the fourth quarter "pretty well" after a poor "third quarter that got us out of the game."

Seekins noted that the Raiders have a new offense and new defense this year.

"We have a lot of league games left that we want to win and we look forward to finishing the season strong," he said.

The boys were scheduled to play last night at home against the Liberty Bell Mountain Lions. Look for details in next week's Star.

The Raiders are scheduled to play the Eagles in Soap Lake on Thursday, and to host the Manson Trojans in the Raider gym in Coulee Dam Saturday at 1 p.m., starting with the junior varsity squads' games.

Hornets 59 Raiders 53

Raider Points

McCragie 18, Williams 2, Kiser 12, Picard 16, George 2, Kante 3

Raiders 35 Bears 54

Raider Points

Friedlander 5, McCragie 11,

Williams 5, Picard 14