Then drop 1-point game with Clover Park for first loss of season

The Enumclaw High boys basketball squad absorbed its first stinging defeat of the season Saturday, falling 51-50 at Clover Park to make its record in the South Puget Sound League 3A 5-1 and 9-1 overall.

The Hornet cagers went 2-for-3 on the week, beating Auburn Mountainview 72-48 Jan. 6 and whipping Lakes 65-51 Friday.

In the Clover Park contest, the Hornets shot a paltry 33 percent from the floor. Junior guard Riley Carel tickled the twine with a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left to put the Hornets up 50-49 but Warrior ace Marcus Sheppard put in a clutch finger roll with only four seconds remaining to play.

“We had our opportunities, but we picked a real bad time to have the worst shooting percentage from the field all year,” Hornet coach Phil Engebretsen said. “It was as though there was a lid snapped tight over the hoop – not much was dropping for us. It was just one of those days.”

While taking nothing away from the Warriors, the EHS coach felt his team could have prevailed.

“We really feel as though we let one get away from us,” he said, “but we’ll just have to learn from the defeat and use the loss as fuel for the fire” when the Warriors visit EHS on Jan. 30.

Friday, the Hornets were the guests of the Lakes Lancers and rode a red-hot 28 point scoring night by junior backcourt threat Taylor Myers, who went 11-for-22 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

With Enumclaw still smarting from Saturday’s loss, the team’s next four games are against SPSL 3A foes who have won only a handful of league contests between them.

Enumclaw hosted the 2-3 Cardinals of Franklin Pierce Tuesday night, with the results of that contest coming too late to include here, and will visit cross-river rival White River Friday with a rare 5:15 p.m. tip-off.

EHS commences with the second half of its league season Tuesday when it travels to Bonney Lake at 7 p.m. and on Jan. 23 will do battle with the Sumner Spartans.

Enumclaw’s first two league games of the season were against Bonney Lake and Sumner, which the Hornets won 66-32 and 53-28, respectively.