Shadle Park Kicks Nc Aside, 52-44

GSL boys

Nobody’s ready to throw in the towel, but the Greater Spokane League boys basketball standings took a giant step - fitting, since it was the night of the “Shoes” - toward finalizing the playoff teams Thursday night.

Shadle Park all but ended North Central’s hopes with a 52-44 victory in the Groovy Shoe game at the Arena. Central Valley did the same thing to University, pulling away for a 40-27 win in the Stinky Sneaker contest at CV.

“They’ve got eight losses and we’ve got six with three games left,” CV coach Terry Irwin said. “I wouldn’t say the nail is in the coffin, but the nail is started.”

Meanwhile, with four nights of play left, Ferris moved within one win of clinching the top seed for the District 8 tournament and a spot in the regional with a 64-41 victory over Gonzaga Prep; and Lewis and Clark rolled past Rogers 64-41.

At the start of the week, only three games separated second through eighth in the loss column. However, with two losses this week, NC and U-Hi are close to elimination. Both are two games back of the sixth and final playoff spot. And besides playing each other, each has a game against third-place LC. NC must play Ferris; U-Hi closes against second-place Mead.

“I really don’t know,” University coach Jay Humphrey said. “We have three left. I don’t know where this puts us. It puts us in a frustrating position.”

Jay Webber of North Central said, “It’s going to be hard. We can go one of two ways. We can throw in the towel and go down the drain or we can play hard and see what happens.”

Irwin wasn’t quite ready to claim a playoff spot. “This is a very big win when you look at the win-loss situation for the teams from second to eighth,” he said. “You could finish second or out of the playoffs. Minimum, we need to win one of the last three, then we’d be in decent shape, but we’re looking at getting all three. We still have a shot at second.”

Shadle Park has won five straight after reaching the halfway mark at 2-6.

“We were young early,” Highlanders coach Darcy Weisner said. “We took the first half as a learning experience. At the end of the first half, we had a team meeting. We said that’s enough of being young, lets go out and play like we’re capable.”

Confidence is the biggest factor for the stretch run, he said.

“It’s hard to speculate,” he said of the playoff race. “Right now, coaches are just worried about getting their kids ready. I know we’re playing well and our kids think they can compete with anybody.”

Shadle Park ended NC’s three-year reign as the winner of the Groovy Shoe award, given for a combination of spirit and community service. Shadle Park had a goal of raising $5,000 for charity and came up with $8,150. NC also exceeded its goal of donating 10,000 hours of community service with 15,021 hours. The game drew 4,500 fans.

In the Valley, U-Hi won the Stinky Sneaker for the first time in the five-year history of the event. The CV gym was packed to the rafters.

Shadle Park 52, North Central 44

The Highlanders (7-6, 8-9) built a big lead early and weathered a rally by the Indians (4-8, 7-9).

Shadle closed the first quarter with a 14-0 run and stretched its lead to 21-3 early in the second quarter. NC was scoreless for 3 seconds short of a full 8-minute quarter, going 0-for-11 from the field with six turnovers in that stretch.

In the first half, both teams had 20 shots; the Highlanders made 11 and the Indians five for a 28-15 Shadle lead. In the third quarter, NC made 7 of 9 shots and closed with 39-32. The margin was cut to five in the fourth quarter, but the Indians couldn’t get the key stop or clutch basket.

Oliver Cook, with 16 points, and Chris Anderson, with 13, continually hit cruical shots for the Highlanders. Adam Hieb had 15 for NC.

“Even though we lost, it was a lot of fun,” said Webber, in his first year at NC. “That’s what high school basketball is supposed to be.”

Shadle Park 15 13 11 13 - 52 North Central 3 12 17 12 - 44

SHADLE PARK Dunham 3 0-1 7, Cook 6 1-2 16, Kingsbury 2 1-4 5, Baune 0 0-0 0, Glanzer 0 0-0 0, Anderson 5 2-3 13, Mohr 2 2-2 7, Jones 0 0-0 0, Hann 0 0-0 0, Hipps 2 0-1 4. Totals 20 6-13 52.

NORTH CENTRAL Plaster 0 0-0 0, Blanchat 0 0-0 0, Blotsky 1 0-0 3, Kuhlman 4 1-2 11, Holdren 1 2-3 4, Hieb 5 5-9 15, Young 0 0-0 0, Kapelke 3 0-0 6, Eschenbacher 0 2-2 2, Allen 1 0-0 3. Totals 15 10-16 44.

3-point goals - Dunham, Oliver 3, Anderson, Mohr, Blotsky, Kuhlman 2, Allen. Total fouls - SP 18, NC 19. Fouled out - Kingsbury, Blanchat. Technicals - Kingsbury.

Central Valley 40, University 27

Body heat from the packed gym didn’t warm either team as the Bears (7-6, 10-7) shot 28 percent and still beat the Titans (5-8, 8-9).

Ryan Smith hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key late in the first quarter to break an 11-11 tie, and the Bears led the rest of the way. However, they didn’t pull away until a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter.

The Titans went without a shot for 5 minutes, a span that started with Kelly Hineman’s basket in the lane and ended with his shot from the right wing with 2:52 to go that made it 35-27.

University made just 10 of 41 shots, while CV was 11 of 36, with just three field goals in the second half. The Bears managed to hit 16 of 20 free throws, 15 of 18 in the second half.

University 11 3 9 4 - 27 Central Valley 14 5 9 12 - 40

UNIVERSITY Dunham 0 0-0 0, Jeffries 0 0-0 0, Fryer 0 0-0 0, Massey 3 0-0 8, Wetzel 0 0-0 0, Earling 0 0-0 0, Heimbigner 0 0-0 0, Price 0 0-0 0, Hineman 5 1-2 13, Carlson 2 2-3 6, Flanery 0 0-0 0, Wilson 0 0-0 0, Allen 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 3-5 27.

CENTRAL VALLEY Smith 2 3-4 8, Schuh 2 0-0 5, Platt 1 0-0 2, Allen 2 2-2 6, May 3 5-8 11, Hinckley 0 0-0 0, Nesbitt 0 2-2 2, Millar 0 0-0 0, Abrams 1 4-4 6, Schulz 0 0-0 0, McFarlane 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 16-20 40.

3-point goals - Massey 2, Hineman 2, Smith, Schuh. Total fouls - U 17, CV 9. Fouled out - None.

Lewis and Clark 70, Rogers 47

Mike Homer scored 23, Paul Mencke had eight rebounds and the visiting Tigers (12-5, 8-5) made 11 of 11 free throws to beat the Pirates (1-15, 0-12).LC made 28 of 48 field goals. Rogers misfired on 12 of 13 3-point attempts.

Nathan Smith made 8 of 10 field goals for Rogers.

Lewis and Clark 20 15 16 19 - 70 Rogers 8 9 7 23 - 47

LEWIS AND CLARK Canton 0 2-2 2, Homer 9 3-3 23, Lynch 3 1-1 7, Thompson 3 1-1 7, Morse 1 2-2 5, Etter 2 0-0 4, Vick 4 2-2 10, Adams 1 0-0 2, Mencke 5 0-0 10, Stack 0 0-0 0. Totals 28 11-11 70.

ROGERS Browning 0 0-1 0, Loffredi 3 0-0 7, Goldsmith 0 0-0 0, Cuculich 0 0-0 0, Oglesbee 1 2-2 4, Mosby 3 1-2 7, Hassett 0 0-0 0, Dainty 3 2-4 9, Pugh 0 0-0 0, Smith 8 2-4 18, Hemphill 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 7-13 47.

3-point goals - Homer 2, Morse, Loffredi, Dainty. Total fouls - LC 17, Rogers 15. Fouled out - Oglesbee. Technicals - LC bench.

Ferris 64, Gonzaga Prep 41

At the Arena, Leonard Harmon scored 22 and the third-ranked Saxons (15-1, 11-1) pulled away from the Bullpups (10-6, 6-6) for their eighth straight win.

Ferris 14 14 18 18 - 64 Gonzaga Prep 13 10 10 8 - 41

FERRIS Bursch 2 1-2 6, Schuchart 1 2-2 4, Servine 0 0-0 0, Brown 0 0-0 0, Hardan 2 1-2 5, Lucke 0 0-0 0, Henneberry 3 3-3 9, Sandberg 0 0-2 0, Harmon 9 4-6 22, Stocum 6 4-4 16, Weatherred 0 2-3 2. Totals 23 17-24 64.

GONZAGA PREP Kocharhook 1 1-2 3, Dixson 1 0-0 3, Thielma 0 0-0 0, B.Sweeny 0 0-0 0, Ryan 0 0-1 0, Powell 3 1-1 7, P.Sweeny 6 0-0 12, Herrin 3 1-2 8, McFarland 1 0-1 2, Egger 1 0-0 2, Hartnett 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 3-7 41.

3-point goals - Bursch, Dixson, Herrin. Total fouls - Ferris 14, G-Prep. Fouled out - none.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo