Union-Bulletin

ST. JOHN, Wash. - Touchet couldn't protect a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter here Friday night as St. John-Endicott rallied for a 43-42 victory in a boys Southeast 1B District basketball game.

Cole McCanna's steal of an inbounds pass and length-of-the-court drive for a layin in the final seconds of play lifted the Eagles to the victory and saddled the Indians with another painful defeat.

"Only two of our losses have been blowouts," Indians coach Tim McKeown said. "The others, we've been right in them but we can't figure out a way to win."

The Indians dropped to 1-8 in league play and 3-11 for the season while SJ-E evened its overall mark at 7-7 and improved to 5-4 in league. Touchet hosted Colton Saturday night.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ben Harrison and another trey from Dallas Schulenger, a bank shot from the top of the circle, all but wiped out Touchet's lead in mere seconds.

"They were on us before you know it and right back in the game," McKeown said.

But the Indians still held a one-point edge and had the ball out-of-bounds with 21 seconds on the clock.

"We kind of panicked," McKeown said. "The pass in was kind of a lob and the kid just picked it off and drove the court for the layin. We still had about eight seconds, but the best we could get off was a mid-court shot."

Harrison led all scorers with 17 points, with teammate Mason Van Lith joining him in double figures with 11 points.

Jake Hodnefield was the Indians' lone double-digit scorer with 14 points. Eric Hines and Vincente Flores added eight points each and Matt Kates finished with seven.

"We did a good job for three quarters showing patience, running our plays, back-door cuts, whatever," McKeown said. "Then they came out with defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and we didn't acknowledge it. We didn't run our offense, we starting driving and trying to create shots.

"By then I was out of timeouts. I kept yelling at them to show some patience and work the clock, but to be honest they weren't acknowledging me."

TOUCHET (42) - Hodenfield 4 4-4 14, Hines 3 2-4 8, Preciado 0 0-0 0, Kates 2 3-3 7, Flores 4 0-2 8, Weber 1 0-0 2, Huesby 1 1-2 3. Totals 15 10-13 42.

ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT (43) - Schluneger 1 0-0 3, K. Raynor 0 0-3 0, Kucklick 1 0-0 3, E. Raynor 0 1-2 1, Van Lith 3 5-6 11, Harrison 7 1-2 17, Howell 1 0-0 2, McCanna 2 2-2 6, Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 9-15 43.

Touchet 15 10 10 7 - 42

St. John-Endicott 11 11 7 14 - 43

3-point goals - Touchet (Hodnefield 2), SJE (Schluneger, Kucklick, Harrison 2). Total fouls - Touchet 15, SJE 15. Fouled out - Touchet (Hines, Kates), SJE (Harrison). Technical fouls - none. Rebounds - Touchet 34 (Hodnefield 8, Hines 8), SJE 29 (McCanna 6). Turnovers - Touchet 23, SJE 19.