COLTON–Danner Maves and Byron Stallcop led Pirate scorers in the 61-33 win over the Colton Wildcats here Saturday, bouncing back after two consecutive home losses, to Oakesdale and by a heartbreaking buzzer-beater to Dayton-Waitsburg.

The Pirates are in the middle of the 1B Southeast standings with a 4-5 record behind Prescott (6-3) in third, and Garfield-Palouse and Oakesdale tied for first with 8-1 records. The Pirates are 4-12 overall.

Prescott visits on Friday and the Bucs visit Touchet on Saturday, February 2. Travel to Sunnyside Christian on February 4 and Gar-Pal at home for Senior Night on February 7 round out the regular season.

“This was the most complete game we’ve played this year,” commented Head Coach Chris Wolf of the win over Colton. “We defended tonight the way we need to the rest of the season. We closed out on shooters and stopped penetration and forced Colton into bad shots.

“Offensively we moved the ball and everyone was involved,” Wolf said. “We had balanced scoring and played our best offensive game of the season.”

Danner Maves and Byron Stallcop led Pirate scoring with 12 points each, with Braedon Fruh hitting 10, Evan Bartels making eight and both Trent Gwinn and Trevin Kimble scoring seven.

In the 53-32 loss to Oakesdale, the Nighthawks leaned hard on three shooters, with Tyler Bober scoring a game-high 18. For the Pirates, the Oakesdale defense kept the Bucs on their heels all night, with no scorer making double digits and Stallcop leading the crew with nine points, followed by Maves with eight.

“We struggled to get open looks and when we did, we struggled to finish,” Wolf observed. “Oakesdale is a tough defensive team and really took us out of our offense. We just didn’t get enough shots up.

Due to the Nighthawks’ effective blocking out and dominant rebounding, the Pirates struggled to get any second chances, Wolf said. “We defended hard and played hard, but couldn’t score,” he said.

A second-half rally was nipped at the buzzer in Pomeroy’s 43-40 non-league loss to Dayton-Waitsburg Jan. 21.

Dayton-Waitsburg started hot and held a 20-point lead at the break only to trade places with the Pirates in the second half.

“We came out and played lethargic and lazy and put ourselves in a 20-point, half-time hole,” Wolf said. “About midway through the third quarter we started to play with great energy and created turnovers which led to easy baskets.”

With the Bucs trailing 40-37, Gwinn drained a three pointer to tie the game at 40-40 with five seconds to play. Dayton-Waitsburg’s Monte Pettichord lofted a last-second shot from just past midcourt and it went in to steal away the overtime and give DW the win.

Pomeroy 61, Colton 33 (1-25)

Pom 12 18 15 16-61

Col 4 6 6 17-33

Pomeroy (61) Braedon Fruh 4 1-2 10, Trent Gwinn 2 3-4 7, Evan Bartels 3 2-2 8, Brady Bott 0 0-2 0, Trevin Kimble 2 3-4 7, Brodie Magill 1 2-4 5, Anthony Lawrence 0 0-2 0, Byron Stallcop 5 2-4 12, Danner Maves 5 0-0 12, Totals 22 13-24 61.

Colton (33) Kian Anderson 3 2-4 10, Chris Wolf 6 0-0 14, Jackson Meyer 3 1-2 9, Totals 12 3-6 33

3-point goals: Pomeroy-Fruh, Magill, Maves 2. Colton-Anderson 2, C. Wolf 2, Meyer 2.

Pomeroy 32, Oakesdale 53 (1-24)

Oak 17 12 9 15-53

Pom 12 5 9 6-32

Oakesdale (53) Kit Hockett 3 1-2 7, Tyler Bober 7 1-1 18, Ryan Henning 1 2-2 4, Matt Hockett 6 1-4 13, Simon Anderson 4 3-4 11, Totals 21 8-13 53

Pomeroy (32) Braedon Fruh 1 0-0 3, Trent Gwinn 2 1-2 5, Evan Bartels 3 1-2 7, Byron Stallcop 4 1-2 9, Danner Maves 3 0-0 8, Totals 11 3-6 32

3-point goals: Oakesdale Bober 3. Pomeroy Fruh, Maves 2.

Pomeroy 40, Dayton-Waitsburg 43 (1-21)

DW 10 18 9 6-43

Pom 5 3 18 14-40

DW (43) Colton VanBlaricom 6 4-6 16, Sean Evans 1 0-0 3, Mason Finney 3 3-4 11, Monte Pettichord 2 0-0 4, Wyatt Costello 2 0-0 4, Dylan Bledsoe 1 0-0 3, Tayven Seney 1 0-0 2, Totals 16 7-10 43.

Pomeroy (40) Braedon Fruh 1 0-0 3, Trent Gwinn 3 5-6 12, Evan Bartels 3 1-2 7, Trevin Kimble 1 0-0 3, Byron Stallcop 2 0-2 4, Danner Maves 4 1-2 11. Totals 14 7-12 40.

3-point goals: DW-Evans, Finney 2, Bledsoe, Pettichord. Pomeroy-Fruh, Gwinn, Kimble, Maves 2.