Thursday’s non-league matchup between Hoquiam and Taholah looked more like a track meet than a basketball game as the Grizzlies outran the Chitwhins for an 83-31 victory at Hoquiam Square Garden.
Tied at 4-4 early in the first quarter, Hoquiam head coach Jeff Niemi called a timeout to have a chat with his team after giving up two open layups.
“I reminded them to be aware that (Taholah) is going to leak and they scored a couple of easy baskets early,” he said. “I said, ‘If you shoot the ball, get back because they are going to leak and if we are going to press, we have to get the ball into the basket. So let’s get a good shot, get the ball inside early and then we can set our defense a bit.’”
And the Grizzlies were off to the races.
Hoquiam (5-1 overall) outscored the Chitwhins (1-2) 24-2 through the remainder of the first quarter, paced by the defensive pressure of guard Jake Templer and Michael Lorton Watkins, who had six and five steals in the period, respectively.
The highlight of the Hoquiam run — and arguably the game — was a steal by Grizzlies senior forward Justice Stankavich, who outran Taholah defenders and threw down an emphatic one-hand slam dunk for a 20-4 lead with 3:41 left in the quarter.
The Grizzlies never let the proverbial foot off the pedal, dominating the second quarter with their pressure defense that created turnovers, which led to more fast-break opportunities.
Hoquiam took a 47-17 lead on a patented Stankavich up-and-under layup with 1:28 left in the first half and closed out the second quarter with a Lorton Watkins layup, staking Hoquiam to a 53-17 lead at halftime.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Taholah’s Jayden Lewis (1) and Hoquiam’s Justice Stankavich (23) share a laugh before a free throw during the Grizzlies’ 83-31 win over Taholah on Thursday at Hoquiam Square Garden.
Early in the third quarter, a layup from senior guard Zander Jump put the Grizzlies up 57-17 at the 6:40 mark. The 40-point lead led to a running clock the remainder of the game, with Hoquiam playing its reserves for the majority of the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies were led in scoring by Jump with 20 points and also got big games from Lorton Watkins (17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 7 steals), Stankavich (12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists,) and Templer (2 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 9 steals).
Hoquiam’s offense did most of its damage from the painted area, going 34 for 50 (68%) from the field from inside the 3-point line while attempting just six shots from beyond the arc, converting one.
The Grizzlies also shared the ball well, with 24 assists as a team from seven different players.
“In practice, we’ve been working on cycles, which is fast breaks and spreading the lane,” Lorton Watkins said. “That helped us a lot. It translated to the game and helped us to score easy baskets.”
“That’s one of the big things we are working on, is passing from where the help comes from,” Niemi said of the Grizzlies’ unselfish play. “We are trying to get in there and create some help defense and drop it off to that guy, especially down low. That’s a big emphasis. In the first couple of games we barely dropped it to our big guys, so we talked about if the (opponent’s) big guy helps, we’ve got to get (our big guy) the ball and we’re starting to do that a little bit.”
Defensively, Hoquiam was outstanding on Thursday.
The Grizzlies outrebounded the Chitwhins 42-17 and held Taholah to just two offensive rebounds in the game.
Hoquiam recorded 27 steals in the game — 18 in the first half — and forced 32 Taholah turnovers.
Taholah was led by standout sophomore guard Jayden Lewis, who scored a team-best 20 points in the contest.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Taholah sophomore Jayden Lewis, right, puts up a shot while defended by Hoquiam’s Jake Templer (4) during Hoquiam’s 83-31 win on Thursday at Hoquiam Square Garden.
Hoquiam plays at Onalaska at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
Taholah is scheduled to face Tulalip Heritage at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Marysville.
Taholah 6 11 10 4 — 31
Hoquiam 28 25 18 12 — 83
Scoring: T — Lewis 20, D. McCrory 4, Bryan 3, Adams 2, Vitalis 1, M. Charley 1. H — Jump 20, Lorton Watkins 17, Stankavich 12, Wonderly-Leonard 9, Gordon 8, McNeill 6, Butcher 5, Templer 2, Monroe 2, Bozich 2.
