FORKS — The Forks boys basketball team stunned Tenino 78-52 in Evergreen League action at Forks High School.
“We played probably one of best team basketball games we’ve played all year,” Spartans coach Rick Gooding said of Monday’s win.
“I can’t say enough about the team effort that we had — the ball movement, the screens, moving without the basketball. We scored in a variety of different ways.”
Forks also had a variety of scorers. All eight players who saw the court Monday scored for the Spartans.
Sophomore Parker Browning led the way with 21 points, and fellow sophomore Marky Adams scored 18 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
Senior Colton Raben, Forks’ leading scorer, had 17 points and dished out 10 assists.
“Colton had an all-around great game,” Gooding said.
“He’s just a great basketball player, made great decisions.”
Adams, a 6-foot-5 post, played one of the best games of his career — if not the best, as he statistically surpassed his 17-point, 14-rebound effort against Hoquiam earlier this month.
Gooding praised assistant coach Mark Raben for his part in Adams’ continued progression.
“Mark Raben works so much with our big guys,” Gooding said.
“Huge credit to him for the work he’s done with Marky to help Marky get these games where he can have 18 points and [15] rebounds.”
Adams put the game away with a pair of two-handed throw-downs in the fourth quarter.
The lead had been fluctuating between 20 and 16 points before Adams’ two slams within a few possessions.
“Those were back-breakers,” Gooding said.
Adams’ dunks brought the Forks bench and crowd to their feet and dimmed Tenino’s already unlikely comeback hopes.
The Spartans also had seven points apiece from Keishaun Ramsey and Austin Pegram.
“Everyone did something great,” Gooding said.
“Keishaun hit two 3s in first quarter to get us going. Pegram was great on the press breaker when they did press us.
“[Billy] Palmer did great job coming off bench and rebounding the basketball. Parker did a great job getting toward the hoop.”
“Awesome crowd at Forks tonight,” Gooding said.
“We haven’t had a ton of wins this year. The kids love it when we do win.”
The Spartans improve to 2-10 in league play (3-12 overall).
They no longer have a shot at the postseason. With two league games remaining, Forks trails Elma (4-6, 4-11) and Montesano (4-6, 8-8) by two games for the Evergreen 1A/2A League’s fourth and final Class 1A berth to the district tournament.
The Bulldogs and Eagles square off today, so one of those teams is guaranteed to have at least five league wins, a total that is unattainable for the Spartans.
However, that doesn’t diminish Forks’ win over the Beavers on Monday.
“It was a huge sign that we are still hungry,” Gooding said.
The Spartans next play at Hoquiam (7-3, 10-6) on Friday before a facing Clallam Bay and Neah Bay on back-to-back nights next week.
Tenino falls to 5-6 in league and 9-8 overall, which drops them to within one win of Elma and Montesano.
Nihls Peterson led the Beavers with 16 points and Thomas Pier added 14.
Forks 78, Tenino 52
Tenino 16 14 12 10— 52
Forks 23 19 17 19— 78
Individual scoring
Tenino (52)
Bailon 10, Spector 3, Blencoe 5, Peterson 16, Pier 14, Jones-Newman 6, Hill 1.
Forks (78)
Raben 17, Ramsey 7, Baysinger 4, Pegram 7, Tejano 2, Palmer 2, Browning 21, Adams 18.
Girls Basketball
Tenino 61, Forks 14
FORKS — The Spartans were without their two leading scorers in their Evergreen League loss to the Beavers.
Starting post Alexis Leons is out for the season with a torn ACL, while starting point guard Skyler DeMatties will miss a couple games due to a sprained ankled suffered last week against Aberdeen.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Forks coach Al Scheibner said of playing Monday’s game without Leons and DeMatties.
“However, I was pleasantly surprised how the players picked up the intensity and played extremely hard in the first quarter.”
Senior Alex Henderson returned after missing a couple games with a knee injury and gave the Spartans a spark in the first quarter by making her first shot.
“We were only down by four at the end of the first quarter [10-6]. However, it was just a matter of time before Tenino’s 6-foot-1 Taylor Tibbets started scoring inside,” Scheibner said.
“We gave a valiant effort in stopping her, particularly Brittney Woodruff and Amber Hoagland, who took turns guarding her throughout the game.
“Giving up 6 and 8 inches makes it tough. But they did as good as job as could be expected and worked extremely hard.”
Tibbets finished with 22 points for the Beavers (3-8, 5-11).
Vee Goodlance topped Forks in scoring with seven points, while Hoagland finished with four.
“We once again shot poorly for the game [11 percent], and combine that with our turnovers meant we never were back in it after the first quarter,” Scheibner said.
“The one good thing is we did get some shots, just couldn’t get them to go down.”
Senior Ronnie Banks once again led the Spartans in rebounding with nine, along with sophomore Brittney Woodruff, who had nine as well.
“We had great effort for the game but need to take care of the ball and do a better job of boxing out,” Scheibner said.
Forks (0-2, 2-14) plays at Hoquiam (7-3, 8-7) on Friday.
Tenino 61, Forks 14
Tenino 10 17 16 18— 61
Forks 6 1 2 5— 14
Individual scoring
Tenino (61)
Hoagland 4, Henderson 2, Norbisrath 1, Goodlance 7, Kratzer, Henry, Banks, Woodruff.
Forks (14)
Vens 6, Bronson 5, Gubbe 6, Kershaw 6, Tibbets 22, Richardson 5, L. Dowes 8, K. Dowes 3, Wachter.
Wrestling
North Mason 53, Port Townsend 21
BELFAIR — The Redhawks dropped an Olympic League dual to the Bulldogs last week.
“They won the dual, but there were a lot of great matches we won,” Port Townsend coach Steve Grimm said of Thursday’s match.
“Most memorable was Chloe Rogers [140 pounds] beating [North Mason’s] JV 145-pounder.
“And then in the varsity line up she went toe-to-toe with the North mason varsity 145-pounder, and with 20 seconds left in the third round, she was tied 13-13.
“In the final seconds, he got a reversal and won the match, but it was definitely a nail-biter and match of the night.
“Chloe has so much heart.”
Other winners for the Redhawks were Shae Shoop at 126 pounds, Jackson Schott at 132 pounds, Charity Jesionowski, Bryan Chavez and Hannah Welch.
The Port Townsend boys and girls split for tournaments over the weekend.
Girls in Lakewood
The girls competed at the Lady Lancer Lipstick Open in Lakewood.
“It’s called the [Lipstick Open] because I guess after you win the tournament you’re supposed to put on lipstick and kiss your bracket,” Grimm said.
“But from what I saw, no champion did it. They all refused and threw the lipstick at the crowd. Funny.”
Rogers placed the highest at 140 pounds, making the finals before losing 6-2.
Jesionowski placed third, coming back from a loss to two-time state champion Jordan Bortelson of Puyallup.
It was the only loss of the tournament for Jesionowski, who is ranked seventh in all classes in the 125-pound weight class.
“Which is an amazing accomplishment,” Grimm said.
Welch, who placed third, and Rogers narrowly missed being ranked in their classes.
“But I know the other girls out there know they are dangerous, and I hope we will prove that come state,” Grimm said.
Boys in Lynden
The Port Townsend boys competed at the Lynden Tournament.
Shoop placed third at the tournament that featured mostly Class 3A and 4A schools.
Jacob Massie and Peter Glitsch placed fifth for the Redhawks.
Area wrestlers excel at Sequim meet
SEQUIM — Thirteen wrestlers from Port Angeles and Sequim placed first in their respective divisions at the Sequim All Comers meet over the weekend.
Joining the Roughriders and Wolves at Saturday’s meet were Capital, Juanita, North Mason, Olympic and Shelton.
The round-robin format featured groups of four wrestlers, with each pool’s winner receiving a medal.
The wrestlers that placed first Sequim were Kiera Pierson (106 pounds, Pool A), Jillian Hutchison-Blouin (120A), Alma Mendoza (126B), Travis Baker (138B), Kevyn Ward (152A), Michael Latimer (220A), Brady Young (285A) and Nathan Allison (285B).
First-place finishers for Port Angeles were Nick Rush (113B), Curran Bradley (120B), Morgan Mower (126A), Angel Rivero Garcia (138A) and Trenton Teeter (160A).
