In a highly-anticipated matchup featuring two top teams in the Twin Harbors, the Elma Eagles handled Hoquiam’s pressure defense and controlled the paint to defeat the Grizzlies 63-53 on Wednesday in Elma.

The breaks went Elma’s way early on when Hoquiam standout senior Justice Stankavich had to ride the pine early after picking up his second foul just 1:36 into the game.

But despite Stankavich on the bench, Hoquiam took the early 8-3 lead on a pull-up jump shot from star senior guard Michael Lorton Watkins with 5:40 to go in the first quarter.

Elma (7-4 overall, 1-0 1A Evergreen) responded with a 9-0 run paced by the offensive rebounding of junior forward AJ Holmes.

A bucket by Holmes off an inbound pass gave the Eagles a 20-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“We’ve been rebounding a lot in practice and coach has been getting on me, telling me to get more boards and it worked tonight,” said Holmes, who had 13 points in the first quarter.

In the second frame, Hoquiam (8-2, 0-1) trailed 22-17 after a pair of free throws by Elma senior Gibson Cain, but the Grizzlies responded with three straight 3-pointers — one each from Owen McNeill, Jalen Hobucket and Lorton Watkins — to take a 26-22 lead with 4:41 left on the clock.

Similar to what it did in the first quarter with Holmes, Elma pounded the ball inside in the second frame. Cain tied the game at 27-all with a fast-break layup followed by an and-1 offensive rebound bucket and foul shot to stake Elma to a 30-27 lead with 2:13 left in the first half.

Lorton Watkins would hit the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw trip followed by a steal and layup to tie the game at 30-30 with 1:20 on the clock.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam guard Michael Lorton Watkins (12) scores on a breakaway layup during the Grizzlies’ 63-53 loss to Elma on Wednesday at Elma High School.

A free throw by Cain with 33 seconds left put Elma up 31-30 at the half.

In a repeat of the first quarter, Hoquiam would be without the services of Stankavich once again after the dynamic guard picked up two quick fouls in the third quarter, his fourth coming at exactly 1:36 into the second half.

Elma used Stankavich’s absence to their advantage, embarking on an 8-1 run to take a 43-31 lead on a Cain field goal at the 2:46 mark.

Later in the third, Hoquiam would trim the deficit to seven points at 44-37 on back-to-back buckets by Lorton Watkins with 1:28 to go.

A Holmes free-throw line jumper followed by a Lorton Watkins bucket closed out the quarter with Elma leading 46-39.

Stankavich returned at the 6:27 mark of the fourth quarter and helped to pull the Grizzlies to as close as six points after hitting a pair of free throws to cut Elma’s lead to 48-42 with 5:13 left in the game.

But anytime Hoquiam crept close, the Eagles had an answer.

Elma beat Hoquiam’s trap defense as Seaberg converted a breakaway layup and was fouled, converting free throw to put the Eagles up nine at 51-42 with 5:09 to go.

A Stankavich drive and layup at the 1:47 mark to cut Elma’s lead to 55-48, but Seaberg responded with a bucket followed by a free-throw after an empty Hoquiam possession to put the Eagles back up by 10 at 58-48 with less than 1:30 on the clock.

Seaberg followed a Lorton Watkins steal and layup with two free throws followed by a breakaway layup with 35 seconds left to put Elma up 62-50 and secure the victory.

“This was a great win,” Holmes said. “First league win coming out of the gate and we played well. It’s great for us to start our (league) season off this way.”

Lorton Watkins finished with a game-high 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had six steals for Hoquiam.

Stankavich had 11 points — eight in the fourth quarter — after playing just 3:12 through the first three quarters.

Zander Jump had eight points, five rebounds and a pair of steals for Hoquiam.

Seaberg led Elma with 20 points while Holmes had 17 and nine rebounds.

Cain added 11 points (nine in second quarter) and Eagles junior Grant Vessey scored seven points and led Elma with four assists and three steals.

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Hoquiam’s Zander Jump (11) puts up a shot against Elma’s AJ Holmes during the Eagles’ 63-53 win on Wednesday at Elma High School.

“The guys have really bought into roles, figured out what they were going to contribute tonight and executed perfectly,” Elma head coach Matt Ferrier said, commending the play of Carter Studer (4 points, 8 rebounds) and guard Theo Flores for his defense off the bench. “We made some adjustments at halftime to utilize our bigs. We’ve been pretty guard-oriented most of the year, but it was a night where out bigs stepped up, put the load on their shoulders and they did a good job.”

Elma shot 23 of 48 from the field (48%) and 16 of 24 from the free-throw line (67%).

Hoquiam was 20-of-54 shooting on the evening (37%), but made just 3 of 24 from 3-point range (12.5%).

Both teams had 31 rebounds while Hoquiam had one more turnover than the Eagles 19-18.

“It means a lot to us,” Seaberg said of the win. “We worked on rebounding a lot and we knew we had to face guard Mike (Lorton Watkins), he played really good but we knew if we held everybody else down then we knew we’d get the win.”

Ferrier said having an extra day of practice to prep for Hoquiam helped.

“Some of the stuff that has been our Achilles heel — not rebounding the basketball and having lapses when attacking the press — has been the stuff that has been losing us basketball games,” he said. “We had three practices to where we could actually specifically prepare for Hoquiam. It’s not often you get that and we were incredibly fortunate that going into our first league game we were able to prepare for them and took care of business.”

Elma plays a non-league game at Raymond at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday.

Hoquiam hosts Ocosta in a non-league matchup at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Hoquiam 15 16 8 14 — 53

Elma 20 11 15 17 — 63

Scoring: Hoquiam — Lorton Watkins 28, Stankavich 11, Jump 8, Hobucket 3. Elma — Seaberg 20, Holmes 17, Cain 11, Vessey 7, Carter 4, Studer 4.