SportsSportsThursday, January 23SECTION B – THE OTHELLO OUTLOOK SPORTS@OTHELLOOUTLOOK.COM

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Othello rammed then devoured by WolvesBy eric LaFontaineoutLook PuBLisher

After a 3-3 start to the season, the Othello boys varsity basketball team has hit the slides, falling twice more over the weekend to CWAC rivals West Valley and Wapato – sending them into mid-season with a 4-7 re-cord overall.

The Huskies have lost six games in a row and have not won a game since mid-December's road victory at Toppenish.

Despite the rash of losses, head coach Dave Herrud likes his team's chances in the last half of the season, especially on defense.

"I really do believe the kids are playing good and are working really hard," Herrud said. "We're rebounding fairly well and aggressive, but we're a little flat on offense."

Friday, at Taggares Gym, West Valley opened the game on an 8-0 run through the first three minutes, before the Huskies got hot on a 6-0 run of their own, closing the gap to 10-6 after the first quarter.

In the second, with 2:14 remaining in the half, Othello grabbed their first lead of the game, 16-15. The Rams then responded on a 5-0 run, re-taking the lead into the half, 20-16.

"Our defense kept us in the game in those first two quarters," Herrud said.

Othello opened the third with two quick buckets, tying the game at 20-20 within two minutes of play.

The Rams then pulled away on 16-6 run, taking a 36-26 lead, into the fourth.

In the final period, the Huskies turned up the scoring, closing the gap to six points, 49-43, with 1:48 remaining.

But as time expired, Othello fell short, 54-45.Herrud said when his kids buy-in to play more team ball, move the ball

around a little quicker and run their offense, things will improve. "Over the last four games, teams have really thrown different types of

defenses at us that has confused the kids … whether it's some type of zone or match-up zone, it really throws the kids off and they really struggle," he said.

Herrud said his team didn't play any different between the halves, they just couldn't get an offensive flow going.

"We'll really have to work on that," he said. "We have a lot of open shots – our kids just have a tough time making shots."

Herrud would like to see his team work the ball inside, and then back out, allowing the kids to get better looks at the basket.

"Thankfully, our defense has put us into a position to win, we're just not getting it done on offense," he said. "We need to get everyone involved in the offense before we start winning games."

The Huskies shot 72 percent from the foul line, a season high, but missed all 10 three-point shots.

They held the Rams to nine of 31 from the field but sent them to the line 34 times, where they converted 24 of them.

Ryan Rodriguez led Othello with 14 points. Axel Martinez added nine and Colton Hall added eight. Photo By eric LaFontaine

Senior Randy Gomez goes up for two on a fast break against the visiting West Valley Rams. Othello lost 54-45.

By BoB BarrettcontriButing writer

Two league dual victories and a third-place finish at the Westberg Invite highlighted the Huskie wrestlers last week of competition. Most wrestling teams would be satisfied with a third-place fin-ish in a quality tournament, but the Huskies hoped for a better showing.

"We cannot be happy with how we wrestled," Othello head coach Ruben Martinez said. "We are a better team and some kids on the team need to figure that out soon."

Othello (180 points) had three finalists and eight plac-ers to finish in third place behind Sumner (183.5 points) and Sunnyside (193.5 points) at the Westberg Invite at El-lensburg Saturday.

Manny Martinez (132) beat Daniel Espinoza (Wapato) 7-1 and Bubba Ruiz (285) pinned Mario Prado (Southridge) to

earn individual champion- ship honors.

Alec Lauriano (120) lost his championship final bout 0-10 to returning state champions Jesse Barrajas, of Sunnyside.

Isaiah Barrera (106) bounced back from a semi-final loss to Selah's Carlos Lopez to pin Andre Romero, of Wapato, and earn a third-place award.

Alejandro Cardenas (113) also survived the consolation bracket after a quarter-final loss 2-5 to Hunter Blair, of El-lensburg. Cardenas won three straight consolation round matches to walk away with his third-place medal.

Cardenas weighed in at 106 where he expects to compete in the post- season tournaments.

"Alejandro has been wres-tling well and should be a kid other teams not overlook at 106 in the post season,' Martinez said.

CWAC wrestling title on the line

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By BoB BarrettcontriButing writer

Trouble came early for the Lady Hus-kies while hosting the Othello Invite at Taggares Gym last Saturday.

A week earlier, the girls won the presti-gious Kelso Women's Tournament despite losing seven of their eight quarter-final round matches. Saturday in Othello, it was the first round that was the undoing for the lady grapplers.

"We came out flat in the first round," girls head coach J. J. Martinez said. "The girls bounced back from a terrible first round."

Led by champion Tatum Sparks (145) and runners up Nikki Velazquez (124) and Tori Zambrano (112), the Huskies wrestled their way to a second-place team finish behind Mt. Baker.

Esmer Mendez (100), Phelicia Perez (137) and Rosa Pena (170) each earned third-place medals. Elizabeth Rocha (100) and Isabella Chavez (190) finished fifth to round out the Huskie medalists.

Martinez seemed pleased to have three finalists.

"Tori and Tatum are wrestling how they are capable of," Martinez said. "In the semifinal, Nikki upset a state veteran who had been wrestling all summer long at nationals."

Zambrano made quick work of her first three opponents, scoring three straight pin

wins all in less than one minute.Velazquez also reached the champi-

onship final by recording three straight victories by pin. The semi-final win by pin came over Sunnyside's state qualifier Daisy Chavez.

Sparks first, Zambrano and Velazquez second

Photo By BoB Barrett

Othello’s Nikki Velazquez lifts Connell’s Alma Corona and brings her to the mat to score a takedown in the quarter-final round of the Lady Huskies Invite.

see GIrLs | B2 4