Had Granger known in advance that it would limit Port Townsend
standout Parker McClelland to four points for the bulk of Wednesday
night’s game, the Spartans would have felt good about their chances of
logging the first major upset in the Class 1A State tournament.
The problem for Granger was that there was more to the Redskins than
their smooth, 6-foot-5 senior.
With guard Joe Aase and forward Walker Wilson picking up the slack,
and not a single Spartan scoring in double figures, heavily favored PT
prevailed 41-27 in a first-round game in the SunDome.
The third-ranked Redskins, 21-3, will meet Seattle Academy in a
quarterfinal at 9 p.m. Thursday. Granger, 17-7, will oppose Castle Rock
in a loser-out game at 2 p.m.
“We did a pretty good job on him (McClelland),” Spartans coach Miguel
Bazaldua said. “We stayed with him, but they stayed with their stuff and
they really boarded well. They’re a good team.”
Aase scored a game-high 14 points and Wilson added 11 points and nine
rebounds for PT, which held Granger to 31 percent shooting (3 for 12 in
the second half) and outrebounded the Sparts 33-17.
McClelland, averaging 17.3 points coming into the tournament, scored
four point in the final 2 minutes and finished with eight.
Still, Granger was within 25-22 starting the fourth quarter and 25-24
when Benjamin Villa muscled home an inside hoop to start the final eight
minutes.
But Wilson rebounded his own miss for a bucket, then leaped out of
bounds to flip an errant McClelland attempt to teammate Elan Solvik for
a layup and a 29-24 PT lead with 6:00 to play.
The back-to-back buckets ignited a 14-3 Redskins finishing surge
during which Granger missed three free throws — they were just 7 of 12
for the game.
Ahead 32-27 with 3:48 left, Port Townsend went into a spread-delay
offense and effectively ran the clock while the Spartans struggled to
gain possession.
“They got us into scramble mode, which we didn’t want, but there are
only so many things you can control,” Bazaldua said. “It’s too bad that
the SCAC went 0 for 4 today, because we feel pretty good about our
league.
“We’ll try to come back tomorrow and we still hope to play on
Saturday. But it’s cutthroat from here on out.”
Mychal Lopez and Mitchell Zapien led Granger with seven points each.
Granger broke quickly, leading throughout the first quarter and
missing a buzzer-beater that would have meant a 10-point lead to end the
period.
Five different Spartans scored in the process of building a 10-2
advantage.
But the Redskins struck quickly in the second quarter, using three
successive 3-pointers to erase Granger’s lead in the period’s first two
minutes.
It was 19-17 PT at halftime with Zapien having scored five points for
Granger and Lopez adding four.
Aase led the Redskins with seven while Dakotah Pine had six.
The Spartans shot only 35 percent for the half (7 for 20) while Port
Townsend was only a shade warmer at 36. The taller Redskins outrebounded
Granger 18-10, however.
|
Port Townsend -- Pine 2-3 0-0 6, Aase 5-8 2-3 14, Thomas 0-0 0-0
0, Yourish 0-0 0-0 0, McClelland 4-12 0-0 8, Solvik 1-4 0-0 2, Dodd
0-2 0-0 0, Wilson 5-11 1-2 11, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Hallinan 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 17-40 3-5 41. |
|
Granger -- Villa 2-3 0-0 4, Oswalt 0-2 2-2 2, Cortez 0-0 0-0 0,
Lopez 2-7 3-4 7, C. Carpenter 0-1 0-0 0, Jochen 0-0 0-0 0, Vivar 0-0
0-0 0, Zapien 3-10 1-4 7, A. Carpenter 1-4 0-0 2, Paul 2-5 1-2 5.
Totals 10-32 7-12 27. |
| Port Townsend |
2 |
17 |
6 |
16 |
-- |
41 |
| Granger |
10 |
7 |
5 |
5 |
-- |
27 |
|
3-point goals--PT 4-8 (Pine 2-2, Aase 2-3, Solvik 0-1, McClelland
0-2), G 0-5 (Carpenter 0-1, Zapien 0-1, Paul 0-1, Oswalt 0-2). Rebounds--PT
33 (Wilson 9), G 17 (Oswalt 6). Assists--PT 11 (Solvik 4), G 3 (Oswalt
2). Steals--PT 5 (McClelland 2, Solvik 2), G 19 (Zapien 4). Blocked shots--PT
1, G 1. Fouled out--None.
Total fouls--PT 10, G 10. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--PT 15, G
12. |