FORKS — Forks missed out on a chance to make an early statement in the Evergreen League boys basketball standings when it lost 67-49 to Aberdeen.
The Spartans (2-1, 2-2) opened league play with wins against Rochester and Elma, and Tuesday’s contest with the Bobcats (3-0, 4-2) was for control of first place.
“The kids were kind of on a high, being 2-0 in league,” Forks coach Rick Gooding said.
“We didn’t respond quite the way I would have liked some of our kids to respond to a little bit of adversity.
“I told them it’s easy to say you have each others’ backs when you’re winning, but it takes a true teammate and someone with some real fire to give our team some energy when we’re down.”
After the first quarter ended in a 16-16 tie, Aberdeen pushed past the Spartans for a 41-29 halftime lead.
“The second quarter they jumped on us,” Gooding said.
“Really, the difference in the game was their press. We didn’t necessarily run our press breaker the way we ran it in practice. We kind of tried inventing our own and it didn’t work out very well.”
The Spartans cut the Bobcats’ lead to single digits in the fourth quarter, but Aberdeen went back to its press and scored a few easy baskets.
“We kind of played right into their hands,” Gooding said.
“They wanted to speed it up and force us into some silly passes and force us to try doing too much with some of our guys. And we kind of did.”
Forks’ Parker Browning led all scorers with 25 points, and Marky Adams added 11 points.
Rodney Hamm paced Aberdeen with 16 points, including 14 in the second quarter.
Payton Campbell scored 14 points, as did 6-foot-6 Chandler Craig, who got the better of the 6-8 Adams in the matchup of bigs.
“He was pretty fluid, pretty fundamentally sound, so he gave Marky some fits,” Gooding said.
“He was just a load, he did a good job.”
Forks hosts Neah Bay (1-2) today before resuming league play Friday at home against Tenino (2-3).
“I told them after the game, there’s winners and there’s learners. Hopefully we’re going to be some learners and figure out that we got to run our press breaker, we got to do things the right way,” Gooding said.
“And I think we will. We got the right group. They figure things out, they’re a competitive group, they want it win, so I think we’ll be all right.”
Aberdeen 67, Forks 49
Aberdeen 16 25 10 16— 67
Forks 16 13 11 9— 49
Individual scoring
Aberdeen (67)
Campbell 14, Dublanko 2, Devine 2, Collett 9, V. James 10, Hamm 16, Craig 14, Roiko, M. James, Williamson, Castleberry.
Forks (49)
Schumack 3, Baysinger 4, Tejano 3, Browning 25, Prose 3, Adams 11, Johnson, Ramsey, Pegram.
Shorewood Christian 56, Neah Bay 40
SEATTLE — Jovi Fevaleaki torched the Red Devils with 29 points to lead the Lions to victory in the rematch of last season’s Class 1B state semifinals.
Fevaleaki only made 7 of 20 inside the 3-point line but hit 5 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Kenrick Doherty was Neah Bay’s top scorer with 16 points on 6 of 20 shooting. Rwehabura Munyagi Jr. added nine points and Jericho McGimpsey finished with eight.
The Red Devils defeated Shorewood Christian 67-44 at state last year. They also beat the Lions 72-59 in the Tri-District semifinals.
Neah Bay (1-2) plays at Forks (2-2) tonight.
Shorewood Christian 56, Neah Bay 40
Neah Bay 7 17 8 8— 40
Shorewood Christian 16 9 14 17— 56
Individual scoring
Neah Bay (40)
Munyagi 9, McGimpsey 8, Doherty 16, Moss 3, Buttram 4, Bitegeko, Dulik.
Shorewood Christian (56)
Domingo 8, Howell 10, Fevaleaki 29, Young 9, Munson, Morris, Sollesvick.
Taholah 69, Crescent 40
JOYCE — The Loggers opened strong and held a 13-9 lead over the Chitwins after one quarter.
“The first period was really a great display of the potential our guys have as a team,” Crescent coach Chris Ferrier said.
“Unfortunately, we had issues in the second quarter with their pressure, and that is a combination of inexperience and lack of size.
“Taholah had some length that got into the passing lanes, and we really had some issues with decision making against the pressure.”
McCabe Story led the Loggers with 12 points.
“KC Spencer had a great game, nine rebounds to go along with eights points,” Ferrier said.
“And Neil Peppard played fiercely inside, pulling down 10 rebounds.
“The bottom line, however, is that we are getting better, and we are going to continue to embrace the process of rebuilding this thing.”
Crescent (0-5) hosts Clallam Bay on Friday.
Taholah 69, Crescent 40
Taholah 9 20 23 17— 69
Crescent 13 4 15 8— 40
Individual scoring
Crescent (40)
Spencer 8, Leonard 8, Story 12, Peppard 4, McNeese 8, S. Williams, Hartley, Buchanan, Johnson, E. Williams.
________
Compiled using team reports.
