Mules take down Ducks, Cardinals

Brett Chaput stepped up to the free throw line Friday night with the team down a point and only seconds to go and very calmly sank both shots to send the Mules off with a 57-56 victory over the visiting Toutle Lake Ducks.

Despite an extremely slow start offensively, the defense kept the team in the game long enough for the offense to awaken and score 40 second-half points.

John Chambers led the team with 16 points and 4 assists while Lars Blix added 13 points and six boards. Chaput just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds while Wyatt Parker contributed nicely with seven points and seven boards. Rounding out the scoring for the Mules was Brandon Fudge with six, Joel Nicolazzi four, and Ryan Helms two.

Tuesday night’s home game with Winlock featured another thrilling victory for the Mules, overcoming a somewhat sluggish offensive performance to defeat the Cardinals 62-53 in overtime.

For most of the game, the momentum swung back and forth between the two teams, but after Winlock’s Enrique Hernandez missed the second of two free throws with no time left on the clock and the score deadlocked at 48, the momentum quickly swung back in favor of the Mules, who ultimately capitalized on the miss by outscoring the Cardinals 14-5 in overtime.

Blix had one of the biggest games of his career with a great all-around game in which he notched 15 points, 10 boards, and six steals. Parker added 12 points and four rebounds while Chaput tossed in eight more and Fudge seven. Helms also had a solid night marking up the stat sheet with six points, four boards, four steals, and five assists. Chambers and Wieler finished off the scoring with three and one respectively, with Chambers also dishing out four assists.

Last Wednesday night the Mules traveled to Pe Ell where they came up short in a hard-fought game with the Trojans, falling 77-64.

Although the Mules failed to notch a win in a tough environment on the road, they did come out of the gates firing and were up 10 after one quarter of play, both signs of hope for when the Trojans come to town in a couple of weeks.

Parker had a big day offensively with 22 points with Blix chipping in with 13. Chaput had another near double-double performance with eight points and 11 boards while Chambers tossed in six points and handed out six assists. Nicolazzi was in the mix offensively with nine points while Helms and Fudge rounded out the scoring with four and two, respectively.

The junior varsity squad completed a three-game sweep over the Trojans, Ducks, and Cardinals, handling Pe Ell and Toutle with relative ease while finishing off the Cardinals in dramatic fashion as Seth Doumit nailed a game-winning three pointer with only nine ticks of the clock remaining and the team down two points. Steven Doumit and Tylor Russell paced the team against the Trojans with nine points apiece with Eli McElroy tossing in seven more and Shane Souvenir five.

Against Toutle Steven Doumit led the way again with 15 points while Souvenir netted 12, McElroy and Seth Doumit six apiece, Russell five, and Travis Wegdahl four. Steven was once again the high man Tuesday night with 13 while Souvenir added 11, McElroy seven, Seth Doumit six, and Russell and Wegdahl four apiece.