Falcons Count On Floyd Sprague-Harrington Boys Basketball Team Looks Forward To Another Trip To State

When Andee Marriott scored her 1,000th career point, Jay Aune felt impelled to dig up his old scoring sheets.

Marriott’s achievement convinced Aune that Ryan Floyd must be approaching the 1,000-point landmark for his Sprague-Harrington basketball career.

So Aune, Floyd’s coach, checked to see how close his senior was to the mark of Marriott - Floyd’s cousin from Davenport.

Floyd had already surpassed 1,300 points, Aune discovered.

The point being, Floyd has been so good for so long that it’s easy to take him for granted.

“He’s basically started for us since five games into his freshman season,” Aune said.

“The difference with this year’s team is that we’re able to get (Floyd) out for a rest and not lose ground.”

Following last weekend’s wins over Bi-County League title contenders Reardan and Almira/Coulee-Hartline, third-ranked S-H is 14-0 and keeping its compass set on a second trip to the State B Tournament in three years.

“I just want to get back (to state) because I don’t really feel like I’ve been there,” said Floyd, who has scored 19.3 per league game.

Floyd also led S-H in scoring during his sophomore season, the first time a team from either town made the state field since Sprague’s trip in 1968.

The Falcons opened against Tekoa-Oakesdale, the eventual champion. Right before halftime, T-O’s Dan Brown took a shot and fell backward onto Floyd’s right knee.

“I told (Aune) at halftime that I might have blown my knee,” Floyd said. “He said, ‘No you didn’t. Don’t tell me that.”’

Floyd, indeed, blew his knee. Minus their top scorer, the Falcons (19-9 overall) were eliminated in two games.

Floyd’s brother, Brad, graduated after the state season, but Aune counted on a good returning nucleus.

The players were fine, but the breaks weren’t. Floyd hurt his other knee - an injury which still requires him to wear a brace - and at least four other players were hobbled. Wilbur-Creston eliminated S-H (17-12) at district by one point.

“Based on everything that happened,” Aune said, “that team reached its potential.”

Nick Colbert, Floyd’s classmate and a state-team veteran, missed last season but has returned to Aune’s good graces. With Colbert clogging the middle and scoring 16 ppg, some pressure has been lifted from Floyd.

The players get along better than last year, when personality and residential differences created schisms. Everyone on the current roster is from Harrington except for Ray Schmitt and Ryan Hattrup, who blend in well.

“I think there’s been more of a basketball tradition (in Harrington) than there’s been in Sprague,” said Aune, who lives between the towns and teaches in Sprague.

The most famous example is the 1965 Harrington team - dubbed the ‘Piranhas’ for its ferocious defense - that won the State B title with an unbeaten record. The leader of that team was Dennis Bly, whose son, Brett, plays with Floyd and crew.

Brett Bly also quarterbacked the successful S-H football team that advanced to the State B-8 playoffs last fall.

The football team serves as a conversation piece for Aune and Floyd, who watched petty jealousies erode the team’s togetherness.

“After they beat Pateros (in league), all they talked about was winning the state tournament,” Floyd said.

Instead, the Falcons lost their playoff opener to Inchelium.

Most of the basketball roster - Floyd and Schmitt being the notable exceptions - is comprised of people who played football.

“Some of the (football) kids were upset because so-and-so was getting all the publicity, and like that,” Aune said.

“As soon as the football people got back (to their first basketball practices), that was the first thing we talked about.”

They haven’t talked much about the undefeated record. But with the Bi-County tournament less than three weeks away, it’s hard to ignore the Falcons’ perfection.

“But we’d rather lose a game now than when we get to state,” Floyd said.