Saxons go to work inside

Central Valley boys basketball coach Rick Sloan had an appropriate description of Ferris senior post Taylor Kamitomo.

“He’s got a great appetite to score and get the ball,” said Sloan, after Kamitomo scored a career-high 30 points Friday to lead the second-ranked Saxons to a 12th straight win, 81-58 over the Bears at CV in Greater Spokane League action.

Perhaps what the Ferris-CV matchup showed most was the disparity between the top and the rest of the 4A teams in the league.

CV (7-7, 6-6 GSL) has the third-best 4A record in the league, but the Saxons (12-1, 11-0) have almost run off and hid from not only the 4A teams, but the league in general.

“They’ve got all the pieces,” Sloan said of the Saxons. “They’re athletes and they’re skilled athletes and they’re physical. I think the one thing going into the season was did they have the inside presence necessary, and Kamitomo is a tough inside presence.”

The roster lists Kamitomo at 6-foot-3, but that’s generous. He’s more like 6-1, but he takes up space.

“Kamitomo is an interesting player because he’s not real tall, but he plays tall and gets up real quick,” Sloan said. “His second jumps are really effective for getting that rebound.”

Kamitomo was the beneficiary of nice passing. Most of senior wing Riley Stockton’s 11 assists went to Kamitomo. And the Saxons were unselfish overall, finishing with 23 assists.

“My teammates were setting me up really good,” Kamitomo said. “We know we can improve a lot, but we’re playing well right now.”

Kamitomo made 13 of 18 shots from the field and had 14 points in the third quarter on 6-of-6 shooting. He also had nine rebounds and two assists.

The Bears did a good job of limiting Stockton’s points (10), but he was patient and had a game-high 11 assists.

“We just didn’t have an answer for Kamitomo and Stockton,” Sloan said.

Ferris led by 14 points three times in the first half, but a 30-foot shot by Gaven Deyarmin at the halftime buzzer pulled CV to 37-29.

The third period was an offensive blur for CV. The Saxons went off for 27 points, building their biggest lead at 64-38 when reserve guard Nate Galgalo made a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left in the quarter.

Ferris coach Don Van Lierop was pleased with the assists.

“That’s a very telling statistic,” he said, alluding to the 23 assists. “We were sharing the ball and guys were doing some good things when they got it.”

Deyarmin and Joseph Guerrinha led CV with 11 points each.

It was a tough week for CV, having played Gonzaga Prep on Tuesday.

“We were in a tough stretch with Prep and Ferris,” Sloan said. “Now we can get back and play some games we’ve got a shot to win and get a little momentum going into (district).”

University 64, North Central 58: The Titans (11-2, 10-2) remained in a tie for second by fending off the visiting Indians (6-7, 6-6).

The Titans led 45-33 late in the third quarter. Jared Miller led U-Hi with 19 points and four assists. Brett Bailey added 11 points and six rebounds.

Gunnar Swagger led NC with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Aaron Antoine had 15 points.

Gonzaga Prep 60, Mead 46: The visiting Bullpups (11-3, 10-2) stayed two games behind Ferris.

The Bullpups opened things up at the end of the third quarter when Parker Kelly and Shane Schmidlkofer hit 3-pointers on their final two possessions.

Then Bullpup TJ Bracey scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. Kelly finished with 22. Garrett Swanson led Mead (5-9, 4-8) with 17.

Lewis and Clark 69, Shadle Park 54: The visiting Tigers (4-10, 4-8) outscored the Highlanders (3-11, 2-10) 29-15 in the second and third quarters.

Tanner Johnson led balanced LC with 14 points. Nick Bettinson led Shadle with 13.

Rogers 78, Mt. Spokane 73: The visiting Pirates (5-9, 5-7) led 62-37 before the Wildcats (3-10, 1-10) surged in the fourth quarter.

Mt. Spokane outscored Rogers 35-16 in the final period.

The Daniels brothers combined for 37 points for Rogers – Amaujae with 18 and Deavon with 17. Hunter Hahn led the Wildcats with 24.