Hounds boys are back with a bang

Dec. 4—PULLMAN — Jaedyn Brown, Tanner Barbour and Champ Powaukee combined for 49 points and the Pullman boys basketball team rolled past Ephrata to overcome a sluggish start in its season opener.

The Greyhounds (1-0) got better as the game went on and weathered a flurry of 3s from the Tigers (0-2) in the second half in their 60-43 home victory Saturday.

In the girls game, Ephrata topped Pullman 47-34.

"I thought the second half we really came out with a little more energy, played much better defense, attacked the glass more," Pullman boys coach Craig Brantner said. "Once we started attacking the glass, we got easier baskets and that's where we kinda pulled our lead."

Guards go off

The guard trio of Brown, Barbour and Powaukee produced the bulk of the points for the Greyhounds.

Brown led all scorers with 19 and Barbour had 18 on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the line. Powaukee added 12 with 3-of-5 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line.

Brown's heroics are nothing new for the Greyhounds faithful, but Brantner was particularly proud of Barbour and Powaukee, who each shot well from the floor and the line and played high-energy defense on the other end.

"I thought Champ and Tanner Barbour's defense was really good," Brantner said. "I just thought Tanner and Champ played with (great) energy and didn't hang their heads when things started getting down."

Ephrata cut an 18-point Pullman lead to eight with the help of a stretch of five 3-pointers late in the third quarter and early in the third. But then the Hounds started getting steals and turning them into fast-break points to get back to a double-digit advantage and keep it there.

"We did a great job of sharing the basketball on breaks and really looking for each other," Brantner said.

Getting "Tiny" involved

Always one looking to improve, Brantner said he was frustrated with his team heaving up quick shots and not finding center Austin Hunt more in the first half.

Hunt, a 6-foot-10 junior who teammates call "Tiny," finished with six points, five rebounds and two blocks.

"I thought in practice we've been doing a great job of using him and we didn't do that early in the game," Brantner said. "I think he took two shots in the first half so ... once we started getting Austin some looks, it was much better."

Hound girls stumble in second half

Pullman (0-1) enjoyed a 22-18 lead at halftime but couldn't keep things clicking in the second half as the Tigers (2-0) slowly took the lead and didn't let up.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, Ephrata had a double-digit lead at 43-32 on a steal-and-score by guard Alessa Soto (eight points).

"I'm pretty disappointed in how we played. This is our first game (but) we've had a lot of practices since Nov. 14," Pullman girls coach Angie Barbour said. "We just did not shoot well and that's disappointing. I thought we would shoot better than that. We had a lot of opportunities to score points that we did not convert on."

It was a balanced scoring night for the Greyhounds with no players reaching double figures. Senior guard Meg Limburg led with eight points and senior post Sehra Singh tallied seven, all in the second quarter.

Mills pays the Tigers' bills

Ephrata's 6-foot-1 post Addison Mills was a handful, leading all scorers with 19 points.

She was particularly tough when her team was behind, scoring eight of her team's 11 points in the second quarter when Pullman led.

"She's just really good size and has a nice little drop step," Barbour said. "We just didn't defend her the way we needed to. We needed to deny the pass to her a little bit better."

BOYS

EPHRATA (0-2)

Hayden Roberts 1 0-0 3, Adam Devine 2 1-2 6, Travis Hendrick 3 0-0 6, Hans Roberts 2 0-0 4, AJ Glenn 0 0-0 0, Cameron Zabala 2 0-0 4, Cody Black 3 1-2 10, Tucker Cobb 0 0-0 0, Landon Evenson 1 0-0 2, Max Hewitt 2 0-0 5, Hayden Malone 0 0-0 0, Jaxon Elliott 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 2-4 42.

PULLMAN (1-0)

Jaedyn Brown 7 3-4 19, Tanner Barbour 6 4-4 18, Logan Thompson 0 0-0 0, Champ Powaukee 3 5-6 12, Alex Bickelhaupt 0 0-0 0, Cade Hill 0 0-0 0, Caleb Northcroft 0 1-3 1, Dane Sykes 2 0-0 4, Lucian Pendry 0 0-0 0, Austin Hunt 3 0-4 6. Totals 21 13-21 60.

Ephrata 9 8 16 10—43

Pullman 11 16 17 16—60

3-point goals — Black 3, H. Roberts, Devine, Hewitt, Brown 2, Barbour 2, Powaukee.

GIRLS

EPHRATA (2-0)

Kaydence Hector 1 1-4 3, Tori Falconer 0 0-0 0, Delaney Hagy 4 1-1 10, Alessa Soto 3 2-2 8, Krista Jenn 2 0-0 4, Makenna Wennerberg Lutz 0 0-0 0, Addison Mills 8 2-3 19, Molly Evenson 0 0-0 0, Olivia Bicondova 1 1-3 3. Totals 19 7-13 47.

PULLMAN (0-1)

Meg Limburg 2 3-3 8, Jennabee Harris 0 0-0 0, Sophie Armstrong 2 0-0 4, Lacie Sines 2 2-2 6, Marissa Carper 0 0-0 0, Suhailey Reyes 2 0-0 5, Sehra Singh 3 0-1 7, Ryliann Bednar 1 2-2 4, Audrey Smith 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 7-8 34.

Ephrata 7 11 12 17—47

Pullman 6 16 4 8 — 34

3-point goals — Hagy, Mills, Limburg, Reyes, Singh.

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.