STANWOOD — With a chance to savor their first division title in eight years and earn a No. 1 seed for the upcoming district playoffs, the Stanwood Spartans seized their opportunity and never let go.
Supported by a pumped-up home crowd on senior night, the Stanwood High School boys basketball team rocketed to an early double-digit lead and routed the Cascade Bruins 84-51 Thursday in a Western Conference North Division game.
Making the most of his final regular-season home contest, Stanwood guard Kale Schmidt erupted for a career-high 31 points, including five 3-pointers and a pair of two-handed breakaway dunks. With their 11th straight victory, Schmidt and the Spartans earned a share of the Wesco North title, the program’s first league crown since the 2001-2002 season.
Stanwood (14-2 North, 14-6 overall) tied for first with Lake Stevens (14-2, 15-5), which beat Everett on Thursday. But thanks to a tiebreaker, Stanwood will be the division’s No. 1 seed for the Class 4A District 1 tournament and Lake Stevens is the No. 2 seed. The difference was Stanwood’s season sweep of Snohomish; Lake Stevens was 1-1 versus the Panthers.
Stanwood will host either North No. 5 seed Arlington or South No. 4 seed Edmonds-Woodway in a first-round district game on Wednesday.
Against Cascade, it didn’t take Stanwood long to seize control. The Spartans ended the first quarter with a 19-7 scoring run and scored the first basket of the second quarter — a 3-pointer by Schmidt from the left wing — and took a 25-10 lead.
“Everybody was super-psyched for (the game). Even our JV players were getting really excited walking around school (on Thursday),” said Schmidt, who praised Stanwood fans for generating tons of positive energy.
By halftime, Stanwood’s advantage swelled to 24 points (41-17). Often fueled by a pesky defense that created 15 Cascade turnovers, the Spartans made numerous transition layins and connected on seven 3s, including three long-range bombs each for Schmidt and Drew Haugstad, another senior.
Schmidt (15 points) and Haugstad (13 points) combined to score 11 more points than Cascade’s entire team in the first half. Schmidt’s fast-break dunk late in the second quarter thrilled Stanwood fans and made it 41-15.
Cascade (11-5, 13-7) was without star guard Chris McGrath, a high-scoring senior who is likely out for the season with a severe ankle sprain. Before playing Stanwood, Cascade already knew that win or lose it would be the North No. 3 seed and playing at South No. 2 Mountlake Terrace on Wednesday.
Seniors Jamieson McDaniels (16 points, three 3s) and Spencer Hancock (10 points) were Cascade’s top scorers.
The game was a showcase of Stanwood’s eight seniors: Schmidt, Haugstad, Zack Johnson, Austin Cook, Brock Reinecke, Ryan Jamieson, Ryan Schroyer and Mike McCune. All of them scored at least two points.
“I’m really just proud of the whole group of seniors,” Stanwood coach Zach Ward said. “You’re going to miss them when they’re gone, but you’ve got to enjoy them while they’re here.”
Ward is thrilled with the energy and effort his whole squad has had during its winning streak.
“The passion that these guys are playing with the last couple weeks is amazing,” Ward said. “And it’s not one or two guys; it’s the five that are on the floor, and then we bring in two or three and they have that same passion. I don’t think there’s a letdown in terms of energy and effort.”
During the pre-game senior night ceremony, Stanwood’s Johnson received a commemorative basketball from coach Ward in honor of Johnson’s surpassing the 1,000-point career scoring barrier on Feb. 5 at Oak Harbor. Johnson is the first Spartan boy to eclipse that milestone (more than 1,000 points, all in a Stanwood uniform) since Ryan Appleby, the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,724 points. Johnson also has more than 700 career rebounds.
At Stanwood H.S.
Cascade1071420—51
Stanwood22191825—84
Cascade — Taylor 2, Hancock 10, Garrett 8, Hilliard, McDaniels 16, Cline 6, Jackson 4, LaQ. Bruce 3, Nelson 2. Stanwood — Haugstad 15, Reinecke 3, Schmidt 31, Cook 3, Johnson 9, McCune 2, Jamieson 8, Schroyer 6, Taylor, Youngren 3, Garcea, Harris 2. 3-point goals — Hancock 2, McDaniels 3, Haugstad 3, Reinecke 1, Schmidt 5, Jamieson 1. Records — Cascade 11-5 in division, 13-7 overall. Stanwood 14-2, 14-6.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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