FORKS — A fast start, coupled with players stepping up and filling roles, if not space in the box score, lifted Forks to a 61-48 nonleague boys basketball victory over Port Townsend.
“I told the kids after the game that for us to be successful everybody has to sacrifice a little bit,” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said. “It’s tough because they go home and Mom and Dad or a girlfriend will ask them how many points they scored. We want to change that and have our guys excited about doing the little things all year.”
Forks ran out to a 15-4 lead after one quarter, taking the lead early on and never relinquishing it, Gooding said.
“We were only up six at half but that was as close as it got,” he said.
“We had it between eight and 13 for the whole second half and we held [Noa] Montoya to two points. He was hitting some 3s in warmups and we know he’s talented, so that was big.”
Cort Prose led Forks with 22 points.
“He only hit two 3s,” Gooding said. “We had been talking with him about being more than a 3-point shooter and extending his game and he took it to the rack tonight and was pretty tough.”
Austin Flores scored 13 inside for the Spartans.
Gooding praised the play of Seth Johnson as well.
“Johnson had 12 points. He probably played one of his best high school games. He’s the head of our zone 1-2-2 press and he’s a pretty quick kid chasing it down. He has to cover a lot of ground and he’s quick and has quick hands and he and Jake Jacoby both get their hands on a lot of stuff.
“His quickness and Jake’s length are reasons we can play in that zone.
“Jake was sick as a dog, but his length caused trouble for Port Townsend in finding passing lanes.”
Braton Armas scored seven for Forks in limited minutes due to foul trouble.
Cole Baysinger also made his season debut for the Spartans. Baysinger had been sidelined by an injured shoulder suffered during football season.
“Cole was back, he had three points, but just having an athlete like that in our zone press is so important,” Gooding said.
“He’s an all-state level athlete in football and track and he’s a smart kid, not wanting to do too much with his shoulder.
“If our kids can continue to buy in and play their roles we will do well. They are buying in to that so far.”
Port Townsend point guard Jacob Boucher scored 16 and post Kaiden Parcher scored 14 for the Redhawks.
Forks (3-1) visits Neah Bay today.
Port Townsend (1-2) hosts rival Chimacum on Friday.
Forks 61, Port Townsend 48
Port Townsend 4 18 14 12— 48
Forks 15 13 19 14— 61
Port Townsend (48) — Boucher 16, Parcher 14, Hammett 5, Crawford, Spencer 5, Baahaabar, Montoya 2, Foster 6.
Forks (61) — Johnson 12, Reaume 2, Jacoby, C. Baysinger 3, T. Baysinger, Prose 22, T. Flores, Baar, A. Flores 13, Archibald.
Girls Basketball
Charles Wright 33, Chimacum 25
UNIVERSITY PLACE — A long bus trip compounded by a wait at the Hood Canal Bridge put the Cowboys in trouble from the outset in a nonleague loss to the Tarriers on Monday.
“We were pretty lethargic to start the game,” Chimacum coach Trevor Huntingford said. “We were down 13-3 halfway through the first quarter, then we started to recover and were down six at half.”
The Cowboys lost Maddie Dowling to an equipment violation (the knot at the back of her headband was deemed illegal) in the second half and couldn’t keep up their forward momentum.
“It hurt us because we got scoring out of her and she was drawing fouls on them,” Huntingford said. “They aren’t a really deep team but we couldn’t get them in foul trouble and get to their bench.”
Huntingford said his team struggled to shoot the ball.
“We are not hitting shots from outside right now,” he said.
“Charles Wright has some good team speed and they passed the ball exceptionally well. I’m a little disappointed we got off to the slow start, but it was good to see some negatives, some things that can hurt us, as well as some positives before we start Olympic League play.
Chimacum (1-1) visits rival Port Townsend on Friday.
Charles Wright 33, Chimacum 25
Chimacum 5 12 2 6— 25
Charles Wright 16 7 4 6— 33
Chimacum (25) — Trafton 6, Dowling 6, Yaley 4, McNair 4, Noble 2, Nordberg 2, Hunter Harolson 1, Patterson, Huntingford.
Charles Wright (33) — Pikes 10, J. Hanly 10, G. Hanly 7, Julian 4 Leith 2,
Lakewood 48, Port Townsend 29
ARLINGTON — The Redhawks were the recipients of some tough calls in a nonleague loss to the Class 2A Cougars.
“It’s too bad, we’ve played them before at Western Washington team camp in Bellingham and the teams were pretty evenly matched,” Port Townsend coach Scott Wilson said.
“Whistles were blown all night and our of my five starters had fouled out by the end of the third or early in the fourth quarter. The benefit is players had to step up and they did that.”
The Redhawks senior team leader Kaitlyn Meek fouled out first.
“Everybody had to step up and play without her and they did, “Wilson said. “Aat one point we came within about five points in the third quarter, we did fight back and it was within reach.”
Jaz Apker-Montoya led Port Townsend with nine points and Mackenzie Lake had eight.
“Both of them really fought hard,” Wilson said.
“Mackenzie was a tiger down the stretch.”
Port Townsend (0-3) hosts rival Chimacum on Friday.
Lakewood 48, Port Townsend 29
Port Townsend 5 10 6 8— 29
Lakewood 9 14 8 17— 48
Port Townsend (29) — Apker-Montoya 9, Lake 8, Meek 4, Kellog 3, King 3, Hammett 2.
Lakewood (48) — Senyitko 15, Perry 10, Ryden 10, Molloy 7, Eurich 2, Dahl 2, Graham 1.
________
Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
