Mules crush Tigers, ease by Timberwolves

The Mules displayed one of their best all-around performances of the year last Wednesday night in their 64-32 rout of the Napavine Tigers.

The Mules held the Tigers scoreless for the first five minutes of the game. The Mule defense never let up and forced a number of turnovers that led to easy transitional scores while making it difficult for the Tigers to get anything going on offense.

The Mule offense was just the opposite as they were firing on all cylinders, hitting 50 percent of their two-point tries, 75 percent from the line and 10 of 29 from beyond the arc, a respectable 35 percent.

John Chambers led all scorers with 21 points on 8/16 shooting. Wyatt Parker contributed 11 with Chris Bilgic and Yannik Kruetter adding eight apiece and Lars Blix seven. Kruetter also pulled in nine rebounds, six offensive, and had three blocks while Bilgic grabbed six and Peter Weiler five. Blix picked up four of the Mules’ 13 steals with Parker and Weiler each nabbing two.

On Friday night the Mules continued to shoot the ball well as they went on the road and handily beat the Morton-White Pass Timberwolves 72-56 in Randle.

The Mules hit on 41 percent of their shots from the field, but the biggest factor was the 19 for 23 showing from the charity stripe, or 83 percent.

Parker led Mule scorers with 21 points on 7/15 shooting with Blix adding 14, Kruetter nine, and Brett Chaput seven. Chambers, in addition to scoring 13 points, dished out a season-high 10 assists for his second double-double of the year.

During the Christmas break, the Mule boys made the journey to Dayton where they went 1-1, dropping the opener to LaCrosse-Washtucna in overtime, 60-55, before coming back the next day to pound Kiona-Benton 61-23.

Chambers netted 16 in the opener to go along with seven assists and six steals while Blix and Parker added 14 and 12, respectively. The next day, Parker nearly outdid Kiona-Benton himself as he tossed in 21 points accompanied by double-doubles from Blix 14 points/10 rebounds and Chambers 11 points/10 assists.

The 9-2 (4-1 League) Mules hosted Pe Ell yesterday (Wednesday) and then go on the road to Toutle on Friday and to Winlock on Tuesday before returning home for a big Central League rematch with the Adna Pirates on January 19.

The Mule junior varsity squad split this week’s games, picking up a 31-24 win at home against the Tigers and dropping one on the road to the Timberwolves, 47-42.

In the win, Travis Wegdahl led the Mules with 10 points, including going a perfect 8/8 from the free throw line, while Steven and Seth Doumit added seven and five, respectively, Brandon Budd four, Brady LaBerge three, and Austin Good two. Wegdahl and LaBerge picked up four steals apiece while Steven Doumit cleaned up the boards, pulling in 11.

In the loss, Wegdahl accounted for nearly half the Mule scoring with a season-high 20 points. Seth Doumit added seven, Collan Riley six, Connar Riley four, Mitchel Dault three, and Steven Doumit two. Dault also grabbed nine rebounds.

The Mule C-Squad team completed a clean sweep in the last 10 days, beating Napavine 21-11, Morton-White Pass 19-16, and in a full four quarters of action, a 54-33 victory over the Clatskanie Tigers.

Against Napavine, LaBerge scored five, Collan Riley and Jamey Gehrman four apiece, Budd and Bradley Peek each with three, and Connar Riley two. Against MWP, Connar Riley netted six, Colton Pfenniger four, Peek three, and LaBerge, Gehrman, and Sonvir Mann two apiece. At Clatskanie, Peek had 15, Shane Souvenir 14, Collan Riley 10, Steven Doumit nine, Good four, and Zach Calvert two.