The Enumclaw High boy’s basketball squad outscored its duo of South Puget Sound League 3A opponents Bonney Lake and Sumner last week by a whopping imbalance of 135 to 60 and, in doing so, elevated its league mark to 9-1 to become the top dog in the SPSL 3A standings and keep its spot among the premiere Class 3A squads in the state.
The Hornets kept the momentum rolling as they sleep-walked their way through another week, beating Bonney Lake 72-39 Jan. 20 on BLHS’ home court and then hosting and tripling up on Sumner 63-21 Friday night.
Enumclaw made the long bus ride across the Narrows Bridge to visit Peninsula High Tuesday night, with the results of that struggle coming too late to report here. In the Hornet Hive at 7 p.m. Friday, the Hornets will have an opportunity for a bit of revenge when they host Clover Park, the only squad to put a notch on the right side of the ledger against Enumclaw.
That solitary Hornet setback came in the Warrior gymnasium Jan. 10 when Enumclaw lost 51-50.
In taking the Panthers and Spartan cagers behind the woodshed last week, Enumclaw coach Phil Engebretsen, could hardly be accused of running up the scores, as none of his starting line-up saw fourth quarter action in either snore fest.
“Anytime you can give your reserve players extra minutes that’s always a plus,” he said.
“A lot of what we have been concentrating on is defense,” Engebretsen said. “We’ve been trying to keep our opponents from getting that offensive rebound and ensuing second or third shot at scoring a basket. Also we’ve been trying to focus on reducing the number of turnovers on our end offensively.”
“I see all three of these factors as playing an integral role in our development as a team throughout the course of the regular season, in preparation for post-season play,” he said. “I was proud of the fact that we only recorded four turnovers against Sumner. That showed me that our starters and reserves alike, still had their heads in the game.”
Reach John Leggett at jleggett@courierherald.com or 360-802-8207.
