NEAH BAY — Neah Bay’s halftime break wasn’t much of a break.
Less than three minutes after the intermission started, the Red Devils were back on the court shooting, trying to fix whatever went wrong in the first half.
“I barely talked,” coach Stan Claplanhoo said. “I said, the only thing wrong with our game right now is our shots ain’t falling. So get out there and find your shot. Hit the free throw line, get a couple, you know, find your shot.
“And be confident, come out confident. Don’t quit.”
The results weren’t immediate, but finally some balls dropped through the net instead of hitting rim and bouncing out, and the Red Devils pulled away late to defeat Forks 56-43 in nonleague boys basketball action Wednesday.
In the first half, Neah Bay made only 7 of 45 field goals and missed all 18 of their 3-point attempts. Forks didn’t do much better, but did finish the half on a 8-0 run to lead 17-14 at the break.
“It was crazy. First half there was a lid on the hoop, man,” Neah Bay’s Kenrick Doherty said.
“Like wide open, even me and Ryan [Moss], our shooters, couldn’t get it. Even our layins, man.
“We were just off the first half.”
It took some time for the extra shooting to pay off. Halfway through the third quarter, all the Red Devils had scored were two free throws by Moss and a layup by Jericho McGimpsey after a steal.
Finally, Doherty sunk a 3-pointer to cut Forks’ lead to 25-23.
“Sigh of relief, man,” Doherty said. “That was my first one to go down. Our coach at halftime always says we’re a second-half team, once we get one to drop, the next one’s will go down, too.”
Carlos Tejano answered with a 3 for the Spartans, but then Doherty hit another trey to make it 28-26.
Austin Pegram drove across the lane for a bucket for the Spartans, but a minute later Doherty drilled another three that brought the Red Devils to within one point, 30-29 with 1:50 left in the quarter.
“It was magical,” Neah Bay’s Anthony Bitegeko said of Doherty’s spree.
“We were all getting back into it. It was great.”
Neah Bay finished the third quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 35-30 heading into the fourth.
But the Spartans weren’t done. Marky Adams scored four straight points, and freshman Jerome Eastman hit a 3 that tied the game at 37-37 with 6:15 remaining.
Eastman had just taken the floor for the first time as a varsity player.
“First shot in a varsity basketball game ties a game against a great 1B school, so that was pretty cool,” Forks coach Rick Gooding said.
Doherty scored a layup and Moss made his only 3-pointer of the game to jump-start the final Red Devils rally, which went for 11 straight points to put the game away.
Doherty led Neah Bay with 20 points. Moss, the Red Devils’ leading scorer this season, was held to seven points on 2 of 21 shooting.
Bitegeko started in place of post Reggie Buttram and put up a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
“Anthony had a hell of a game,” Claplanhoo said. “He stayed at home and boxed out and got rebounds, loose balls. He’s a scrapper.”
Bitegeko, a junior who transferred over the summer from Timberline High School in Lacey, has taken advantage of a bump in playing time due to the absences of McGimpsey and Buttram
“I had to step up,” Bitegeko said. “Just the more floor time, getting more comfortable with the court, new team.”
Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. added nine points, 11 rebounds, six blocks, five assists and five steals to Neah Bay’s win. McGimpsey, in his second game since missing more than three weeks with a concussion, scored eight points, pulled down nine rebounds and had four assists and four steals.
The Red Devils shot 30 percent from the field. The Spartans weren’t much better, making only 31 percent of their field goals.
Their top scorer, Parker Browning, missed all eight of his field goal attempts and finished with only three points.
Marky Adams led Forks with 15 points, and Tejano came off the bench to score 10.
“Obviously, the key to the game is our Achilles heel all year, just blocking out and turnovers, but that’s what they force you to do,” Gooding said, referring to Neah Bay.
The Red Devils credited their defense with keeping them in the game when their shots weren’t falling.
“It just proves that our defense wins for us again,” Doherty said.
“It was a defensive win.”
Neah Bay (4-0, 13-2), which moved up to fifth in The Associated Press’ latest Class 1B rankings, has now won 12 consecutive games and is now 5-0 against Class 1A teams this season.
The Red Devils close out the regular season with two North Olympic League games, first at Crescent (0-4, 1-14) today and then against Clallam Bay (2-2, 10-6) at home next Friday, Feb. 5.
Forks (4-8, 6-12) finishes the regular season with two Evergreen League games at home as it tries to beat out Elma (3-8, 5-12) and Tenino (2-10, 4-11) for the league’s final postseason berth.
First up for the Spartans is Hoquiam (9-2, 13-4) tonight at 5:45 p.m.
Forks hold the tiebreaker over Elma, but Tenino holds it over Forks.
________
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
