By GEORGE KUNKE
Willapa Valley was on cruise control during road victories at Lake Quinault (Tuesday, Dec. 10) and Naselle last Friday.
The Vikes came out on all cylinders against LQ while taking a 26-6 lead after one quarter. Valley held the Elks scoreless in the third quarter and ended up winning 69-23. Cody Buchanan banged home 18 points (all in the first half), and Matt Konigsberger popped in 15 more.
“We really played well,” WVHS head coach John Peterson told the Herald. “That’s a place we’ve had trouble playing over the years, but we played a good game. They didn’t like our press very much. They’re a very young team and we’re way bigger and much more experienced. We didn’t’ get sloppy, which is good. We were very crisp.”
The Vikings committed only 7 turnovers and shot 51% on 30 of 59.
Buchanan was 8 of 10 from the field and Konigsberger was 6 of 7. Hunter Gray and Drew Pearson each scored 8 points. Kyler Oblad grabbed 8 rebounds and 7 steals.
Willapa Valley 69, Naselle 38
It was an instant replay for the Vikings as they crunched Naselle 69-38. Konigsberger netted 24 points on 8 of 13 shooting, and the talented junior took down 11 rebounds. Stephen Camenzind added 15 points and Buchanan had 10.
“It was our first league game, and it was a good game for a half,” Peterson said. “Then with about a minute 42 to go we went on an 11-0 run, and went from one down to 10 up. I don’t know if it broke their spirit or what, but it got us going. Cody hit a long one and that put us up 10. We came out in the third quarter and outscored ’em 24-6.
“Cody played his second really good game in a row and played really good defense. He brought the ball up and did a good job,” Peterson said.
“I was very pleased with the way we played,” Peterson said. “Naselle is a difficult place to play. I’ve seen a lot of Valley teams go down there and struggle. We ran the ball really well. The key to the game was we played good man-to-man defense. We played good half-court defense.
“Brendyn Graves gave us four really good minutes at the end of the half, and
Gray gave us 3-to-4 good minutes,” Peterson noted. “Kyler Oblad played off the bench really well.”
The Vikes have home games this week against Ocosta (Thursday) and Lake Quinault (Friday). Peterson informed that Valley’s game of December 9 versus Adna at Tenoski Gym has been moved for the second time, this time to January 20. The C Squad game is at 5 p.m. followed by the JV and the varsity tilts.