CBC men’s basketball standout headed to Western Colorado + Dust Devil baseball changes

With the hydroplane races done, we’re all on the downhill slide of summer, heading into fall and high school sports.

But we need to play catch up with a number of highlights from the area, and it’ll take more than one roundup. So let’s start with basketball.

Columbia Basin College’s Amar Rivers, who just finished his sophomore season with the Hawks, is headed to NCAA Division 2 school Western Colorado to play men’s basketball.

Rivers, who went to Auburn High School on the west side of the state, was perhaps the best player for Anthony Owens’ CBC team that finished 22-7 in March and advanced all the way to the NWAC semifinals.

Rivers averaged a team-best 11.0 points a game, and was No. 2 in rebounds with 4.8 on a CBC team where players dived into the team concept with no questions asked.

Owens subs frequently to get the right combination of players, and it worked with this squad.

▪ Recent Warden High grad JLynn Rios is headed to Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, where she’ll play for the women’s basketball team starting this fall.

She’ll be joining her sister, Kiana Rios, who will be a sophomore.

But there will also be some other familiar eastern Washington faces on the squad: sophomore Mya Hatchett-Groce (Pasco), junior Rian Clear (Walla Walla) and sophomore Chenoa Louie (Royal) are all members of the Saints basketball team.

▪ The college basketball scholarship offers keep rolling in for Chiawana junior Malia Ruud.

The girls standout post player’s latest is from Boise State University.

Ruud averaged 18.9 points a game last season for the Riverhawks as a sophomore.

Hockey

The Tri-City Americans signed both of their 2023 CHL import draft players, and they’ll both be at Toyota Arena when training camp opens on Aug. 30.

Forward Maxmilian Curran and goalie Lukas Matecha — both from Czechia — inked their deals last month.

Curran is with the Czechia team at the prestigious Hlinka-Gretzky Cup in Europe — where Americans forward Jordan Gavin is playing for Team Canada.

Ams general manager Bob Tory said the two Europeans will be great additions to Tri-City.

“We are excited for Max and Lukas to join our team this season,” said Tory. “Both players have extensive international experience and will add to the depth of the team.”

Volleyball

Big Bend Community College has grabbed five regional athletes for its women’s volleyball program this fall: Hanford’s Kaitlyn Downing and Casey White; Lind-Ritzville’s Grace Fedie and Dakota Killian; and Warden’s Brooke Gibbons.

Baseball

I was sad to see infielder Osmy Gregorio released last week by the Angels. Gregorio — one of my favorite players here — had played most of the last two seasons for the Tri-City Dust Devils, and as everybody knows, that’s life in professional baseball.

The Angels signed a number of their picks from last month’s draft and are starting to disperse them throughout their farm system. So somebody has to make room.

Also released last week was pitcher Emilker Guzman and first baseman Ryan Hernandez.

Meanwhile, keep an eye on outfielder Joe Redfield, who looks good at both the plate and in the outfield. He’s hitting .364 (4 for 11) out of the gate.

Catcher Gustavo Campero still leads the Dust Devils with a .345 batting average, 9 home runs and 35 RBIs.

The Dust Devils are in the midst of finishing up a two-week homestand, with Eugene in town. Games start at 7:05 p.m. each night this week at Gesa Stadium through Sunday night.

Tri-City currently sits at 14-17 in the second-half standings. The Dust Devils trail division leader Vancouver by 8 games in the standings.

But because Vancouver won the first-half title, the next best team in the second-half standings will face Vancouver for the Northwest League title in September.

Right now, that’s Everett at 16-15 (as of Wednesday morning). But Tri-City trails the AquaSox by just 2 games.

▪ The Kennewick Phantoms A team won the A State American Legion baseball championship last week in Spokane.

The team went 4-1 to take the title in the eight-team event.

The Phantoms beat the Northwest Sting 15-5, then knocked off Northern Lakes 5-3, and topped Wilder 12-2.

Kennewick then lost 9-5 to Almira Coulee, before beating them 9-3 for the title.

▪ The Kennewick Phantoms placed second at the 16-team AA State American Legion baseball tournament recently in Burlington and Mount Vernon.

The tournament was divided into to eight-team sub-tournaments, with the winners of both playing for the state title.

Kennewick was in the A Division tournament, going 4-1, beating Whatcom Post 7 14-1, edging the Yakima Valley Peppers 4-3, pounding the Mead Panthers 9-1.

After losing 6-2 to the Mount Vernon Riverdogs, the Phantoms won the A tourney title game, beating that same Mount Vernon squad 5-3.

In the championship game, the Phantoms fell to I-5 Toyota of Centralia by a 2-0 score.

Two other area teams did well in that tournament. The Othello Red Raiders finished second in the B sub-tournament with a 4-2 record, while the Kennewick Dusters placed third with a 3-2 record.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.