Feeding the dream

On the biggest stage of the boys basketball season, Trevor Slocum and his senior teammates saw themselves falling behind, saw a Greater Spokane League boys basketball game slipping away from the East Valley Knights, just as it had 12 times before this season.

So, in front of a gym jampacked – half filled with home fans of the Rogers Pirates, half packed with East Valley faithful, they collectively decided to change course. In an annual spirit game throw-down dubbed “The Gauntlet,” the Knights literally picked up the challenge and earned their first victory in 13 games thus far this season.

Down by 11 points in the third quarter, East Valley rallied behind Danny Marshall, who scored a career-high 29 points, Lonnie Quirk and Slocum, who scored 12 and 13 points, respectively. The Knights scored a 68-63 win in overtime.

“The crowd was so incredible – it was the best crowd I’ve every played in front of – and to win the game the way we did was incredible,” the 5-foot-10 guard said. “You dream about playing in that kind of atmosphere.”

That dream, however, didn’t include a 12-game losing streak.

“The problem’s been that we’re just so darned young,” coach Steve Henderson said. “We’ve just had trouble finding some consistency. If it’s not one thing, it’s been something else. We’ve been working hard and we’ve been right there in just about every game.”

“It was getting to be really frustrating,” Slocum said. “I feel like we’ve been playing pretty good most of the season. We just have a little trouble finishing sometimes. This time we finally had a good fourth-quarter comeback and finished well.

“The seniors, me, Danny, Lonnie and Shawn (Crowley), have been trying to lead the team and do what we can. This time we all stepped up.”

Against Rogers, the senior trio of Marshall, Quirk and Slocum not only had to play inspired basketball, they had to play smart to erase a nine-point deficit to start the fourth quarter. Marshall started the second half with three fouls and picked up a fourth early in the third quarter. Quirk spent a big chunk of the second half on the bench with four fouls and Slocum was saddled with three personals in the fourth quarter.

“Coach Henderson talks to us all the time about having to play smart and to not commit dumb fouls,” Slocum said. “That’s what we did in the fourth quarter.”

Twice Slocum scored the final bucket of a period. He jumped a pass in the Pirates’ backcourt and raced in for a layup to close out the first half, and his jumper at the buzzer cut Rogers’ lead to 51-42 to start the final quarter.

“I really like to score to close out a quarter,” Slocum said. “It means a lot, momentum wise. It doesn’t seem like much of a break between quarters to most people, but it can really kill a team’s momentum to go sit down on the bench. And I like giving my team a boost to close things out.”

The younger Knights, Slocum said, have worked hard this season, learning on the job in a very tough league.

“The GSL is the toughest league in the state,” he said. “This is a tough league no matter who you are, but it’s even tougher if you don’t have a lot of experience. Our young guys have done a good job and they’ve kept a good attitude.”

Slocum and his teammates are buoyed by the way the Knights came back from a second-half deficit. If the team can repeat that script – playing an inside out game with a dominant Marshall in the middle, it will give the team a sense of confidence going into the final seven games of the regular season.

“Danny just went off inside, and he can do so many things that he’s a force when he’s on his game,” Slocum said. “Not only can he do so many different things at the offensive end – from posting up low to hitting the outside three-pointer – but he can really take charge on the defensive end. He rebounds really well and he’s big enough that he doesn’t even have to jump to block a shot or force an opponent to alter their shot. He just has to put his arms up.

“I really like playing that inside-out game with Danny. It opens up a lot of options. If he doesn’t have a shot, he can kick it out for our outside shooters. That worked for us late against Rogers.”

Marshall was not a major offensive factor in East Valley’s first two meetings with the GSL’s other two Class 3A teams. The 6-7 post was held to just a field goal in a three-point loss to North Central in the season opener, and was held to just eight points in a loss to Mt. Spokane.

Marshall, the Knights’ leading scorer, averages just over 13 points per game. Slocum, the team’s second-leading scorer, averages 8.5 a game.

“We need to get some momentum and win some games going into our final two against NC and Mt. Spokane,” Slocum said. “We get another shot at Lewis and Clark (tonight) – a team that got us at their place the first time. But if we get a good crowd like the one we had (at Rogers), we have a good shot at them at our place.”