FORKS — Parker Browning and Colton Raben combined to score 45 of Forks’ 58 points in a 69-58 loss to Montesano in Evergreen League boys basketball action.
“Parker definitely had his best scoring game,” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said of the sophomore.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of scoring outside of Colton and Parker.”
Forks started slow Tuesday, which went against its recent trend, but came on in the second quarter and even took a 33-32 lead into halftime thanks to a three-quarter-court shot by Raben.
The Spartans and Bulldogs swapped leads throughout the third quarter, but Montesano (3-5, 6-6) pulled away late with a 1-3-1 half-court trap — something Forks spent a majority of Monday’s practice working on.
“We basically lost because we didn’t block out [on rebounds] and we didn’t execute against their pressure,” Gooding said.
“You can’t win every game, but you can learn from every game. Hopefully we learn from this one.”
Jake Herzog paced the Bulldogs with 19 points, 12 of which came in the final quarter.
The Spartans are still looking for their first league win (0-8, 1-10). They only have two more Evergreen League games at home.
“We’re going to have to do a lot of work on the road if we want to give ourselves a chance to play in the district tournament, which is still a goal of ours and still an attainable goal,” Gooding said.
Forks plays at Rochester (2-5, 2-10) on Friday.
Montesano 69, Forks 58
Montesano 16 16 16 21— 69
Forks 12 21 12 13— 58
Individual scoring
Montesano (69)
Herzog 19, Truax 8, Chastain 12, Nelson 4, Hopsecger 13, Valley 11, Napier 2, Ni. Chapman, Na. Chapman.
Forks (58)
Raben 20, Ramsey 4, Baysinger 3, Browning 25, Adams 6, Pegram, Tejano, Palmer, Rondeau.
Twin Valley 54, Crescent 47
JOYCE — The Loggers fought the Wolfpack to the end before coming up short in nonleague action.
When the two teams met last month, Twin Valley won 70-19.
“The boys played a really good game [Monday] night against Lake Quinault,” Crescent coach Darren Heaward said.
“Even though we lost, it was quite an improvement from the last time we played them.”
Martin Waldrip led the Loggers with 16 points and pulled down five rebounds.
“It wasn’t just one player, it was a combined effort from them all,” Heaward said.
“I was really proud of the boys as they brought some intensity and played with heart, especially when four of my players had fouled out and I had only four players left on the court with just less than 4 minutes left in the game.”
KC Spencer added nine points for Crescent, Neil Peppard had eight points and seven rebounds and Wyatt McNeece grabbed 11 boards and scored six points.
Twin Valley 54, Crescent 47
Twin Valley 6 12 14 22— 54
Crescent 9 15 6 17— 47
Individual scoring
Crescent (47)
Waldrip 16, Fletcher 4, Leonard 2, Peppard 8, McNeece 6, Buchanan 2, Spencer 9.
Girls Basketball
Montesano 78, Forks 16
FORKS — The Spartans ran up against a Class 1A juggernaut in Evergreen League play.
“I knew it was going to be tough playing the undefeated and fourth-ranked Montesano Bulldogs, as they had everyone back from last year’s team,” Forks coach Al Scheibner said following Tuesday’s game.
“But it was a lot tougher than even I could have imagined.”
The Spartans struggled against Montesano’s full-court press, which led to easy baskets for the Bulldogs, who built a 30-6 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
“Unfortunately, those six points were the most we would score per quarter for the rest of the game. The second quarter wasn’t much better, [with us] being outscored 21-4,” Scheibner said.
Skyler DeMatties topped Forks with six points, while Alex Henderson added four.
“The second half, we played better defensively and slowed them down, compared to the first half,” Scheibner said.
“I was very pleased with our effort, as the girls never gave up and played as hard as they could.”
The Spartans (0-8, 2-10) travel to face Rochester (5-1, 6-5) on Friday.
Montesano 78, Forks 16
Montesano 30 21 13 14— 78
Forks 6 4 2 4— 16
Individual scoring
Montesano (78)
Jensen 3, M. Floch 4, Bartlett 2, Choate 24, Toyra 7, Miller 4, S. Floch 6, Kloempken 6, Spradlin 22, Talley.
Forks (16)
DeMatties 6, Banks 2, Henderson 4, Goodlance 2, Woodruff 2, Katzer, Rowley, Hoagland, Barr, Norbisrath, Leons.
