BOYS PREP BASKETBALL
Aberdeen 75, Hoquiam 60
Aberdeen’s perimeter shooting was too much for Hoquiam to handle in the Bobcats’ 75-60 win over the Grizzlies on Thursday at Sam Benn Gym.
Aberdeen’s Ben Dublanko led the way once again, scoring 36 points despite getting off to a slow start, making just one shot from the field in the first quarter.
Thursday’s installment of the Myrtle Street Rivalry looked to be a repeat of the last matchup, where both teams struggled to score out of the gate.
The first meeting of the two rivals was tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter and second meeting of the season featured a similarly low score, with Hoquiam leading 14-11 after eight minutes of play.
The Bobcats found more of a rhythm in the second quarter when Aberdeen scored 18 points as more jumpers began to fall.
Hoquiam (2-4 overall) struggled shooting from behind the 3-point line and shot 2-14, but still got some big plays in the paint from junior Matt Brown, who dropped 20 for Hoquiam.
Hoquiam’s Matt Brown (42) shoots a post fade away while Aberdeen’s Nick Farrer (21) contests the shot. Brown led the Grizzlies with 20 points. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Rayyon Dayton, in his first game back after undergoing finger surgery in October, also shot well from the high post and ended the night with 18 points.
Aberdeen head coach Mark Buckman said his post players, particularly Nick Farrer, did well to limit the damage from Brown and Dayton.
“Farrer played the game of his life. I haven’t seen that type of effort from Nick ever,” he said. “I feel like without that double-double effort the game would have been a lot tougher.”
Farrer scored 15 points and grabbed 10 boards in his second start of the season.
Aberdeen (6-1) carried a 29-26 lead into halftime and came out looking to expand its lead in the third quarter. Farrer scored eight of his points in the game’s third frame, with Brown matched him point-for-point in the quarter.
With Brown and Dayton accounting for all of Hoquiam’s scoring, the Bobcats pulled away with long-range jumpers.
Dublanko hit a 3-pointer and began to get comfortable with his mid-range jumper, sinking three such shots in the quarter.
Hoquiam, looking to stay within striking distance, began running a full-court press and started aimed to take some three’s of their own.
Hoquiam head coach Curtis Eccles said getting down in the second half forced the Grizzlies to alter their gameplan of pounding the ball inside.
“We wanted some more looks from the outside, but we’re just not hitting those shots yet,” he said. “We have some good shooters and I know they’ll drop eventually.”
The Grizzlies didn’t go down quietly, embarking on an 8-0 run halfway through the fourth to trim Aberdeen’s lead to 66-54.
Buckman gave credit to Hoquiam for playing tough down the stretch and is hoping his team can do a better job handling full-court pressure in the future.
“I felt like there were times where we should have slowed it down. We knew exactly what they wanted to do, they wanted to speed us up,” he said. “When we talked in the postgame I told (my players) that we need to know when we can value more possessions and value the shot clock.”
Aberdeen’s Wyatt Johnson, LEFT, streaks to the basket for a layup in the first quarter against Hoquiam. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Hoquiam’s comeback attempt fell short, but Eccles is still feeling encouraged by the growth his team showed from the last time it played Aberdeen.
With Dayton back in the line-up and Cameron Bumstead excepted to return after missing Thursday’s game, Eccles feels good with the direction his team is headed.
“I liked the way Dayton looked. I felt he did great in his first game back playing at game speed. We tried to simulate that for him in practice, but it’s not the same,” he said. “We’re looking forward to having everybody back next week when we head to Yakima.”
Hoquiam will play Eisenhower at 9 p.m. on Dec. 27 at the Sun Dome in Yakima.
Aberdeen will play at Orting on Dec. 28 at 6 p.m. in the last game of their non-league schedule.
Dublanko said that the latest victory over the their cross-town rivals presented a good example of what his team is capable of.
“This is the biggest stage we’ll see for a long time and these guys rose to the occasion,” he said. “Hoquiam came to fight tonight. Hoquiam didn’t roll over and we fought back. I’m proud of the maturity and poise these guys played with.”
Hoquiam 14 12 15 19 — 60
Aberdeen 11 18 24 21 — 75
Top Players: Aberdeen — Dublanko (36 pts., 4 asst.), Farrer (15 pts., 10 reb.); Hoquiam — Dayton (18 pts., 16 reb.), Brown (20 pts., 7 reb.)
Seaside (Ore.) 78, Montesano 52
Seaside proved why they are the cream of the crop in Oregon class 4A basketball, shooting nearly 50 percent from the field in a 78-52 victory over the Montesano Bulldogs on Thursday at the Seaside Holiday Tournament.
“They are a very good basketball team and everybody is back from last year’s team,” Monte head coach Doug Galloway said of the defending two-time state champions. “They don’t have a lot of weaknesses and played very well.”
Monte (4-3) found itself down by five after one quarter but Seaside (4-2) caught fire in the second frame, outscoring the Bulldogs by 14 points to take a commanding 42-23 lead into the half.
The Seagulls shot 25-55 from the field and 8-22 from the 3-point line while Monte made 18-of-53 shots.
The Bulldogs’ Braden Dohrmann led Monte with 10 points off the bench.
Montesano 12 11 13 16 — 52
Seaside 17 25 18 18 — 78
Top Players: Montesano — Dohrmann (10 pts.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
GIRLS PREP BASKETBALL
Ocosta 58, South Bend 44
The phrase “dynamite comes in small packages” was never more apropos than when applied to Ocosta guard Kjirstin Hopfer.
The 5-foot-5 sophomore guard proved the old saying correct, scoring 25 points to lead Ocosta to a 58-44 win over league-rival South Bend on Thursday at Ocosta High School.
In addition to her high-scoring night, Hopfer five assists and six rebounds from her point-guard position.
“She had six rebounds and she’s the smallest player on the court,” marvelled Ocosta head coach Jason Barnum, whose team shot 22-for-49 from the field. “We came out shooting phenomenal.”
In a matchup of two teams that feature multiple all-league caliber players, the Wildcats set the tone early with their triangle-and-two defense that was designed to limit the production of South Bend stars Karley Reidinger and Jessica Sanchez.
The plan worked. Ocosta (7-1 overall, 7-0 Pacific 2B) was able to hold Reidinger to just three points in the first half and Sanchez to just five points in the game.
“We knew we had to stop them,” Barnum said of the Indians’ prolific seniors. “South Bend really struggled with that (triangle) defense and made some adjustments, so we mixed in some other defenses to keep them off balance.”
“We competed well in the first quarter and I felt we played hard most of the game,” South Bend head coach Gary Wilson said. “It was turnovers at the wrong time that hurt us. Ocosta capitalized on most of them and really shot well. We had no answer for Hopfer. She was dialed in tonight.”
Ocosta opened up a 31-17 lead by halftime and continued to keep its proverbial foot on the gas pedal in the third quarter. Though Reidinger began to find her rhythm in the third quarter — hitting two 3-pointers in the period — the Wildcats still outscored the Indians by eight in the frame, allowing Ocosta to rest their starters for most of the final quarter.
“We’re kind of on a roll and every game, we’re improving on areas we need to improve,” Barnum said. “Hopefully, we don’t peak too early and aren’t putting the cart in front of the horse.”
Ocosta’s two bigs — Kristi Raffelson and Kaylee Barnum — filled the stat sheet as usual on Thursday. Raffelson had a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing a game-high 18 rebounds while Barnum scored 12 points, had seven rebounds and five assists in the winning effort.
Reidinger caught fire in the second half, scoring 13 of her team-best 16 points after halftime. The senior hit four 3-point shots over the final 16 minutes of the game.
Hannah Byington had eight points and three assists for South Bend (4-3 overall, Pacific 2B), which faces Rainier at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Pe Ell tournament.
Ocosta has a week off before hosting Raymond at 7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 28.
South Bend 8 9 10 17 — 44
Ocosta 11 20 18 9 — 58
Top Players: Ocosta — Hopfer (25 pts., 6 reb., 5 asst.), Barnum (12 pts., 7 reb., 5 asst.), Raffelson (11 pts., 18 reb.); South Bend — Reidinger (14 pts., 6 reb.), Byington (8 pts., 3 asst.), Sanchez (5 pts., 9 reb., 4 stl.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Raymond 62, Northwest Christian 21
Raymond jumped out to a huge first-quarter lead and never looked back as the Seagulls defeated Northwest Christian 62-21 on Thursday at Raymond High School.
“We were able to jump out to a big lead early and use our depth to sustain a wide margin,” Raymond head coach Jason Koski said. “I thought our kids really approached the game with the correct mindset from the onset.”
Raymond (4-3, 4-2) led 28-2 at the end of the first eight minutes, forced 36 turnovers and won the rebounding battle 36-24 in a dominant performance.
Koski was also impressed by his team’s unselfish play.
“As a team we shared the ball really well,” he said of Raymond’s 16 assists on 23 field goals.
Hannah Miller had what Koski dubbed “a breakout scoring game for us.” The 5-foot-6 sophomore scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting from the field. Miller also had four rebounds and four steals in the win.
Raymond’s athletic freshman, Kyra Gardner, added 14 points, seven assists and eight steals for the Seagulls.
Raymond host Napavine at 7 p.m. on Saturday.
Northwest Christian 2 4 6 7 — 21
Raymond 28 6 23 5 — 62
Top Players: Raymond — Miller ( 21 pts., 4 reb., 4 stl.), Gardner (14 pts., 7 asst., 8 stl.).
— Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Ilwaco 46, Willapa Valley 39
Willapa Valley limited the scoring on the defensive end but didn’t sink enough shots in a 46-39 loss at Ilwaco on Thursday.
Willapa Valley (6-2 overall) got off to a fast start against Ilwaco’s man-to-man defense and led 19-9 after the first quarter.
The Fishermen (9-0) switched to a half-court trap for the remainder of the contest that frustrated the Vikings into scoring only 20 points the remainder of the contest.
“I thought we did an outstanding job on defense, but we shot so poorly,” Vikings head coach John Peterson said. “You simply aren’t going to win games if you shoot like that.”
Ilwaco held Willapa Valley to 13-of-55 shooting from the field.
The Vikings didn’t do much better from the charity stripe, going 10-of-25 from the line.
Hannah Cook was the lone Viking in double figures with 10 points.
Willapa Valley is back in action on Dec. 27 at the Jake Q. Pearson Holiday Classic in Willapa Valley where they will play Toutle Lake at 6 p.m.
Willapa Valley 19 9 6 5 – 39
Ilwaco 9 17 11 9 – 46
Top Players: Willapa Valley – Cook (10 pts., 4 asst.), Cami Swartz (9 pts.), Katie Adkins (9 reb.).
Elma 47, Astoria 30
Elma got a well-rounded effort with three players in double figures in the Eagles’ 47-30 win over Astoria on Thursday at the Seaside Tournament in Seaside, Oregon.
Quin Mikel led Elma in scoring with 12 points while Kali Rambo and Jalyn Sackrider both registered 11 points for the Eagles.
Elma (8-0 overall) found itself locked in a close one after the first frame when they were protecting a 13-12 lead.
Elma pulled away with the help of its defense, limiting Astoria to just one made bucket in the second quarter, as the Eagles built up their lead over the next three quarters.
Elma will continue its run at the Seaside Tournament with games on Friday and Saturday. Time and opponent yet to be determined.
Astoria 12 2 6 10 – 30
Elma 13 11 15 8 – 47
Top Players: Mikel (12 pts.7 reb.), Sackrider (11 pts., 8 reb.), Rambo (11 pts., 6 reb.).
