Shorthanded Mountaineers fall to Pirates in first loss of season

Adna’s Muller goes off for 26 points

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The Rainier High School boys basketball team looked virtually unbeatable through its first four games, but a second injury to its starting lineup and a gargantuan second half by the Pirates’ Gavan Muller led to Adna toppling the Mountaineers, 55-40, Saturday, Dec. 14.

Already without starting senior guard Josh Meldrum, the Mountaineers took another blow when sophomore Peyton Sheaffer went down with a left ankle injury at the end of the first half. He returned briefly before sitting out the rest of the game.

Even with a healthy Sheaffer, the Mountaineers struggled to find consistency on defense after a stellar first quarter.

“Peyton went down with an ankle injury and it kind of threw off our gameplan that we had established, but we’re not gonna make excuses,” Rainier head coach Ben Sheaffer said. “Adna outplayed us. They were clearly the more mentally tough team this evening. They executed well, and they just flat beat us.”

Rainier executed its gameplan early, forcing three sloppy Pirates turnovers in the first two minutes and knocking down three shots from long range en route to a 9-2 advantage. Adna’s offense had a miserable first quarter, with 10 turnovers compared to nine points, but the Pirates only trailed 13-9 after one. 

“I told them after the first quarter, ‘That’s as bad as we will ever play for eight minutes offensively, but we’re still in the game because we’re competing defensively,” Adna head coach Luke Salme said. 

Salme told his team not to panic offensively and keep its focus on defense, and the Pirates responded. Hunter Howell provided two baskets for Rainier to make it 17-11 Mountaineers, and the Pirates found life from that point on. Muller kickstarted a 13-1 run with an and-one layup, and Grayson Humphrey’s 3-pointer gave Adna a lead it would not relinquish with 3 minutes and 36 seconds left in the first half. The Pirates led 24-18 at the half, with Muller and Humphrey combining to score 15 of their 24 points.

Rainier sophomore Jordan Pringle started the second half as Peyton Sheaffer received tape to his left ankle as the third quarter got underway. When Sheaffer returned, he made the most of his minutes with a 3-pointer and an emphatic rejection on defense. But his ankle clearly hampered him, and he exited in the fourth quarter with the game slipping away from his team. Rainier fell into foul trouble trying to defend Adna, and the Mountaineers had no answer for Muller nor a response to his offensive barrage. Adna cruised the rest of the way and prevailed 55-40 to hand Rainier its first loss of the season.

“We were focused on things that we couldn’t control and that impacted us on both ends,” Ben Sheaffer said. “We didn’t perform to our standard. Adna is a great team and they beat us, but there’s some things that we did to ourselves and that’s why we feel such disappointment.”

Adna enacted revenge on Rainier with the victory, as the last time the two Central 2B League foes squared off at Adna, the Mountaineers won convincingly by 20 points. But Salme wasn’t concerned with that storyline; he’s focused on developing a young team that he said grew up on defense against a potent Rainier offense.

“I respect Coach Sheaffer as much as anyone in the world. He’s one of my best buddies, and I know how hard he coaches and how much he expects from those guys,” Salme said. “I knew it was going to be a battle. That was not a full squad that he had. But we say it in our locker room all the time, ‘Let’s go compete and see what happens.’ February is what really matters, and that will be a team that we’ll probably play again in February.”

Howell led the Mountaineers with nine points, while Muller led all scorers with 26. Rainier (4-1, 2-1 C2BL) will take on Napavine (2-0, 2-0 C2BL) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 18 in another blockbuster matchup in the league. Adna (4-1, 4-0 C2BL) will visit Onalaska (0-2, 0-2 C2BL) that night.