First-place CV boys earn 10th straight win

Shadle Park boys basketball coach Tim Gaebe isn’t sure how to stop Central Valley. Not that it’s a mystery, but Gaebe’s team was the last to do so in late December. The visiting Bears, using stingy defense and passing the ball well on offense, posted their 10th straight win, pulling away from the Highlanders 69-52 in Greater Spokane League action Tuesday. “They play good team defense,” Gaebe said. “They have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things. The league-leading Bears (13-3 overall, 12-2 league) aren’t flashy but quite efficient. “It’s a lunch-pail group,” CV coach Rick Sloan said. “That’s how they practice. They’re fun to coach in practice because they work hard and it’s fun to watch in the games. I love the team. I love coaching a team that’s unselfish.” The teams played evenly in the first half. A 3-pointer with 4 seconds to go before halftime by Kyle Knutsen gave Shadle (9-8, 7-8) a 29-28 lead. The second half belonged to the Bears, who outscored the Highlanders 41-23. Eight Bears scored six or more points and four finished with nine or more. Leading the way was senior post Anthony Brommer, who had 15 to go with seven rebounds. “Basically, our defense kept going at them and we tired them out,” Brommer said. “We knew we just had to keep running the ball in transition and the shots would fall.” CV made 16 of 26 shots from the field in the second half. A basket by Beau Byus off a pass from Adam Chamberlain with 15 seconds remaining in the third quarter extended CV’s lead to 48-38. A steal by Danny Nimri followed by an assist in transition put CV up 50-38 seconds into the fourth, and the Bears were off and running. “We knew coming into the season we’d be a hard team to beat,” Brommer said. “The question was whether we could put it all together soon enough.” No other CV player scored in double figures, but Chamberlain, Nimri and Austin Rehkow had nine apiece. “We’ve got a lot of interchangeable parts, guys who don’t care who gets the points,” Sloan said. Brett Boese led Shadle with 20 points and four rebounds. “We’re going to bounce back,” Gaebe said. “We just have not played our best basketball yet. I really do think that we’re going to find it.”