Mules make strong showing at tournament

The Wahkiakum Mules boys basketball team headed north after Christmas for a three day non -conference tournament at Mount Vernon Christian High School, and came home with second place honors.

"The tournament overall was a really fun experience for us," Coach Rob Garrett said. "It was a great time together with good competition in a super fun atmosphere."

The tournament started last Thursday with a 60-45 win against a 1B Neah Bay team.

Parker Leitz led scoring with 19 points. Kyler Sause added 13. Jayden Stoddard had 11. Zakk Carlson scored eight points, Cooper Carlson had five, and Jacob Johnson finished the game with four.

Neah Bay 13 12 14 6 45

Mules 21 7 20 12 60

On Friday, the Mules beat a 1A team from Blaine, 65-55.

Z. Carlson had a big night, scoring a career high 41 points. Sause added 14. Leitz had six points. Grant Wilson and Gage Robinson added two points apiece.

Mules 14 11 24 16 65

Blaine 21 6 18 10 55

On Saturday, the Mules took on Lummi Nation for the tournament championship and lost, 65-55.

"We were excited to make it to the championship game where we played Lummi in a good battle by both teams," Garrett said. "We played a solid first half and did some really good things together on both sides of the ball early. Then Lummi went on a run right before half and stole the momentum even though we had a three point lead. Unfortunately we were never able to steal it back. We just couldn't seem to string together multiple plays on both sides of the ball and our shooting wasn't there in the second half. It's a great opportunity to go back and watch some film to get better for big games moving forward the rest of the way."

Sause tied his single game scoring high of 30 points. Z. Carlson added 12 points. Leitz had 11 points, and Wilson finished with two.

Lummi Nation

18 12 15 20 65

Mules

17 16 7 15 55

Tonight (Thursday), the Mules return to the regular season on the road in Morton White Pass.