MUKILTEO — Good shooters never dwell on past failures.
Take Sam Ruppel.
The Kamiak Knights guard put up an air-ball 3-point attempt with a few minutes to go Thursday in a close non-division boys basketball game against the Stanwood Spartans.
Instead of letting the off-target attempt spoil his night, Ruppel proved his value by swishing a clutch 3-pointer with eight seconds remaining, providing the decisive points in Kamiak’s 42-41 victory over Stanwood at the Kamiak High School gymnasium.
Ruppel, a junior, finished with six points, all on 3-pointers. Kamiak’s other stars were post Skylar Stormo (15 points, 13 rebounds) and reserve wing Andrew Dremlyuga (10 points).
Stormo, who scored his team’s first eight fourth-quarter points, said he had total faith in Ruppel.
“We’ve got a lot of heart. We (hung) in there. I had no doubt he was going to make that. I had a feeling it was going to go in,” said Stormo, a powerful 6-foot-4 senior who on Dec. 15 verbally committed to play football for Washington State University.
Kamiak (4-3 overall) trailed Stanwood (4-4) by five points for most of the final quarter. The Spartans led 40-35 with 2 minutes, 7 seconds remaining after Kale Schmidt (nine points) made two free throws.
But fueled by Stormo’s powerful inside attacks and Ruppel’s eventual game-winner, Kamiak rallied for a confidence-building, come-from-behind triumph.
“We could have done better tonight, but we got the job done and that’s what good teams do,” said Stormo, whose squad has won three consecutive games and four of its past five.
Stanwood had a chance to win the game but failed to get off a shot after inbounding the ball at its end of the court with seven seconds to go.
Sophomore post Zack Johnson (eight points, five steals, four assists, one block) had an outstanding all-around game for Stanwood before fouling out with 2:53 remaining. Stanwood wing Peter Edlund tallied nine points and four assists filling in for usual starting point guard Kyle Klempel. Klempel is out indefinitely after suffering a foot injury Friday against Arlington, Stanwood coach Zach Ward said.
Limiting Kamiak’s second-chance scoring opportunities was a main goal for Stanwood, Ward said, and the Spartans did a solid job until the last few minutes. Ward said his young team needs to learn how to preserve leads, especially late in the game.
Stanwood led by as many as six points in the second quarter (21-16) but Kamiak responded with an 8-0 run and the teams eventually were tied 23-23 at intermission. Kamiak’s Dremlyuga scored 10 points in the second period.
Schmidt thrilled Stanwood fans with a two-handed, fast-break dunk and a 3-pointer during a 9-0 Spartans’ burst that made it 21-15.
Despite going 4-for-15 from the field (26.7 percent) in the third quarter, Stanwood forced a barrage of turnovers and led 32-31 entering the final quarter. The Spartans ultimately didn’t hang on, but Ward saw positives.
“It’s a non-league game and it means something if you can take something out of it and apply it later in the year,” he said in reference to defensive rebounding and shot selection — two areas that hurt Stanwood.
Before Ruppel’s game-winner, Kamiak hoped to have guard Meka Este-McDonald get an open shot on a pick-and-roll play, Kamiak coach Greg Turcott said. But Este-McDonald got stuck under the basket before zipping a perfect pass to Ruppel.
“He knows he’s a good shooter. He’s got the green light,” Turcott said of Ruppel. “That shows a lot about (Ruppel) and his confidence (when) he could fire up an air ball with 2 minutes to go and next chance he’s open, hit one.”
At Kamiak H.S.
Stanwood81599—41
Kamiak815811—42
Stanwood—Zweber, Schmidt 9, Edlund 9, Williams 6, Johnson 8, Solvberg, Orcutt 7, Lawrence 2, Cook, Chabot. Kamiak—Este-McDonald 4, Ju. Glenn 5, Stormo 15, Ruppel 6, Parcells 2, Makori, Dremlyuga 10, Brown. 3-point goals-Schmidt 1, Ruppel 2, Dremlyuga 2. JV score—Kamiak 62, Stanwood 53. Records—Stanwood 4-4 overall. Kamiak 4-3.
Contact Herald Writer Mike Cane at mcane@heraldnet.com. For more high school sports news, check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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