SNOHOMISH — There’s that old saying in sports that defense wins ballgames.
It also helps if the other team is having a poor night shooting the ball.
Such was the case Friday night for the Stanwood boys basketball team when it dropped a 55-42 Wesco North game to the Snohomish Panthers at Snohomish High School.
Stanwood (4-3 in league, 5-6 overall) stumbled out of the gate scoring 13 first-half points on just four field goals and Snohomish (6-0, 7-2) held on for its second straight win.
Snohomish guard Brad Shaw scored a game-high 20 points, 13 in the second half to lead the division-leading Panthers.
Brad Low added nine points and seven assists and senior forward Zach Wilde scored 10 points for Snohomish.
“I felt like we got shots that counted, it just didn’t go our way. That’s part of the game, you just hope that you make more than you miss. I’m not sure that was the case tonight,” Stanwood head coach Zach Ward said.
Thanks in part to their length — the Panthers start five players over 6-feet-2, and have only one player shorter than 6-feet — Snohomish has specialized in defense this season holding opponents to 43.4 points per game.
“With their length it’s tough to penetrate, its tough to get inside that paint,” Ward said. “We went about it a different way and tried to get some open jumpers.
“It was definitely a dry spell there for a little bit,” the first-year coach added.
Despite the 42 points allowed, Snohomish head coach Len Bone wasn’t all too excited about his team’s defensive efforts.
“We were okay defensively. I wouldn’t say that we were real solid. We were okay,” Bone said, “We did give up way more shots than we wanted to.”
Whether it was good defense by the Panthers or poor shooting by the Spartans, the first half was pretty rough for the Stanwood offense as they were held to only one field goal in the second quarter.
Zach Johnson scored the lone field goal for the Spartans, a 15-foot jumper with three minutes remaining in the half.
Despite the sloppy first two quarters the Spartans entered the half, behind by just 12.
“If you told me (before the game) we were going to make one field goal in the second quarter and still be in the game at halftime, I’ll take it against a team like that,” Ward said.
In the third period. Stanwood relied on its free-throw shooting and two 3-pointers by Kale Schmidt to cut Snohomish’s lead to 33-27 with 1:30 remaining.
“Our approach at halftime was to readjust and try to get some things going to the hole, maybe get some shots that way, and they did,” Ward said.
Snohomish ended the third quarter on a 5-0 run and thanks to two key fourth-quarter 3-pointers by Shaw, the Panthers kept their composure and never allowed the Spartans to get any closer than nine points the remainder of the game.
At Snohomish H.S.
Stanwood671415—42
Snohomish13121317—55
Stanwood — Chabot, Edlund 4, Haugstad, Hushagen, Johnson 10, Klempel 7, Orcutt 11, Schmidt 6, Williams 2, Zweber 2. Snohomish — Cummins, Johnson 4, Klop 4, Leahy, Low 9, McGee 6, McGinnis 2, Shaw 20, Wilde 10. 3-pointers — Shaw 4, Schmidt 2. Records — Stanwood 4-3 in league, 5-6 overall. Snohomish 6-0, 8-2.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
