Stanwood holds off Arlington

Published 11:47 pm Friday, December 21, 2007

ARLINGTON — In keeping with the spirit of the season the Stanwood Spartans put forth an effort that was both naughty and nice Friday night.

First came the latter — a 20-point lead after three quarters. The former came later — a near-collapse in the fourth period before the Spartans held on to escape with a 53-48 triumph over the relentless Arlington Eagles in Western Conference North Division boys basketball action.

“We’ve talked about mentally preparing for games, but we haven’t had a lot of chances to talk about finishing games,” Stanwood coach Zach Ward said. “And tonight was a perfect example of that.”

Stanwood (3-2 in division, 4-3 overall) used its formidable height advantage to secure a 16-point lead by halftime and extended that advantage to 42-22 entering the fourth quarter.

Arlington, which played the game without its second- and third-leading scorers, never overtook the Spartans, but Will Heath’s put-back just ahead of the final buzzer brought the host Eagles closer than they had been since trailing 11-7 late in the first quarter.

“You don’t want to give up 26 point in any quarter,” Ward said. “Guys didn’t understand the game flow and what to do in that situation … you don’t have to be a math major to figure out that’s a lot of points in an eight-minute quarter and in our program that’s unacceptable.”

In the final quarter, Tyler Busby scored eight of his game-high 15 points, Tyler Richardson hit a pair of late 3-pointers and scored 10 of his 14, and Will Heath added six for the Eagles (1-3, 2-5).

“It would have been nice if we hadn’t dug ourselves such a big hole,” Busby said. “If we would have played like that early in the game, it might have been different, but it’s nice to (comeback) and make it respectable.”

Said Arlington coach Nick Brown: “I was real happy with our effort. We got after it. I just wish we’d done it a little sooner.”

Missing from the Arlington lineup were 6-foot-3 center Caleb Scarth (9.8 points per game) and guard Cole Carpenter (12.0). Scarth missed the game with a partially torn oblique muscle and Carpenter is out with a hip flexor. Brown said he expects the pair to return to action by next Friday.

“I think we kind of felt sorry for ourselves in the first half. We let down and hung our heads,” Brown said. “We talked about that at halftime and came out with a little bit of fire.”

Short-handed Arlington got a lift off the bench from freshmen point guard Zach Cooper and freshmen forward Blake Petersen.

“I thought they did a wonderful job,” Brown said. “They are great young men, they’re competitors, they have a fire in their hearts and play hard.”

Busby drove the lane and cashed in a lay-up to give Arlington a 4-3 lead in the third minute of the game.

Little else went right the remainder of the first half for the Eagles, who endured a 24-7 Stanwood blitz over the next 13 minutes. Stanwood’s inside domination in the second quarter included Zack Johnson, Patrick Zweber and Kaleb Orcutt combining for five blocked shots.

Steven Williams scored nine of his team-high 13 points in the first half for the Spartans. Johnson added 10 for the Spartans.

Back-up point guard Peter Edlund shined in the second half for Stanwood, scoring all eight of his points to help hold Arlington at bay.

“(Edlund) is a perfect example of what you want,” Ward said. “That’s the one kid that was ready to go tonight and he showed it.

“On the one hand you’re glad you played well for three quarters,” Ward continued. “You want to take the positive out of that, but finishing a game is just as important as starting and there are 32 minutes.”

At Arlington H.S.

Stanwood14131511—53

Arlington741126—48

Stanwood — Klempel 5, Schmidt 6, Orcutt 2, Edlund 8, Williams 13, Zipp 2, Solvberg 2, Johnson 10, Zweber 4, Chabot 1. Arlington — Barber 2, Cooper 2, Richardson 14, Heath 10, Larson 3, Busby 15, McPherson, Peterson 2. 3-point goals — Klempel 1, Schmidt 1, Williams 1, Richardson 2, Heath 1. J.V. result — Stanwood 74, Arlington 61. Records — Stanwood 3-2 in division, 4-3 overall. Arlington 1-3, 2-5.