MILL CREEK — A little over a week ago the Glacier Peak boys basketball team sent Stanwood to its lowest point of the season after upsetting the Spartans 72-66 in the opening round of the district tournament.
The Spartans responded with three consecutive victories in loser-out games, with the final one coming against that same Glacier Peak team Saturday afternoon. Stanwood battled back to erase an eight-point deficit and defeat the Grizzlies 66-65 in the 3A District 1 third-place game at Jackson High School.
The victory clinches Stanwood’s fourth consecutive trip to the regional round of the state tournament.
“We practiced a week ago today and that was probably our low point of the season,” Stanwood head coach Zach Ward said. “We’d won a lot of games and Glacier Peak came into our house and kicked our butt. Talk about wind out of the sails. We had a meeting about a half an hour before practice started a week ago and I just tried getting them to understand somebody’s going to come out of this back end.
“It’s going to be a war. … It’s win or watch.”
Led by senior Zach Hatch — who finished with a game-high 25 points — Glacier Peak found success behind the 3-point arc in the first half. The Grizzlies made seven 3-pointers before halftime to build a 39-31 lead over Stanwood (18-6).
Hatch continued to put up points in the second half, but so did the Spartans. Stanwood juniors Quinton Borseth and Bryson Kelley led the charge, with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Kelley made a pair of free throws to with 6:52 left in the game to give the Spartans their first lead since the first quarter.
The two teams battled back-and-forth and were tied at 60 with 54 seconds left. Austin Wilhonen made a basket and then Borseth and Chase Strieby added free throws to put the game away.
“(Borseth and Kelley are) two juniors who have played in huge games in this gym before,” Ward said. “A year ago, they played in a district championship and I just credit it to experience. They’re two of the most even-keeled kids I’ve had, they don’t show emotion one way or the other. I think that speaks to who they are as players. They won a game similar to that one year ago today — though a little later in the day.”
Hatch threw up a 3-pointer that went in at the buzzer, his eighth of the contest for the game’s final score.
“Isn’t that fitting?” Ward said. “The way they shoot the three against us is incredible. I know they probably missed more than they made but it doesn’t feel that way right now. It feels like they shot about 80 percent. And Zach Hatch has had a great career. I think he’s a really cool high school athlete. If you look at his high school career he’s won so many games and played well in so many games. He killed us last year in the district championship. I’m going to enjoy watching him when he’s not playing against me.”
Junior Seiver Southard added 20 points for Glacier Peak (13-11), which finished another strong season under head coach Brian Hunter — Ward’s former boss at Stanwood.
“Brian’s one of my best friends. I learned so much from him in this game,” Ward said. “It’s no fun coaching against someone you respect and really like that much. The respect I have for him — I’ve got just a handful of coaches in that category in terms of how they’ve impacted me. He’s done more for me in high school coaching than anybody. I think that I’m in the spot I am right now because of him.”
That spot is back in regionals for the fourth consecutive season. Stanwood will find out its opponent either late Saturday night or early Sunday from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
“It’s awesome. You don’t celebrate wins enough in this business,” Ward said. “You get down on losses and they kill you for days. I told those guys, ‘You’ve got to enjoy this thing. We’ll worry about next week, next week.’”
At Jackson H.S.
Glacier Peak 21 18 13 13 —65
Stanwood 18 13 18 17 —66
Stanwood—AJ Martinka 11, Bryson Kelley 15, Cameron Plautz 2, Chase Strieby 14, Henry Oldow 0, Quinton Borseth 16, Isaac Olson 0, Austin Wilhonen 8, Nate Kummer 0, Trygve DeBoer 0. Glacier Peak—Zach Hatch 25, Seiver Southard 20, Jack Wygant 0, Scott Wilson 0, Brendan Tetrault 0, Justin Guffey 2, Bobby Martin 13, Kyle Dvorak 5. Records—Glacier Peak 13-11. Stanwood 18-6.
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