Wildcats rattled at home with 61-43 loss to Fort Vancouver

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La Center boys basketball head coach Jeremy Ecklund’s look to the scoreboard in the fourth quarter said it all as the Wildcats fell to the Fort Vancouver Trappers 61-43 on Thursday, Jan. 16.

The Wildcats never found their momentum as they went into the second quarter trailing 21-14 and then went into the locker room at half time down 33-24. Then they were down 48-35 after three quarters in the Jan. 16 loss.
Ecklund said his Wildcats squad couldn’t handle Fort Vancouver’s pressure and intensity.

“We just have to learn how to handle that pressure, you know,” he said. “I mean, that’s what’s going to happen in the playoffs. They play hard. They play real hard, and things like that, it’s good to see it now.”

After that loss, the Wildcats may face some more intense practices in order to repeat what the Trappers did so well.



“Hopefully, maybe we can amp up things in practice, try to replicate a little bit of what they’re doing,” Ecklund said. “But no, they fly around.”

Looking ahead as league play nears its rewind as each squad matches up twice, Ecklund is looking to perfect the Wildcats’ gameplan and skills.

“Really nothing. Just trying to fine tune our stuff at this point in the season, you know,” Ecklund said on whether La Center will make any changes for the rest of the season. “We should be able to fine tune some of the things and just get better at our craft. What we’re doing works, and we had a lot of shots missed around the rim that we missed just because they sped us up. So we still got the looks. We just need to finish them.”

After their loss, the Wildcats grabbed up a spot in the standings to be third in the league with an 75-35 winto the Castle Rock Rockets on Saturday, Jan. 18.

The Wildcats next play on the road against first-seeded Seton Catholic High School at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22.