Two out of three for Spartans | SHS Boys Basketball
Published 6:07 pm Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The Sumner High boys basketball squad won two of three encounters last week, but the one that got away was Friday’s clash night in front of a large home crowd, a battle to determine king of the hill honors in the South Puget Sound League 2A against defending Class 2A state champion Clover Park.
The Warriors came in armed with the two top scorers in the league in Ahmaad Rorie and David Crisp, both averaging 20-plus points per tilt. The trouble-making tandem ended up getting their usual quota, combining for nearly 50 points against the Spartans.
The story of the game for Sumner was turnovers and they produced more Friday night than the local bakery does on a Saturday morning. In the end, those turnovers spelled the Spartans’ demise, as they could no longer offset the outside shooting of the Warriors.
With two minutes remaining in the see-saw affair, Clover Park opened up its largest advantage of the contest at 64-58. From that point on, the Spartans had no other recourse but to intentionally foul in order to slow the sands of time and the visitors cashed in from the charity stripe, hitting 6-of-8 attempts to salt away the crucial triumph that may well have assured them of the SPSL 2A crown for the second straight year.
There was no lack of scoring by the Spartans, as four of the starting five managed double figures. The DeVries twins, Dan and Dave, teamed up for 35 points and Joey Kendall and Zeb Glissmeyer notched 14 and 13 points, respectively.
In the games leading up to the that showdown, the Spartans squashed Washington 57-51 Jan. 24 behind the double digit scoring of Glissmeyer, Dan DeVries and Dray Kilmer, then took a road win at Fife, 52-50.
Fife was able to keep up with Sumner through three frames as, at the conclusion of the third quarter, the two were sitting at 40 apiece. The Sparts outscored Fife 12-10 in the fourth and deciding period.
Currently tied for second place in the SPSL 2A with White River at 10-2, this week’s dance card will decide Sumner’s seeding fate in the subdistrict tournament, which starts Feb. 10 at Foster High. The Spartans’ week began Tuesday at Steilacoom; Friday, White River will visit Sumner. The last game of the regular season will come Saturday at Franklin Pierce.
