MONTESANO — Forks and Montesano traded momentum all game long, but the Spartans finished the game strong — and now sit in sole possession of the Evergreen 1A league lead.
“We battled back and forth,” coach Rick Gooding said.
“We had a great first quarter, they had a great second quarter. They got us in the third quarter and fourth quarter, when it mattered, we got them.”
Gooding said Forks allowed a couple of late looks at the basket by Montesano (5-2, 11-8), including a late layup attempt that rolled out.
“Somehow, someway we got a stop,” Gooding said.
Senior point guard Seth Johnson led the Spartans with 29 points.
“He did a great job,” Gooding said. “He scored 21 in the first half.”
Cort Prose added 21 and Tony Flores had nine.
“Flores did a great job of attacking offensively,” Gooding said.
Braton Armas didn’t score, but Gooding said Armas rebounded really well, especially down the stretch in the fourth quarter.
“A high-scoring game, 80-plus points at halftime,” Gooding said. A fun game in a district-type atmosphere.
“We continued to play hard when the chips looked like they were against us.”
Forks (5-1, 14-4) hosts Elma on senior night on Tuesday.
Forks 70, Montesano 68
Forks 22 19 15 14— 70
Monte 12 28 19 9— 68
Forks (70) — Johnson 29, Prose 21 Reaume 2, Baar 3, Baysinger 4, Flores 9, Armas, Morton 2.
Montesano (68) — Bates 8, Ridgway 14, Nicholas 7, Winter 10, Olson 6, Parker 3, Farmer 20.
Crescent 51, Clallam Bay 45
CLALLAM BAY — The Loggers sealed up the North Olympic League’s second seed to the Tri-District Tournament with a win over the Bruins in the rubber match of the season series.
“Wow, what a dogfight. This was for the No. 2 spot in the NOL and it was truly a battle,” Crescent coach Chris Ferrier said.
“… Really though, it was our defense and rebounding that sealed it again. The guys have bought into this defensive-minded ethos and it’s helping us win games that in the past we might have folded.”
The two teams traded buckets in the early going.
“The first quarter was a shootout, and I was standing on the sideline feeling a little trepidation because run and gun games aren’t usually going to fall in our favor,” Ferrier said.
“We’ve been winning on defense lately and doing the hard things and a shoot-em-up game wasn’t going to benefit us.
Caiton Smith really got his stroke going for the Bruins, he had 10 in the first quarter, and we used a more balanced approach to take the lead.”
Smith, a senior, finished with 17 points for Clallam Bay on senior night.
Ferrier praised Kylan Scheid’s work in the second quarter.
“…He was out there putting his body on [Ryan] McCoy and rebounding and screening well,” Ferrier said. “He’s a senior who has been pretty unsung, but he’s hungry and wants to get on the floor, so he’s starting to do the little things to get him more time.”
The game slowed down after halftime.
“We were working to deny their scorers a little more because every time Ryan caught the ball near the rim, he scored it. He was grabbing every loose ball and scoring it. It was impressive,” Ferrier said.
McCoy finished with 23 points to lead all scorers.
“Fourth quarter, it seemed like we were stuck on 41-38 for about 5 minutes of game time, we were both throwing haymakers and getting stops and it was intense. That gym was loud and hot and we forced a couple of key turnovers, and Noah Leonard started cutting up the Clallam Bay zone with some pinpoint passes to Eric and we got a handful of easy baskets.”
Eric Emery had 18 points and Mason Owens added 15 for the Loggers (4-3, 7-7).
“Mason and Eric were phenomenal,” Ferrier said. “Mason has really grown into a leader at the point guard spot, and last night he was really aggressive offensively as well. Brayden Emery, Brendan Bergstrom and Kylan all rotated on McCoy and we tried to keep a fresh body on him all the time. It didn’t always work but it seemed to maybe slow the big guy down a little bit.
“Bottom line, my kids competed for 32 minutes and did all the little things we constantly preach.”
The Loggers host Chief Kitsap Academy on Wednesday.
Clallam Bay (2-4, 4-10) hosts Neah Bay on Wednesday.
Crescent 51, Clallam Bay 45
Crescent 19 11 10 11— 51
CB 16 14 8 7— 45
Crescent (51) — E. Emery 18, Owens 15, Bergstrom 5, B. Emery 5, Dalton 4, Leonard 4, Scheid.
Clallam Bay (45) — McCoy 23, Smith 17, Bykerk 3, Strid 2, Maines, Aldana.
North Kitsap 81, Sequim 65
POULSBO — Nate Despain led all scorers with 29 points, but no other Wolves player had more than six in a loss to the Vikings.
Kobe McMillian scored 28 for North Kitsap, 17 in the second half, while Shaa Humphrey had 25.
Sequim (6-4, 11-7) hosts Olympic on Tuesday (5-5, 9-9). The Wolves hold a one-game lead over the Trojans for the Olympic League’s third district playoff berth, but will need to win Tuesday as the Trojans previously beat Sequim.
North Kitsap 81, Sequim 65
Sequim 11 14 17 23— 65
NK 15 23 19 24— 81
Sequim (65) — N. Despain 29, Cowan 6, D. Despain 6, Oliver 6, Young 5, Christiansen 4, Rollness 3, Wiker 3, Eaton 2, Langston 1.
North Kitsap (81) — McMillian 28, Humphrey 25, Chmielewski 14, Baker 8, Caizza 2, Moore 2, Siebers 2.
Port Townsend 57, Chimacum 36
PORT TOWNSEND — The Redhawks shook off a determined Cowboys effort in the second half to earn a sweep of the rivalry series.
“Senior night at the Bruce Blevins Gymnasium for Port Townsend and Chimacum,” Redhawks coach Tom Webster said.
“Our seniors were excited to play the game and it was a really good game up until halftime. Chimacum is much improved and they were playing tough.
“We were up one point at halftime. We switched up our defense, went on an 8-0 run to open the third quarter and continued to play defense in the third quarter.”
Webster said Noa Montoya heated up and sank some shots in the third and Kuba Krol got a couple of steals that led to points.
Montoya led all scorers with 20 points. He added eight rebounds.
Krol had seven points, seven steals and four assists.
“That really helped us out,” Webster said of the senior exchange student’s play.
“Our defense clamped down on them pretty good. We switched back to man defense. It was a typical Port Townsend-Chimacum game. [Chimacum] came to play.”
Webster said senior Cole Crawford was all over the floor and on the floor in scoring 16 points to go with six rebounds.
Nico Winegar added 18 rebounds on his senior night. “He does an awesome job for us rebounding as a six-foot post,” Webster said.
All of Port Townsend’s seniors contributed, Webster said.
Jayden Watkins had a solid overall game, Kavi Baahabar had four assists and Tao Johnston banked in a 3-pointer late.
Issac Purser led Chimacum with 10 points, while Henry Brebberman had eight and Cole Dotson seven.
The Cowboys (0-5, 2-12) visit Klahowya on Tuesday.
Port Townsend (3-2, 8-7) visits North Mason on Tuesday.
Port Townsend 57, Chimacum 36
Chim. 9 17 5 5— 36
PT 12 15 16 14— 57
Chimacum (36) — Purser 10, Brebberman 8, Diehl 5, Dotson 7, Williamson 6.
Port Townsend (57) — Watkins 4, Baabahar 2, Winegar 5, Montoya 20, Crawford 16, Johnston 3, Krol 7.
Neah Bay 86, Chief Kitsap 38
SUQUAMISH — Sean Bitegeko had 22 points on 11 of 14 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds and three steals as four Red Devils reached double figures in scoring in a win over the Bears on Friday.
Cameron Moore added 18 points, four steals and two assists; Jay Brunk scored 13 with six steals, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks and Meric Soeneke scored 12 points with three assists.
The Red Devils (7-0, 11-6) visit Clallam Bay on Wednesday.
Neah Bay 86, Chief Kitsap 38
NB 29 20 22 15— 86
CKA 7 12 10 9— 38
Neah Bay (86) — Bitegeko 22, Moore 18, Brunk 13, Soeneke 12, Johnson Jr. 6, Halttunen 5, Horejsi 4, Claplanhoo 2, Martinez 2, Lovik 2, Shaw, Engram.
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Compiled from team reports. Email scores to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or phone 360-417-3525.
Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News Port Townsend’s Nico Winegar drives around the defense of Chimacum’s Guiseppe Glanz on Friday.
