Hoquiam’s boys basketball team showed some promise in its home opener against Chehalis, But the Grizzlies couldn’t keep up pace with the Bearcats’ speed and length on their way to a 67-46 loss.
The Bearcats were slow out of the gate and allowed the Grizzlies to take a 6-0 lead halfway through the first quarter. But Chehalis responded after a quick timeout and went on a 10-0 run of its own and closed the first quarter up 14-6.
The Bearcats really started to pull away in the second quarter. Turnovers helped power Challis’s run but its length and athleticism presented issues as well.
Chehalis outscored Hoquiam 31-13 in a second quarter that saw the Grizzlies struggle to make clean passes while trying to get buckets in transition.
Hoquiam head coach Curtis Eccles said it was difficult to game plan against a team with so much size and speed.
“It was a challenge, no question about it,” he said. “It looks like they’ll potentially be one of the top teams this year so I knew going in that I was going to be a challenge to face to the tall, lengthy kids but I thought our adjustments were affective.”
Down by 26 heading into halftime, the Grizzlies decided to slow the pace down a bit and work more in their half-court sets.
The surprising change in tempo resulted in a much more competitive second half where Hoquiam was able to get within 13 of the Bearcats.
Eccles would generally like his team to push the ball but was encouraged by how much better the offense looked when it did slow down the pace of play.
“We needed to slow down and take better shots because we were hurrying and we were hurrying our passes,” he said. “We had too many turnovers in the first half because we were rushing so we slowed it down and it made a difference.”
The Bearcats were too much to handle that night, however, as they went on a run in the fourth quarter while some Hoquiam starters got some much-needed rest in the final minutes of the game.
The turnover differential did not go Hoquiam’s way as they gave the ball away 29 times while only forcing 17 turnovers.
Victor James led the way with 11 points and Bryson Eccles was right behind him with nine points. Rayyon Dayton played well, particularly on defense and came away with three blocks and four rebounds.
Matt Brown was also big on the boards, coming away with eight rebounds and a block.
Coach Eccles will be hoping to turn things around against Black Hills on Friday but he was encouraged by the effort his team showed when the game appeared to be completely out of reach.
He said that resiliency is good to see in the early portion of the schedule.
“I’m pleased. We had a much better second half and that’s what we’re looking for this time of year,” he said. “The more we play together the better we’re going to get.”
Chehalis 14 31 7 15 — 67
Hoquiam 6 13 23 10 — 46
Hoquiam (46) – McMillan, Dayton 6, Eccles 9, Larsen, Folkers 7, Quintanilla 5, Jones 11, Smith 2, Morales, Brown 6. FG —15-52 (.288). FT — 3-7.
