Mules go 6-0 over Christmas break

Following back-to-back losses to Morton-White Pass and Onalaska in mid-December, the Mules have won six straight games and closed out the first half of the season on a strong note. The recent surge began just before Christmas when the Mules went onto the road and handily beat a less-than-stellar South Bend team 73-24. Lars Blix and Shane Souvenir sparked the Mules offense with 19 and 18 points, respectively, with Seth Doumit and Eli McElroy each tacking on 11 points. Steven Doumit added five points, Travis Wegdahl four, Brandon Budd three and Dallas Peacock two.

A couple days after Christmas, the Mules headed east of the mountains to Dayton, Washington, to participate in Dayton’s annual Christmas Tournament. Or so they thought. As it turned out, Dayton invited one too many teams to the tournament and the Mules were left out of the tourney. All was not lost, however, as the Mules still played a pair of games while in Dayton. In the first game, the Mules faced off against the Panthers of Asotin High School. The Mules and Panthers played a neck-and-neck game but the Mules eventually nipped the Panthers in overtime, coming away with a narrow 64-63 victory. Blix led the way with 19 points followed by McElroy with 14, Seth Doumit 12, Souvenir nine, Peacock four, and two apiece from Wegdahl, Steven Doumit and Austin Good.

The following day the Mules once again went down to the wire, this time against host Dayton. The hometown Bulldogs were holding onto a two-point lead in the closing seconds of the game when Blix stepped up and knocked down a game-winning three-pointer to escape with a 53-52 victory. Blix netted a team-high 27 points, with McElroy adding 13, Wegdahl five, Souvenir four and two apiece from Peacock and Steven Doumit.

After a three game non-league stretch the Mules got back to business within the Central league, beginning with a road game at Mossyrock. While the Mules struggled to close the door on the Vikings, to the tune of a 19-8 point differential in the fourth quarter, the Mules built up a lead after the first three quarters that proved insurmountable enough to hold off the Vikings late surge and the Mules knocked off Mossy with a 61-56 victory. Blix paced the Mules with 19 points, McElroy notched another 13, Souvenir 11, Peter Weiler seven, Wegdahl four, Seth Doumit three and two apiece from Good and Peacock.

Two days later, the Mules returned home for the first time since the loss against Onalaska three weeks earlier to face the Ducks of Toutle Lake. The Mules jumped on the Ducks early and never trailed en route to a 59-39 win over Toutle. The win didn’t come without a bit of frustration though as the Mules saw a 16-point lead nearly evaporate midway through the third quarter when the Ducks narrowed the deficit to only six points, but the Mules buckled down and quickly widened the gap back to double-digits. The Mules employed a slightly different tactic on the defensive end than most people are used to seeing in Cathlamet as they pressured the Ducks with a tough man-to-man defense before settling into their traditional 3-2 zone. Weiler and McElroy led the way with 18 and 16 points, respectively, with Peacock adding eight, Blix seven, Souvenir five, Wegdahl four and Good one.

Tuesday night, the Mules capped their recent run with a come-from-behind 68-62 victory over last season’s nemesis, the Adna Pirates. After going winless in four attempts versus the Pirates last season, things weren’t looking good when the Mules once again found themselves trailing Adna in the waning minutes of Tuesday’s game. Down 11 points with three minutes and change remaining in the game, the Mules turned the tables on the Pirates and closed the game on a 19-2 run to stun the home squad, defeating Adna 68-62. Weiler led a balanced Mule scoring attack with 15 points followed by Blix and McElroy at 14 apiece, Wedgahl with eight, Good and Seth Doumit six apiece, Souvenir three and Peacock two.

The Mules junior varsity squad was almost perfect as well over the same time period, going 3-1 with the lone loss coming at the hands of the Pirates. In two quarters of action against South Bend, the Mules rolled over the Indians 44-11, led by Thorben Huber’s 13 points and Budd’s 12. Gunnar Blix added six, Mitchel Dault four, Brady LaBerge three and two apiece from Joey Moore and Koby Cothren.

The Mules cruised to a victory over Mossyrock as well, taking down the Vikings 55-27 behind Budd’s 18 and Dault’s 13. Blix tacked on eight, Huber five, Zach Calvert four, LaBerge three and two each from Moore and Jenton Zeng.

The easy wins continued against Toutle Lake as the Mules nearly doubled up the Ducks, coasting to a 62-33 victory led by Budd with 17 points and Blix with 13. Dault added nine, Zeng six, Moore five, Huber four, Cothren and Calvert three apiece and LaBerge two.

The blowouts came to a halt against Adna, however, as the Mules suffered a 54-44 defeat at the hands of the Pirates. LaBerge netted 12 points to lead the team with Budd adding 11, Blix eight, Moore seven, Huber four, and Dault two.

Above, Eli McElroy goes up for two points in the Mules' win over Toutle Lake.

Below, Travis Wegdahl drives to the basket against Toutle Lake. Photos by David McNally.