FORKS — Forks advanced to the District IV tournament by beating King’s Way Christian 65-46 in a district crossover game Monday night.
The Spartans, the third seed in the SWL-Evergreen Division, used a big third quarter to pull away from the Dragons, the Trico Division’s sixth seed.
Forks led 29-23 at halftime, and then outscored King’s Way 23-13 in the third period to take a comfortable 16-point lead into the final quarter.
“Obviously, the third quarter was kind of the turning point,” Forks coach Rick Gooding said.
“That has got to be one of our best quarters all year.”
Mark Jacobson was particularly productive in the last two quarters after sitting for much of the first half when the Forks coaches mistakenly thought he picked up two first-half fouls when he actually only had one.
Jacobson finished with 12 points. Three other Spartans scored in double figures: Braden Decker led the way with 15 points, Leo Gonzales had 14 and Tre Harris finished with 11.
Nick Gilmore contributed eight points and Colton Raben had five.
“Just a great team win,” Gooding said. “I’m glad to see the boys get a district win under their belts.
“This game was all on the kids. There was no special coaching going on.
“We got the ball inside and Decker, Jacobson, Gonzales and Gilmore did an absolute great job. Colton and Tre did a great job on the wings, as well.
“Kenneth Abrahams came off the bench and gave us good, quality minutes.
“Everyone stepped up, even the guys on the bench. They were standing up, rooting for everybody, and when they got into the game, they played hard.”
Those bench players were Ollie Sampson, Reis Lawson and Adam Graham.
Gooding said the Spartans were also aided by a gym packed with loud Forks fans. Gooding said the Forks girls basketball team was especially supportive.
“A huge thank you to everyone who came and supported us,” Gooding said.
“The crowd was awesome. Especially for the seniors, who this will be their last home game, for them to celebrate like that, it was awesome.”
King’s Way Christian was led by Kienen Walter’s game-high 20 points and Chris Crenshaw, who scored 13.
Forks (14-6) next plays Toledo (19-1) on Thursday at Kelso High School in the first round of the double-elimination phase of the District IV playoffs.
The Indians finished in a tie with Kalama for the top spot in the Trico Division.
The winner of the Forks-Toledo contest plays the winner of the Tenino-W.F. West game on Saturday at 5 p.m., while the losers of those two games will face off Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Both second round games will be played at W.F. West High School in Chehalis.
Forks 65, King’s Way Christian 46
King’s Way 9 14 13 10— 46
Forks 15 14 23 13— 65
Individual scoring
King’s Way Christian (46)
Becker 3, Crenshaw 13, Gonzales 7, Coval 2, Walter 20, Huser 1.
Forks (65)
Raben 5, Gilmore 8, Harris 11, Decker 15, Jacobson 12, Gonzales 14.
Neah Bay 89, Crescent 28
NEAH BAY — Leyton Doherty and DeShawn Halttunen when out in style on Senior Night last Wednesday.
Doherty scored 20 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists and had three steals in his final high school home game.
Halttunen, meanwhile, finished with 11 points, including 3 of 5 on 3-pointers and had two steals.
Abraham Venske and Ryan Moss also scored in double figures for the Red Devils, with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Sage Fadness led the Loggers with seven points, while Derrick Findley and Gene Peppard both scored six.
Neah Bay also beat Clallam Bay 79-67 on Friday night.
The Red Devils (6-0, 14-1) next play Tuesday, Feb. 12, in the 1B Tri-District tournament at Crescent High School. They will face the winner of Saturday’s game between Clallam Bay and District II’s second seed.
Neah Bay 89, Crescent 28
Crescent 8 11 7 2— 28
Neah Bay 16 25 30 18— 89
Individual scoring
Crescent (28)
Walker 1, Fadness 7, Bamer 2, Findley 6, Waldrip 2, Peppard 6, Sander 4.
Neah Bay (89)
Halttunen 11, Venske 14, J. Greene 9, Z. Greene 6, Claplanhoo 4, Doherty 20, Moss 11, McCaulley 6, Reamer 8.
Sequim-PT
games moved
The boys and girls basketball games between Port Townsend and Sequim have been moved from Friday to Thursday so the Redskins’ teams will have an extra day of practice between the end of their regular season and their pigtail games Saturday. Both games will start at 7 p.m.
The Port Townsend girls have already locked up a postseason spot, so they will definitely be playing Saturday.
The boys need to finish in seventh place (or tied for seventh) in the Olympic League to reach a play-in game. They are currently in seventh place, a game ahead of Port Angeles.
The boys team will finish at least tied for seventh unless Port Angles defeated Port Townsend late Tuesday night and then pulls off an upset of Olympic, which is tied for first, on Friday night.
If both of Port Townsend’s teams play Saturday, the games will tip off at 5:15 p.m. and 7 p.m. If only one team has a Saturday game, it will start at 5:15 p.m.
Gymnastis
Riders second
at sub-district
DES MOINES — Port Angeles finished in second place at last Thursday’s 2A/3A Olympic League and Narrows League sub-district meet at Mount Rainier High School.
North Kitsap took first with a score of 156.350 and Port Angeles had a score of 150.150. Timberline was third at 142.875.
The Roughriders had two top-10 placers in the meet. Madylan Coventon was third with an overall score of 32.250. She placed second in the vault and third in both the uneven bars and floor exercise.
Cecily Schwagler was fifth win an overall score of 31.750, which included a first place score of 9.200 on the balance beam.
Alyssa Martinez finished in 11th place, Alexis Hefton took 14th, Katie Gibson was 20th, Elizabeth Defrang took 25th, Darian Kyniston finished in a tie for 26th place, Payton Harding was 28th and Rozalyn Piper was 30th.
The Riders next compete at the district meet, which will also be at Mount Rainier High School, on Saturday.
Girls Bowling
Sequim honored
The Sequim girls bowling team has been crowned academic state champions by the WIAA for the second consecutive year.