Neah-Kah-Nie gets close win over Banks

The Neah-Kah-Nie High School boys’ basketball team eked out a 45-40 win over the Banks Braves at home on January 29.

Ivan Dante led the way for the Pirates offensively, chipping in 17 points, while Ethan Hanson put up 10 in his first game back following an injury, as the Pirates managed to hold on to a tight lead through most of the game to seize the victory.

Both teams were slow out of the gates offensively and after four minutes the Pirates led 5-4, with all their points coming from Dante. The Braves tied the score at six with just over a minute left in the quarter and scored a buzzer beating lay in to take an 8-6 lead at the end of one.

Neah-Kah-Nie quickly erased the deficit and took a six-point lead after scoring the first eight points of the quarter, but Banks settled down and cut the lead to 16-12 with four minutes to go in the half. The Pirates shooting remained cold, keeping their offense in check and the Braves chipped away at the lead once more, sending the game to the half with the pirates ahead 21-19.

The Pirates started the second half strong with four straight before the Braves battled back to tie the game at 25 and Neah-Kah-Nie had a narrow 27-25 lead halfway through the period. Neah-Kah-Nie scored eight straight to push the lead to 10 with a minute remaining in the quarter but the Braves scored four straight to cut the margin back to 35-29 entering the fourth.

Neither offense was firing to start the fourth and after three minutes the margin was the same, but Banks hits a three to cut the lead in half shortly after and the score was 37-34 with four minutes to go. The Pirates stretched the lead slightly to four points with two minutes and one minute remaining, eventually forcing Banks to foul to extend the game, before Neah-Kah-Nie hung on for the 45-40 victory.

With the win, Neah-Kah-Nie improved to 13-5 on the season and 6-2 in league play. They had games scheduled on February 2 against Warrenton and February 5 against Corbett with the results unavailable at the time of press and were set to finish their season with a home-and-home series against Rainier, in Rainier on February 8, and Rockaway Beach on February 9.