OYEHUT — It took a while for Taholah to get its offense rolling. But when it did, it came at the right time.
Feasting on turnovers and offensive rebounds, the Chitwhins closed out rival North Beach in the second half to score a 65-43 win at the North Beach Holiday With The Hyaks tournament on Thursday.
Taholah’s Brett Orozco led all scorers with 21 points and 10 rebounds and Tom Anderson knocked down 15 to lead the Chitwhins (6-0). Tim Johnson and Ben Poplin led the Hyaks (1-8) with nine points each.
“It felt like we were behind for the entire game; we haven’t been on the floor since our last game,” Taholah head coach Mike Rose said. “We felt behind. Our shooting percentage was fairly low, but we picked it up. North Beach handled our press and we settled back into a half-court offense, which worked out great.”
“Turnovers and offensive rebounds killed us,” North Beach head coach Larry Moore added. “Terrance Jones really killed us on the offensive boards (in the fourth). We were still close there, but those putbacks hurt us. Turnovers and rebounding, that’s where our scoring droughts came from. We never really attacked the defense like we wanted to.”
Both teams wanted to run their transition offenses and keep the pace of the game as high as a track meet, which happened during the first quarter. Taholah started to establish itself on the boards with senior Jones (six rebounds, four assists) and Zach Cain (13 rebounds, five steals), while North Beach’s offense found a rhythm in the fast pace.
The Hyaks’ offense continued to run in the second quarter and grabbed a quick 23-21 lead with 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. Two inside transition baskets from Poplin keyed a modest 6-1 run, but it would be the last run of the day for North Beach.
The Chitwhins turned up their defense, forced 11 Hyak turnovers in the second quarter and grabbed enough second- and third-chance shots, to finish the first half on an 11-2 run and a 32-25 halftime lead. Anderson converted two steals into baskets, while Orozco drained shots from the perimeter and inside the lane.
Both teams held serve in the third quarter, which didn’t help North Beach’s attempts at closing the gap to challenge Taholah in the fourth quarter. Anderson drained three jumpers in consecutive possessions and transition baskets from Dylan James powered the Chitwhins. Five different Hyaks got into the scoring in the third.
A Poplin offensive-rebound putback to start the fourth quarter got North Beach its closest to Taholah at 44-37 30 seconds into the frame.
Jones helped establish the fourth for Taholah with his rebounding, scoring six of his eight points on offensive-rebound putbacks. The Chitwhins also found their perimeter shooting, draining 3-for-9 from behind the arc in the final 3 minutes of the contest.
Today, both teams will finish their two-day holiday in the House of Pain — Taholah vs. Chief Kitsap Academy and North Beach vs. Sands.
Taholah 20 12 12 21 — 65
N. Beach 17 8 10 8 — 43
Taholah (65) — Anderson 15, Orozco 21, Jackson 7, James 7, Cain 4, Jones 8, Mowitch 3, D. Bastian. FG — 26-67. FT — 7-17.
North Beach (43) — You, Johnson 9, Turner 7, Washington 7, Pope 6, Robles 3, Gonzalez 2, Poplin 9. FG — 18-52. FT — 4-9.
