EHS BOYS BASKEBALL: Defense sparks Hornet victory

The Enumclaw High boys basketball squad played just one game last week but made the best of it, throttling Sumner 69-29 Dec. 8 in Chuck Smith Gymnasium.

The Enumclaw High boys basketball squad played just one game last week but made the best of it, throttling Sumner 69-29 Dec. 8 in Chuck Smith Gymnasium.

“Our goal in the Sumner game was to improve our effort and execution in the half court defensively and we definitely met that goal,” said Hornet coach Phil Engebretsen, whose contingent bumped its league mark to 2-0 with the win.

“Anytime you can hold the opposing squad to 14 first half points, you know that your guys are playing great team defense,” Engebretsen said.

Engebretsen has always been a stickler for stopping the other team and understandably so, because the offense seems to take care of itself. Enumclaw guards Coleman Clyde and Riley Carel combined for 35 points against Sumner while playing only three quarters in the game, and Taylor Myers accounted for a dozen points, seven assists and six rebounds.

In its first two league tilts, Enumclaw has won by an average of 38 points.

The Hornets traveled to Peninsula Tuesday; results came too late to include here but will be posted at www.courierherald.com.

Clover Park, the only South Puget Sound League 3A team to defeat the Hornets last season, will visit Enumclaw at 7 p.m. Thursday.