The Cadets finished fourth in the Cascade Division

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YAKIMA, Wash. — Senior night was everything Eisenhower’s boys could have hoped for Friday night.

A festive pre-game ceremony for seven seniors and their parents, a dazzling 16-1 start to the game and a comfortable 78-57 win in the final home game of the regular season.

An ideal build-up to a big road game tonight. Huge game, actually, according to the coach.

“That was a fun senior night for the kids,” said Pat Fitterer. “We came out great and had a real focus. Now, tomorrow at Kamiakin, that’s a huge playoff-type game. We need to take what we had tonight and bring it with us.”

Eisenhower’s Nathan Mount goes to the basket in the first half Friday against Eastmont’s Trea Thomas, left, and Cody Robinson at Ike Gym. (Gordon King/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Today’s trip to sixth-ranked Kamiakin will have big implications for district seeding, but Friday was all about easy smiles and lots of offense.

Especially by James Lopez.

Highlighting a dominating 27-6 third quarter, the senior point guard hit all six of his shots in the breakaway period and finished with a season-high 29 points. He also had six steals and five assists.

“I look at this game as the biggest night of my high school career,” Lopez said. “It felt good the whole way. We got a nice start, I hit a couple fadeaways and felt real smooth. It was a great night.”

Lopez sank three 3-pointers, as did senior teammate Nathan Mount en route to his 15 points. And Ryan Watson made another big senior contribution with a solid double-double of 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 15 rebounds.

When Lopez cast in his first 3-pointer less than four minutes into the game, the Cadets had a 16-1 lead. They let Eastmont back in the game in the second quarter but the third period — when Ike hit 11 of 14 shots — was a backbreaker.

Early in the final period, the Cadets led by 35.

That’s a long way from Eisenhower escaping with a 69-64 win at Eastmont last month, but this time Malachi Roberts didn’t go off for 37 points, his career high.

And Lopez was in on that, too.

“At first we went box-and-1 with James on him and he did a great job,” Fitterer said. “Then we went straight man. Last time we just didn’t stay with him.”

Roberts had nine points through three quarters and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

“He’s a great athlete, inside and outside — definitely one of the top two or three in the league,” Lopez said. “He had 37 last time so for him to have nine (in three quarters), I feel pretty good about that.”

As for tonight, the Cadets (9-3, 14-4) need a win to stay on track for the Cascade Division’s No. 2 seed and a home game in the first round of the CBBN district tournament.

Eisenhower is tied for second with Richland, which knocked off first-place Walla Walla, 67-65. Kamiakin, however, did not tune up as well as Ike did Friday night, falling at Hanford 68-65 to slip into fourth.

To great lengths — Ike’s 3-point barrage keys win against Davis

YAKIMA, Wash. — Pat Fitterer gave each player on his Eisenhower boys basketball team the same thing for Christmas.

An open door to the gym, access to every ball in the building and a catalogue of shooting drills that started in Cowiche decades ago and is growing still.

Eisenhower's Asya Morioka makes a pass to teammate Robert Bosner, lower right, past Davis' James Carter, left, and Markus McClurkin, right, during the first quarter of their game, played at Eisenhower High School on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2009. (SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic)

“We shot everything and I mean everything — lay-ins, jumpers, 3-pointers — and it was like a 1,000 a day,” said Ryan Watson. “It was a lot of work but I’d say it paid off.”

Paid off huge.

Atoning for a loss at Davis last month when they managed just 51 points and 17 field goals, the Cadets scorched their home nets with a 29-point second quarter, buried 11 shots from 3-point distance and rolled to an 82-57 victory in Tuesday night’s crosstown non-conference rematch.

“The break came at a perfect time because it gave us a chance to get healthy and work on some things, shooting being the biggest thing,” said Fitterer, who began his career at Highland. “That’s what I’m so excited about, that these kids got rewarded for their hard work.

“And yeah,” he added, “we did a little shooting.”

In a 58-51 loss at Davis on Dec. 12, Eisenhower shot 30 percent from the field. Tuesday night it was 53 percent.

“More practice, more focus, more shots,” said senior Nathan Mount. “Every day we did the drills over and over. We were probably too excited in the first quarter tonight, but then we calmed down and ran the offense.”

To precision.

Eisenhower's Nathan Mount, left, and Davis' James Carter, left, and Devonte Luckett, center, go up for a rebound during the first quarter of their game, played at Eisenhower High School on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2009. (SARA GETTYS/Yakima Herald-Republic)

After a choppy first quarter with seven turnovers, the Cadets did indeed settle in making 9 of 14 shots in the second period with 3-pointers from Asya Morioka, Robert Bonser, Watson and Mount. The breakaway quarter, which countered two strong surges by Davis, was capped with a 12-1 run.

“The seniors got together before the game and said we weren’t going to lose this game,” said Watson, who led the season-high outburst with 16 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of 3-pointers. “We made it a pride thing because we played poorly at their place.”

The Pirates fought back in the third quarter to trim the margin to 47-43, but Eisenhower hit the gas again with a 16-2 run that settled the issue. The Cadets nearly matched their season-best second quarter with 26 points in the final period.

“This is the kind of game we knew we could play,” Watson said. “Nathan played his best game of the season, Asya played his best — it was all of us playing together as a team.”

Mount epitomized Ike’s all-around effort as all five starters scored between 12 and 16 points. He was 3-for-3 on triples, didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.

“Those were weakside rebounds and that’s another thing we’d been struggling with,” Fitterer said. “The balance, the shooting, the rebounding — it was all there tonight.”

Davis’ David Trimble, who had a season-high 20 points against Ike in the first meeting, scored seven of his team-high 12 points in the final period. All 12 players for Davis scored, but Trimble was the only one in double figures.

The Pirates (1-0, 6-2) head back into Columbia Division play this weekend, hosting Wenatchee on Friday and visiting Pasco on Saturday. Indicative of the Columbia’s sudden shakeup, Wenatchee and Pasco are a combined 1-15 one season after finishing first and second in the division.

Eisenhower (1-1, 6-2) has home games against Walla Walla on Friday and West Valley on Saturday.

DAVIS — Marquis 4, Mendoza 8, Chapman 2, Lopez 5, McClurkin 6, Navarro 2, Luckett 6, David Trimble 12, Carter 2, Kupp 2, Allen 2, Winckler 6. Totals 21-59 10-24 57.

EISENHOWER — Scott 7, Asya Morioka 13, Stafford 0, James Lopez 12, Nathan Mount 15, Clayton 2, Ryan Watson 16, Urlacher 3, Zumwalt 0, Robert Bonser 14. Totals 27-51 15-21 82.

Davis 15 17 13 12 — 57

Eisenhower 12 29 15 26 — 82

3-point goals: Davis 5-15 (Marquis, Mendoza, Lopez, McClurkin, Trimble), Ike 11-18 (Morioka 3, Mount 3, Watson 2, Bonser 2, Scott). Rebounds: Davis 36 (Luckett 9, Trimble 7), Ike 39 (Watson 12, Mount 8).