Ocosta boys topple Taholah

Ocosta adjusts style to win at Taholah

TAHOLAH — Adjusting their customary style, Ocosta’s boys dominated the paint and the game on its way to a 62-46 basketball victory at Taholah on Tuesday night.

The Chitwhins came out in a 2-3 zone on defense but the Wildcats were often able to find shots close to the basket with ball movement that drew Taholah’s defenders toward the perimeter . That opened up opportunities inside.

The Wildcats were also aggressively effective on defense as well and strategically used a press that made it difficult for Taholah to get into its half-court offense.

Ocosta coach Jason Quinby pointed out that his team normally presses for the entire game but liked the way his team looked switching between its zone press and man defense.

“This is the first year that we haven’t pressed all the time. It’s a tool that we’ve used in the past but we’re a little short on depth right now,” he said. “Were looking at getting some more players but there are points in time that if we press right it can be very effective and it was tonight.”

Ocosta’s press held Taholah to single-digit scoring in the first half as the Wildcats leaped out to a 19-4 lead after one quarter. The Wildcats forced 26 turnovers.

When the Wildcats (4-2) backed off of the press and went into their half-court zone defense, the Chitwhins still struggled to get to the basket. With no clean looks at the basket and shots refusing to fall, Ocosta’s rebounding advantage played big as the Wildcats often started to run the floor after Taholah’s misses.

Zach Allton had a particularly strong game in this fast-paced contest and came away with 24 points, most of which came while driving to the basket. Cole Hatton also shot well from mid-range and had 11 points.

With the score 36-18 heading into halftime, Quinby credited a lot of his team’s success to its rebounding.

“We’re not very tall so we work a lot on rebounding, especially offensive rebounding,” he said. “When a lot of teams see our size they just kind of assume they’re going to get the boards but we really work on trying to get position on very shot and getting those offensive boards.”’

The Chitwhins (1-2) showed some signs of life coming out of the halftime break and at one point cut the lead to 15 after they had some success of their own forcing turnovers.

The success didn’t last, however, as the Wildcats reclaimed control, relying on more shots from the high post to build the lead back up to 20.

Taholah head coach Mike Rose said this was an all-around bad game for his team.

“Rebounding was terrible, we had a lot of turnovers and we weren’t prepared for their quickness,” he said. “They stole the ball too many times but it’s still early in the season. We’ll just put this one behind us.”

Taholah’s Zach Cain put up 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Jesse Purdy was also solid with four assists, four steals and eight points.

Both teams will have league games on the road Friday as Ocosta visits Chief Leschi and Taholah travels to Mary M. Knight.

Ocosta 19 17 20 6 — 62

Taholah 4 15 11 16 — 46

Ocosta (62) — Bailey 0, Allton 24, Hatton 11, Beck 9, Waara, Bjornsgard 4, Dueber 10, Wardlow 4. FG — 25-59 (.423). FT — 8-9.

Taholah (46) — Orozco 6, Waugh, Cain 19, Mowitch 11, Purdy 8, Dan, Underwood. FG — 17-44 (.386). FT — 2-8.