Gonzaga Prep boys continue basketball postseason mastery over Richland, 3 takeaways

Ninth-ranked Bullpups' road 69-64 district-title victory is school's 15th victory over No. 4 Bombers in 18 career playoff games

RICHLAND, Wash. - Henry Sandberg has been the glue for the ninth-ranked Gonzaga Prep boys basketball team all season.

So it should have come as no surprise when the senior sank a clutch 3-point field goal attempt with just 1:17 to go, giving the Bullpups the lead for good in a 69-64 victory over the host No. 4 Richland Bombers on Tuesday night.

The win comes with a District 8 Class 4A championship banner. But more importantly, Gonzaga Prep has qualified for the 4A regional round of the WIAA playoffs.

Now 19-5, Gonzaga Prep has about 10 days before its next game. It’s been an interesting season for the Bullpups, a season that hasn’t seen Matty McIntyre’s team mentioned very much among the state’s best 4A teams.

“Respect is earned,” said McIntyre. “We lost some games in December we shouldn’t have. We’re a young team that had four new starters with Henry — who has started for us the past three seasons.”

The lack of statewide attention hasn’t bothered Sandberg either.

“We pay very little attention to that stuff,” he said. “The thing I’ve learned in my four years at Prep is that we want to try to play our best ball in March.”

So perhaps the Bullpups are a little ahead of schedule.

Sandberg — who signed a letter of intent last week to play basketball next season at Seattle Pacific University — led Gonzaga Prep with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists.

But it was Sandberg’s teammate, Brogan Howell, who gave the team a spark at the right time.

Led by senior Josh Woodard, the Bombers looked close to blowing this game out early in the second quarter.

It was Woodard who scored Richland’s last eight points of the half, and he dished off five of his six assists in the first 16 minutes.

At one point, Richland led 24-15 with 3:42 remaining in the half when Prep went on a 13-6 to close it out and trail Richland 30-28 at intermission.

Howell scored the Bullpups’ final seven points to close the gap, including a halfcourt trey at the buzzer.

“It’s great,” said Sandberg, “because Brogan has been a big defensive guy for us.”

With 4:34 remaining in the third quarter, Sandberg scored on a running drive to give Prep its first lead of the game, 37-36.

Gonzaga Prep expanded on that lead, getting up by as much as 8 points in the second half.

McIntyre said the key was stopping Richland’s transition.

“(Six-foot-10 Luke) Westerfield is a major inside problem. They have two excellent shooters (in Woodard and Landon Northrop), and they have two good shooters (in Jack Forbes and Lance Horntvedt),” said McIntyre. “We kept them from running with our transition D. When they go fast, they are unstoppable.”

Richland coach Earl Streufert agreed.

“The lack of execution on offense was key,” Streufert said. “I mean, we shot 51 percent at home and we lost. And we actually played solid defense. We wanted the game to be in the 70s.”

A 31 percent performance from the 3-point line (6 for 19) hurt the Richland offense.

Here are three takeaways from the Richland-Gonzaga Prep game:

---

HOLDING OFF RICHLAND RALLY

In Art Dawald Gymnasium, Richland’s last loss was in early December in a 68–61 verdict to Meridian of Idaho.

The Bombers love playing in this gym.

And no one is going to run away from them here. Trailing 58-50 in the fourth quarter, the Bombers went on an 11-3 run — tying the game at 61-all with 1:31 to play when Woodard lobbed an ally-oop pass to Forbes near the basket. The senior layed the ball in.

That’s when Sandberg came up with his heroic 3-point shot for a 64-61 lead. Woodard tried to respond with a running shot near the basket, but it missed and — who else? — Sandberg grabbed the rebound.

The new high school rules this season where each team has to commit five fouls in a quarter to send the opponent to the free throw line (no more 1-and-1 situations; everything is two free throws) came into play.

The Bombers, with no fouls in the quarter, were forced to foul five times. It took 30 seconds off the clock.

The Bullpups went 5-for-6 from the free throw line in those final 30 seconds to clinch the win.

Nate Christy added 15 points and six rebounds for Gonzaga Prep.

---

GONZAGA PREP'S KEY?

“We never panicked when we were down,” said Sandberg.

McIntyre agreed.

“We had some self-inflicted errors in the first half,” he said. “We started to settle down in the second half and made some stops. It’s not easy to play here in Richland. It’s tough.”

So now Gonzaga Prep gets some much needed rest. The Bullpups — riding a 10-game win streak — won’t play again until either Feb. 23 or 24.

---

NEXT FOR RICHLAND?

The Bombers, now 19-4, had their 11-game win streak snapped with the loss. But Streufert’s crew can still qualify for state Saturday at home (time to be determined), when it’ll meet either Lewis & Clark of Spokane or Mid-Columbia Conference rival Kamiakin. Those two teams meet each other at 6 p.m. Thursday at Kamiakin.

Woodard led Richland with 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists; while Forbes finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

“We’ll take a day off and then get ready for Saturday,” Streufert said. “Prep is a good team. They’ve proven it all year long. We’ve been in this same situation last year (when they beat Kamiakin in a state play-in game). I’m confident our guys can come back.”

---