Mead boys get defensive, win District
The Mead Panthers played stingy defense and made most of their free throws down the stretch to defeat Gonzaga Prep for the District 8 4A boys basketball championship. It was their second win in three meetings with the Bullpups.
Shadle Park captured District 3A by beating North Central. University in 4A, Rogers and East Valley are also regional bound.
Below is my unedited story.
By Mike Vlahovich
Correspondent
Twenty-two seconds remained and Gonzaga Prep, which had clawed back from a nine point deficit, had a chance to force overtime.
But the defense of Mead, so tough game-long, proved unrelenting and denied the Bullpups one last look. The Panthers (17-5) playing in Gonzaga’s gymnasium Thursday night, claimed its first District 8 4A boys basketball championship since 2003 with a stirring 53-50 triumph over the Bullpups (20-2). Mead handed Prep both its losses.
The game also determined the first and second seeds to next week’s eastern regional which will decide four state berths in games against the Columbia Basin Big Nine.
Defense was the order of the day for both miserly teams, fitting in a game for the district title.
Open looks proved tough to come by, and though it would be tempting to dismiss the work of Mead’s Aaron Dunn, given that Prep scoring star Ryan Nicholas finished with 22 points, they had to be the hardest earned points of Nicholas’ season.
“All week long we focused on not allowing teams in the paint,” said Dunn. “It was a battle, definitely. I was trying to stay low and feel I’m strong enough not to have to front him.”
And when Gonzaga had the ball at the end of the game, Dunn was instrumental in preventing a 3-point shot.
“He hedged on (guard) Chris Sarbaugh and derailed the last possession,” said Panthers coach Glenn Williams. “The rest of the kids helped on Nicholas.”
Williams also took note of the third-quarter which proved vital to the outcome. Mead limited Prep to three points and took a 33-23 lead after trailing 20-17 at intermission.
Gonzaga made a fourth-quarter run behind Nicholas, but Mead responded, including a huge 3-pointer by Garrett Swanson to make it 44-36 with 3:47 left.
And with the Bullpups forced to press, the game fell into the capable hands of point guard Brenden Myers, who got to the basket and made 10 of 12 free throws in the fourth quarter.
“They were pressing so much, I just thought of like hitting those gaps and if I could crunch it we’d get more guys open,” Myers said.
That proved the crux of the outcome. Nicholas got his points, but he had little support, other than Sarbaugh until the late charge. Dunn and Myers finished with 15 and 14 points respectively and Swanson reached double figures. Myers and Bo Tully each hit clutch 3-pointers to fuel the big third-quarter lead.
University 72, Ferris 66: The visiting Titans (11-12) outscored the Saxons (10-12) 29-15 in the fourth quarter and secured the GSL’s third regional berth. Each team had four double figures scorers during the shootout, Kyle Bailey finishing with 23 for U-Hi. Chris Wilson made seven 3-pointers for all of his 21 for the Saxons.
District 3A
The Highlanders (18-4) jumped to a 13-0 lead, but trailed by halftime 22-19 on NC’s 17-4 run. Third quarter was Shadle’s turn, a 14-1 burst that helped put them ahead 38-27 in the third period.
Robby Douglas, the latest Highlander to pass 1,000 points for his career, scored 20, one of three double figures scorers for the team.
Rogers 70, East Valley 67: In the game for third and fourth seeds, the visiting Knights (3-19) led much of the game by 7-to-10 points and were ahead by a point with 21 seconds to go before Deavon Daniels hit a driving layin, with 7 ticks left and a steal to seal the outcome for the Pirates (11-11). Daniels finished with 24 points. Korie Sherman had a game high 29 for EV.