BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

TACOMA - It was a myriad of second half turnovers that finally undid the Seattle Christian Warriors boys basketball team in a Nisqqually 1A League 56-52 loss at the Charles Wright Academy on Wed., Feb. 2.

Having frittered away a 16-point lead from the third quarter, the Warriors had rallied back to lead 52-50 on Trent Siedenburg's 3-pointer from the corner with 21.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

After the Warriors were unable to cash in on three consecutive inside shots, Cooper Griffin's inside bank shot put the Tarriers ahead 54-52 as 5.6 seconds showed.

Seattle Christian had a chance to score on an inbounds pass behind their own basket, but the turnovers that plagued it the entire second half (18 in total) eventually had one more added to their total.

With 8.7 seconds remaining, SCS inbounded from behind its own offensive basket after having a shot blocked.

The inbounds pass was fumbled and then recovered by Griffin who was fouled with 0.6 seconds on the scoreboard clock. Griffin knocked down a pair of charity tosses to undo what at one time was an excellent Seattle Christian control.

The Warriors overcame a 5-0 first quarter deficit with a 10-point scoring run that was capped by two Taggart Anderson 3-point goals en route to a 14-11 lead after one quarter.

Smartly passing and sharing the ball, SCS pulled away to a 27-19 lead before settling for a 29-24 lead at the break. Seattle Christian showed good ball control with only eight turnovers with six assists.

Anderson scored six consecutive points to open the second half and the Warriors continued their effectiveness to leave the Tarriers lagging behind at a 44-28 margin with just more than three minutes left in the third quarter.

Suddenly, the Warrior shooting percentage dropped off in the face of numerous turnovers as Charles Wright Academy scored the last 10 points of the quarter to trail only 44-38 going into the final quarter.

Charles Wright gradually cut into the difference after trailing 46-38.

Henry Cheney fired in a 3-point goal to culminate a 7-0 Tarrier charge to close the gap to 46-45 with 5:36 left.

Payton Gunhus dropped home two free throws to extend the Seattle Christian advantage to 48-45. But Griffin answered with a trey to deadlock proceedings at 48-48. Bryan Botka converted the first of two free throws and SCS was clinging to a 49-48 lead. Cheney came back to send Charles Wright ahead, 50-49, before the final chapter unfolded in this encounter.

Anderson led Seattle Christian, scoring 22 points along with 13 rebounds. Evan Toy added 10 points.
Cheney scored 18 Tarrier points and grabbed 11 rebounds with six steals. Joining Cheney in double figures scoring was Griffin, who notched 16 with four steals. Henry Lenaburg contributed 11 points.
The Charles Wright Academy Tarriers stole the ball 20 times.