Both Hoquiam and Aberdeen were fired up for this non-league Myrtle Street boys basketball rivalry game and it showed in the first quarter.
After that, the Grizzlies sustained all of that adrenaline-surging momentum offensively and pulled away from their rival en route to a 70-49 victory at the Hoquiam Square Garden.
HHS senior Jack Adams III led all scorers with 29 points and nine rebounds, while Aberdeen’s Victor Gomez scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the first half.
“Any team can hit that many shots if you don’t put pressure on them and they did a great job of that,” HHS head coach Curtis Eccles said. “After the first quarter, we emphasized the defense, to pressure them and make them work. Plus, the boys never slowed down on offense and kept the pressure on them there. I was really happy with how they responded.”
“It was our best start of the season offensively; defensively, we still need to get there,” AHS head coach Mark Buckman said. “We were knocking down shots, running the floor, playing with energy, doing everything we’ve been doing in practice. However, we need to do that for four quarters, even for a whole half. We are not there yet. It is a process. There is some inexperience we need to work through.”
Rivalry games on the hardwood tend to be filled with adrenaline, passion and motivation. Both teams were blistering the nets in the first quarter, especially Aberdeen. The visiting Bobcats hit 7-for-12 from the field, 5 of 7 shots from behind the 3-point line, and kept pace with the Grizzlies.
The hosts responded with a 9-for-15 clip from the field and neither team held more than a three-point lead in the frame.
“I was telling my friends that they were lighting it up, but they weren’t getting ahead of us,” Adams III said. “I was happy about that. I knew they couldn’t sustain that. If we kept the tempo up where we like it to be, we felt they would start missing. They played a heck of a game, especially in that first half.”
Jace Varner’s driving layup with .7 seconds remaining tied the game at 21-21 and, after a missed free throw, both teams went to the benches ready to slug it out in the second quarter.
This is where Hoquiam shined. With four players hitting a trey each — Varner, Adams, Zach Spradlin and Marques Rivera — the Grizzlies settled into a high-paced offensive set with crisp ball movement to break down the Bobcats.
When Aberdeen’s field-goal shooting went cold (3-for-14 FG), Hoquiam pulled away with a 25-11 frame and a 46-32 halftime margin.
“That is a strong Hoquiam team; once they get going, if we don’t do the things we need to do to slow them down, they will keep going,” Buckman said. “They did all of the good things needed to win this game.”
Hoquiam’s ball-movement offense continued in the second half, giving Varner, Adams and Spradlin plenty of uncontested shots to convert. Varner finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Spradlin hit 4-of-6 shots from behind the 3-point arc in his 14-point night.
Senior Jerod Steen led Hoquiam with seven assists.
“This game will build a lot of momentum (for us),” Adams said. “We started a bit slow this season, but I believe we’ve found our groove and we’ll start rolling. Once we start rolling, we’ll be pretty darn good.”
“Ball movement was key,” Eccles added. “The boys did a fantastic job of moving the ball around. That loss in the second half to Black Hills was a blessing in disguise. They know they can’t live on the 3-pointers and they understand if they can get inside first, it’ll open up the outside. That showed tonight.”
Adams finished Hoquiam’s scoring in the fourth quarter with a seven-point barrage — two assisted mid-range jumpers and a 3-points from the wing — for the Grizzlies’ largest lead of the game, 70-44 with 5:26 remaining in the contest. After that, Hoquiam emptied its bench and both teams finished with reserves on the court.
Due to legal circumstances, junior forward Victor James was unavailable for Hoquiam on Friday against Aberdeen and will also be unavailable when the Grizzlies visit the Bobcats on Jan. 30. James will rejoin the team when Hoquiam hosts Castle Rock on Tuesday.
Aberdeen hosts Forks in a co-ed non-league doubleheader on Tuesday night.
Aberdeen 21 11 9 8 — 49 Hoquiam 21 25 17 7 — 70
Aberdeen (49) — Roiko 8, Coburn 3, Dublanko 10, Solan, Sayres 2, Hughes, Troy 5, Collett, Gomez 21, Jandu, Metke. FG — 17-51. FT — 5-8.
Hoquiam (70) — Espedal 4, Nash 2, Varner 18, Folkers, Dayton, Rivera 3, Spradlin 14, Steen, Adams III 29, Mazariegos, Eccles, Brown. FG — 26-60. FT — 4-5.
JV — Hoquiam 51, Aberdeen 44. Matt Brown (H) 14 points, 11 rebounds; Jackson Folkers (H) 12 points.
