Bullpups Take Upper Hand Gonzaga Prep Uses Experience To Beat Saxons

It took Gonzaga Prep about 2-1/2 minutes to get rid of the sweaty hands and cotton mouth.

It took Ferris a full quarter.

And that was the difference when the undefeated Greater Spokane League boys basketball teams collided Tuesday night in front of a near-capacity crowd at Spokane Falls Community College, which holds 3,500.

Chris Bond scored 10 of his 24 points as Prep broke to a 19-10 lead and went on to defeat the Saxons 73-62.

“We wanted to get a jump on them,” Bond said. “We know they can score in spurts … we wanted to get on top and maintain it.”

The Bullpups start four seniors, Ferris one, and that made a difference in a game that had a playoff atmosphere.

“We were hitting our shots in the first period, our experience showed,” Prep coach Mike Haugen said. “For the most part, I don’t think they ever got perfectly comfortable in what they wanted to do.”

Ferris coach Wayne Gilman agreed.

“We were a little slower getting going,” he said. “They did a nice job early. They got some nice shots and passes inside, and we didn’t defend real well. After the first quarter, it was fairly even but they’re too good a team to give a nice lead to.”

Bond missed his first shot but made his next five.

“I was just nervous before the game, both teams were,” he said. “I thought I had to come out and help the team. I made the first couple of shots and got a lot of confidence.”

He hit from inside and out and capped the first quarter with a fast-break dunk he converted into a three-point play.

It wasn’t Prep’s plan to make Bond the focal point on offense, but Haugen said “That’s the way things kind of naturally happened, but on a lot of stuff, we look to him.”

The lead reached 13 points in the second quarter and was down to six in the third.

“I was pleased because at times we bent but we never broke,” Haugen said.

That included the third quarter when 6-foot-7 sophomore Sean Mallon scored 10 of his 22 to keep the Saxons in it.

“We had a lot of trouble catching up,” Mallon said. “We kept making mistakes… . Whenever we did something, they came back and did something.”

“We’d get back within six and they would answer,” Gilman said. “That’s the sign of a veteran team. They’ve been very close to the state tournament two years in a row. Some of these kids have been on both those teams.”

It helped that Prep was balanced. Greg Johnson had 14, Adam Frankovic 12 and Ryan Simpson 10 off the bench

“Every game is different,” Simpson said. “It depends on the team we’re playing. They may need me to come in and play defense and rebound. I knew I would have to come in and score tonight.”

Mallon hit 10 of 12 shots and grabbed 11 rebounds but fouled out with 2 minutes left and the Saxons down seven.

“They just played with more maturity,” said Erik Benzel, who scored 14 for Ferris. “They didn’t turn the ball over and played smart. They finished when we didn’t.”

Gonzaga Prep 73, Ferris 62

Ferris 10 14 21 17 - 62

Gonzaga Prep 19 14 20 20 - 73

Ferris (9-1) - Benzel 6 2-2 17, Bursch 4 3-3 12, Clift 1 1-1 3, Mallon 10 2-2 22, Pounds 1 1-2 3, McLauchlin 0 0-0 0, Kasen 0 0-1 0, Fike 2 1-3 5. Totals 24 10-14 62.

Gonzaga Prep (10-0) - Johnson 6 0-0 14, Ryan 2 0-0 4, Bloom 3 2-2 9, Simpson 4 2-2 10, Frankovic 4 4-6 12, LeSage 0 0-0 0, Bond 7 9-13 24, Nickol 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 17-23 73.

3-point goals - Benzel 3, Bursch, Johnson 2, Bloom, Bond. Total fouls - Ferris 22, Gonzaga Prep 19. Fouled out - Mallon. Technicals - None.

East Valley 85, Rogers 31

Andrew Burgess scored 11 of his 29 points in the third quarter and the Knights took advantage of 33 turnovers to defeat the Pirates at Rogers.

EV had a 23-2 run in the second quarter.

East Valley 14 24 28 19 - 85

Rogers 9 7 5 10 - 31

East Valley (5-5) - Burgess 10 6-7 29, Lennick 0 0-0 0, Quirk 2 2-2 6, Brown 3 5-7 11, Paul 9 5-6 23, Duncan 0 0-0 0, Horgan 3 3-9 9, Hansen 1 1-2 3, Mathison 0 4-6 4. Totals 28 26-39 85.

Rogers (0-10) - Worley 0 0-0 0, Baker 0 2-2 2, Wallen 0 0-0 0, Mullerleile 2 1-1 5, Bogle 0 1-2 1, Olson 0 0-0 0, Perez 2 0-0 5, Bowerman 2 0-0 4, Vaughan 4 1-3 9, Berend 1 1-2 3, Reed 1 0-1 2, Gaffaney 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 6-11 31.

3-point goals - Burgess 3, Perez. Total fouls - East Valley 11, Rogers 28. Fouled out - Perez. Technicals - None.

Mt. Spokane 49, CV 45 (OT)

Kyle Vessey scored 24 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to lead the visiting Wildcats over the Bears in overtime.

CV blew a seven-point lead with a cold third quarter in which the Bears made only 2 of 15 field goals.

Vessey had eight of his points in the third period. Matt Tabisz had nine boards.

Mt. Spokane 11 5 16 8 9 - 49

Central Vly 15 8 7 10 5 - 45

Mt. Spokane (5-5) - Lessig 1 0-0 2, Swanson 2 0-0 4, Hornstein 0 0-0 0, Franklin 0 0-1 0, Tabisz 6 6-9 19, Meyer 0 0-2 0, Vessey 8 8-13 24, Proett 0 0-0 0,. Totals 17 14-25 49.

Central Valley (6-4) - Liepman 0 0-0 0, Rodgers 2 0-0 4, Nylund 3 0-0 7, Boast 3 3-4 11, Mosby 0 1-2 1, Filice 1 0-0 2, Walls 5 5-5 18, Stewart 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 9-11 45.

3-point goals - Tabisz, Nylund, Boast 2, Walls 3. Total fouls - Mt. spokane 13, Central Valley 18. Fouled out - Rodgers, Filice. Technicals - None.

North Central 69, Mead 56

David Smith scored 11 of his game-high 23 points in the third quarter and also had some key offensive rebounds as the Indians won at Mead. Jake Martyn had 13 points of his 20 points in the first half for NC.

North Central 15 21 18 15 - 69

Mead 10 21 8 17 - 56

North Central (3-7) - Moffitt 1 0-0 2, Lamanna 0 0-0 0, Peterson 1 4-10 7, Lesesne 0 0-0 0, Roloff 1 1-1 3, Donovan 2 1-5 6, Lattin 0 0-0 0, B. Johnson 1 0-0 2, Martyn 6 7-8 20, Smith 10 3-4 23, Cheek 2 2-4 6, M. Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 18-32 69.

Mead (3-8) - Stallings 0 0-0 0, Zelinski 3 0-1 6, Stucky 1 0-2 3, Dvorak 1 0-0 2, McNaghten 3 1-2 7, Leaf 2 1-2 6, Cwik 1 2-2 5, Williams 3 3-4 9, Fischer 7 4-6 18, Totals 21 11-19 56.

3-point goals - Donovan, Martin, Peterson, Leaf, Cwik, Stucky. Total fouls - North Central 15, Mead 19. Fouled out - Fischer. Technicals - None.

Shadle Park 65, LC 56

Demetrius Scott made 12 of 21 field goals, including 4 of 7 3-pointers, on the way to 30 points as the visiting Highlanders defeated the Tigers. Sophomore Danny Pariseau added 18 points, making 6 of 8 free throws.

Shadle Park 21 18 12 14 - 65

Lewis and Clark 7 20 11 18 - 56

Shadle Park (6-3) - Scott 12 2-5 30, K. Johnson 1 0-0 3, Rowe 2 0-0 4, Pariseau 5 6-8 18, Weisner 0 2-6 2, Gabriel 3 0-1 6, Doyle 0 0-0 0, Henderson 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 10-20 65.

Lewis and Clark (5-5) - Morgan 0 0-0 0, Hook 2 1-2 5, Erik Coleman 4 5-6 14, Erin Coleman 0 0-0 0, Hurd 0 0-0 0, Domit 4 0-2 8, Black 2 2-6 6, Johnson 2 5-6 9, Denbeigh 4 5-6 14. Totals 18 18-28 56.

3-point goals - Scott 4, K. Johnson, Pariseau 2, Erik Coleman, Debeigh. Total fouls - Shadle Park 20, Lewis and Clark 20. Fouled out - Hook, Erik Coleman. Technicals - Shadle Park bench.