Published: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Stanwood marches to top
Spartans beat Snohomish, now share first in Wesco North
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Elizabeth Armstrong / The Herald
Stanwood’s Kale Schmidt (left) grabs a rebound away from Snohomish’s Jonathan McGee near the end of the first quarter of the Spartans’ 57-54 win over the Panthers. With the victory, Stanwood moved into a first-place tie with Lake Stevens in the Wesco North. The loss made Snohomish the North’s fourth seed to the district playoffs.
SNOHOMISH — One great quarter and a little composure down the stretch was all the streaking Stanwood boys basketball team needed to pick up another victory.
Drew Haugstad scored a team-high 17 points and Stanwood outscored Snohomish by 17 points in the second quarter on its way to a 57-54 Wesco North victory over Snohomish Tuesday night at Snohomish High School.
It was the 10th win in a row for Stanwood. With a victory in their regular-season finale Thursday against Cascade, the Spartans will achieve something that head coach Zach Ward said hasn’t happened since the days of Ryan Appleby — a Wesco North title.
“It’s been a while,” said Ward, who said he thought his team last took a title in the 2001-2002 season.
Stanwood improved to 13-2 in league to tie Lake Stevens for first place in the Wesco North. Should Stanwood win again and Lake Stevens win its season finale against Everett, the two teams will share the Wesco North title.
Not that Ward wants to think about that just yet.
“We’re going to prepare for Cascade,” Ward said, “We can’t get caught up in the other stuff.”
Early in Tuesday’s game, it looked like Snohomish would spoil any dreams about a Wesco North title and hand the Spartans their first loss since Jan. 5.
Snohomish started all five of its seniors on Senior Night and jumped out to a 20-12 first quarter lead. During the run, every Snohomish starter — Blane Ortiz, Chad Newell, Josh Savage, Jonathan McGee and Logan Steele — scored. McGee (10 points), Snohomish’s second-leading scorer on the season, credited Senior Night as a big part of Snohomish’s first-quarter lead.
After the fast start, however, things turned south quickly for the Panthers.
Stanwood senior Kale Schmidt (13 points) hit a 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to start an impressive 27-7 Stanwood run in the final 8 minutes, 2 seconds of the first half.
The Spartans made their run in a variety of ways — scoring off 3-pointers, scoring off athletic drives and scoring off open layups set up by crisp passing. Most importantly, Stanwood’s defense stopped Snohomish from scoring.
“Yeah, it was a big quarter,” Ward said of the second, where Stanwood outscored Snohomish 24-7. “We had really good energy … forced them into one shot at the basket (per possession). On the offensive end, we had good execution. They were trying to deny one or two guys and we had a couple other people step up.”
Haugstad scored 12 points in the first half for Stanwood and hit a 3-pointer to tie the score 20-20 with 6:11 remaining in the second quarter. Schmidt scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half, and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer to put Stanwood up for good, 23-20.
Then Stanwood experienced a bit off a gut check. After enjoying a 12-point halftime lead, the Spartans began to take and miss outside jumpers and 3-point attempts. As Stanwood struggled to score, Snohomish pulled to within two at 42-40 with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter on a break-a-way layup by McGee.
Role player Mike McCune made a pair of free throws to answer on the other end, and Snohomish couldn’t get any closer all night.
Ward credited senior forward McCune (four points) and senior forward Ryan Schroyer (four points) with coming off the bench to provide energy and rebounding. Zach Johnson anchored the Stanwood rebounding effort with 12 rebounds and also had six points.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak from Snohomish (10-5 in league), which, like Stanwood, already has qualified for the 4A District 1 playoffs. Snohomish is the Wesco North fourth seed.
The Panthers were coming off a 10-point upset of Lake Stevens, but couldn’t over come the disastrous second quarter, despite outscoring Stanwood in every other quarter.
Ward credited his team with having ability to come back from a deficit in the first half and then hold off a run by a determined Snohomish squad in the second half.
“I think it’s that confidence,” Ward said. “I think earlier in the year that might not have happened. … When (the score) got (close again), we had to re-energize and refocus. We did. It was a good learning experience.”
At Snohomish H.S.
Stanwood 15 24 9 9 — 57
Snohomish 20 7 15 12 — 54
Stanwood — Haugstad 17, Reinecke 3, Schmidt 13, Cook 8, Schroyer 4, Johnson 6, McCune 4, Taylor 2. Snohomish — Hamlin 7, Ortiz 19, Sterley 0, Simpson 0, Newell 2, Carlson 4, Savage 6, Reichenberger 0, McGee 10, Steele 6. 3-pointers — Ortiz 1, Haugstad 3, Reinecke 1, Schmidt 2. Records — Stanwood 13-2 league, 13-6 overall. Snohomish 10-5, 11-8.
Drew Haugstad scored a team-high 17 points and Stanwood outscored Snohomish by 17 points in the second quarter on its way to a 57-54 Wesco North victory over Snohomish Tuesday night at Snohomish High School.
It was the 10th win in a row for Stanwood. With a victory in their regular-season finale Thursday against Cascade, the Spartans will achieve something that head coach Zach Ward said hasn’t happened since the days of Ryan Appleby — a Wesco North title.
“It’s been a while,” said Ward, who said he thought his team last took a title in the 2001-2002 season.
Stanwood improved to 13-2 in league to tie Lake Stevens for first place in the Wesco North. Should Stanwood win again and Lake Stevens win its season finale against Everett, the two teams will share the Wesco North title.
Not that Ward wants to think about that just yet.
“We’re going to prepare for Cascade,” Ward said, “We can’t get caught up in the other stuff.”
Early in Tuesday’s game, it looked like Snohomish would spoil any dreams about a Wesco North title and hand the Spartans their first loss since Jan. 5.
Snohomish started all five of its seniors on Senior Night and jumped out to a 20-12 first quarter lead. During the run, every Snohomish starter — Blane Ortiz, Chad Newell, Josh Savage, Jonathan McGee and Logan Steele — scored. McGee (10 points), Snohomish’s second-leading scorer on the season, credited Senior Night as a big part of Snohomish’s first-quarter lead.
After the fast start, however, things turned south quickly for the Panthers.
Stanwood senior Kale Schmidt (13 points) hit a 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer to start an impressive 27-7 Stanwood run in the final 8 minutes, 2 seconds of the first half.
The Spartans made their run in a variety of ways — scoring off 3-pointers, scoring off athletic drives and scoring off open layups set up by crisp passing. Most importantly, Stanwood’s defense stopped Snohomish from scoring.
“Yeah, it was a big quarter,” Ward said of the second, where Stanwood outscored Snohomish 24-7. “We had really good energy … forced them into one shot at the basket (per possession). On the offensive end, we had good execution. They were trying to deny one or two guys and we had a couple other people step up.”
Haugstad scored 12 points in the first half for Stanwood and hit a 3-pointer to tie the score 20-20 with 6:11 remaining in the second quarter. Schmidt scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half, and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer to put Stanwood up for good, 23-20.
Then Stanwood experienced a bit off a gut check. After enjoying a 12-point halftime lead, the Spartans began to take and miss outside jumpers and 3-point attempts. As Stanwood struggled to score, Snohomish pulled to within two at 42-40 with 2:55 remaining in the third quarter on a break-a-way layup by McGee.
Role player Mike McCune made a pair of free throws to answer on the other end, and Snohomish couldn’t get any closer all night.
Ward credited senior forward McCune (four points) and senior forward Ryan Schroyer (four points) with coming off the bench to provide energy and rebounding. Zach Johnson anchored the Stanwood rebounding effort with 12 rebounds and also had six points.
The loss snapped a two-game winning streak from Snohomish (10-5 in league), which, like Stanwood, already has qualified for the 4A District 1 playoffs. Snohomish is the Wesco North fourth seed.
The Panthers were coming off a 10-point upset of Lake Stevens, but couldn’t over come the disastrous second quarter, despite outscoring Stanwood in every other quarter.
Ward credited his team with having ability to come back from a deficit in the first half and then hold off a run by a determined Snohomish squad in the second half.
“I think it’s that confidence,” Ward said. “I think earlier in the year that might not have happened. … When (the score) got (close again), we had to re-energize and refocus. We did. It was a good learning experience.”
At Snohomish H.S.
Stanwood 15 24 9 9 — 57
Snohomish 20 7 15 12 — 54
Stanwood — Haugstad 17, Reinecke 3, Schmidt 13, Cook 8, Schroyer 4, Johnson 6, McCune 4, Taylor 2. Snohomish — Hamlin 7, Ortiz 19, Sterley 0, Simpson 0, Newell 2, Carlson 4, Savage 6, Reichenberger 0, McGee 10, Steele 6. 3-pointers — Ortiz 1, Haugstad 3, Reinecke 1, Schmidt 2. Records — Stanwood 13-2 league, 13-6 overall. Snohomish 10-5, 11-8.
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