Columbia Basin opened its season at home by building its lead in the first half and then spending the second half building and protecting the lead. The Hawks beat Green River 89-76 on Friday evening.
The game was close for about five minutes. Alex Wells and Josh Woodard traded early layups with the Gators, and the score was tied 2-2 and 9-9 before Columbia Basin began to separate. Woodard and Wells combined for 28 points in the first half, 14 each, and the Hawks led 28-14 with just under 10 minutes to go. They stretched it to 34-17, and Green River cut it to 34-20 on a three-pointer from Mason St Louis. The Hawks then scored 13 straight points to close the half. Kory McClure hit back-to-back threes, Benji Larios scored inside, Wells made another three, and he finished with a dunk at the buzzer. Columbia Basin went to the locker room ahead 47-20.
The Hawks kept scoring after the break. Wells made two free throws, Larios hit a three, and Elijah Wright took over the middle stretch with 11 of his 17 points in the half. His dunk and three-pointer pushed the margin to 82-47 on a Levi Pepper jumper with 6:33 left. That was the biggest lead of the night at 35.
The Hawks won on the glass and in the paint. They outrebounded Green River 53-28 and grabbed 20 offensive boards, which they turned into 16 second-chance points to the Gators' seven. Larios led all players with 12 rebounds, and Woodard, Wells and Wright each had at least four offensive rebounds between them. Columbia Basin scored 48 points in the paint to Green River's 30 and shot 50.7 percent overall (37 of 73), including 10 of 20 from three.
Wells finished with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, three steals and three assists. Woodard added 19 and four assists, Wright had 17, McClure scored 11 on 4-of-7 shooting with all three of his threes made, and Larios contributed 7 points to go with his rebounds.
The Hawks have cleanup work ahead. They made only 5 of 12 free throws and turned the ball over 16 times, five more than Green River. Green River scored 19 points off those turnovers.
Columbia Basin moves to 1-0 and will face Umpqua on Day 2 of the Tipoff Invite this Saturday at 6pm!
