Panthers rally to win

When a basketball team finds itself trailing by 17 points midway through the second quarter, particularly to a foe it lost to a couple of weeks earlier, a natural inclination might be to fold.

Not the Mead Panthers. Trailing Ferris 36-19 in the first half and by 14 points with 13 minutes, 35 seconds left to play, they sucked it up and, led by Garret Swanson and Aaron Dunn, rallied for a 76-72 overtime victory.

The Friday night feature between Greater Spokane League boys title aspirants left Mead (10-4, 8-1 GSL) tied with Gonzaga Prep for first place with Shadle Park right behind. The loss dropped the Saxons (8-6, 6-3) two games back with six left to play.

It wasn’t the largest deficit the Panthers had wiped out to beat a Saxons team, coach Glenn Williams said. That had been a 20-point comeback he recalled in the days of Adam Morrison versus Sean Mallon.

But this one obviously was welcome, as late-game hero Swanson could attest.

“This was a big game,” he said. “If we lost we would be tied with Ferris for fourth place. Win and we were still tied for first.”

Swanson, shaking off the effects of three second-quarter fouls, scored 18 of his team-high 21 points in the second half. He hit two 3-pointers to begin the third-quarter comeback, another early in overtime for a 69-64 lead and made three free throws in the final 19 seconds to keep the Saxons at bay.

“Garret is a natural scorer,” Williams said. “You can’t teach that. And what I’m so pleased with is how much more tough and aggressive (he’s become).”

Dunn finished with 18 points, 11 in the second half when he and Swanson divided up 16 of the team’s 24 in the third quarter to cut Ferris’ once-formidable lead to four points.

The Panthers closed to within 53-50 late in the third quarter and tied the contest early in the fourth quarter on Swanson free throws. They scored eight straight points, culminating in Dunn’s power layup for a 64-59 lead with a minute remaining.

Ferris forced overtime at 64-all on a spinning Riley Stockton drive with 3 seconds left.

Mead broke a 69-all tie by making 7 of 8 free-throw attempts in the final 1:41 of OT and held on. Stockton scored 11 of his 20 points in the final quarter and OT.

Gonzaga Prep 72, Central Valley 36: The Bullpups (13-1, 8-1) had their way with the host Bears (5-8, 1-8), leading by 37 points after three quarters. League scoring leader Ryan Nicholas tallied 22 points and nine rebounds. Chris Sarbaugh had six steals, seven rebounds and four assists to go with 10 points.

Shadle Park 70, Mt. Spokane 38: The Highlanders (10-3, 7-1) waited until the second half to put away the visiting Wildcats (1-13, 0-8). They led by a basket before tallying 45 second-half points to Mt. Spokane’s 15. Robby Douglas scored 17 of 25 points after intermission and Brett Boese was a double-figure scorer and rebounder.

Lewis and Clark 65, University 62: The home-standing Tigers (6-8, 4-5) won a second nailbiter this season over the Titans (5-8, 2-6). They started the fourth quarter on a 21-9 run, but U-Hi ran off 15 straight before Austin Ehlo scored with 15 seconds left to seal the win. Ehlo (18 points) and Levi Taylor, with a team-high 22, provided most of LC’s scoring. Kyle Bailey had a game-high 23 for U-Hi.

Rogers 45, East Valley 40: On “The Gauntlet” spirit game night, the Pirates (7-7, 3-5) overcame a rare six-point play to hold off the visiting Knights (3-11, 2-6). EV converted a technical foul, personal foul and scored a basket to rally from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit. Myka Brown and Devon Daniels converted four free throws down the stretch to seal it. EV’s Ryan McIntyre led all scorers with 19 points. Dillon Franklin had 14 for Rogers.