Scott Collins’ mantra this season has been simple in origin but tough to execute: The Falcon basketball team has to play all four quarters to win.
“When we don’t, as at Coupeville last week, we lose,” said Collins, the Falcon coach.
Saturday, his team beat the Wolves 58-50 in a comeback make-up game that featured hard-charging action from beginning to end.
Riley Newman began the slugfest with a three-pointer from the cheap seats left of center, and he and his South Whidbey teammates never looked back. In a surprise move, Collins started 5-foot-10 Cole Erikson for 6-foot-4 Adrian Cortes.
“We made some adjustments from the first game (a 73-61 loss) and decided to go with a small, quick lineup,” Collins explained.
Newman added that the coach wanted a “get-up-and-go” offense from the start.
“Their two big kids, (Cody) Peters and (Hunter) Hammer, are all-league players and tough to match up with,” Collins said. “We had problems the first game when we went big trying to guard them, so tonight we decided to use our quickness to our advantage and it paid off.”
Indeed it did as the Falcons led 11-10 at the first break rather than being far behind.
In the second period, Newman tried some fancy steals — one worked for a score, the other didn’t. Thing is, the Wolves weren’t scoring in the meantime and they spent their time guarding the ball or trying to stop Newman when he got in position outside.
Of course, this also meant fouling Newman repeatedly, for which Coupeville paid the price. The sophomore Falcon went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.
With 4:17 left in the first half, Collins sent in his big forward, and Cortes immediately set about making life even harder for the Wolves.
At the half, South Whidbey led 26-19.
With Newman double-teamed, Scott Stallman, Chris Carey and Jeff Brasko brought their game to the next level, scratching for points and keeping the Wolves off balance.
All of which allowed Falcon Jordan Thornley to play his best game of the season, scoring 13 points.
“I was purposely aggressive,” Thornley said. “Getting the rebound and transition to offense as fast as possible was the goal.”
At the final break, South Whidbey was ahead 39-15.
In the fourth quarter, the Wolves shifted to a zone defense to try and stop the Falcon juggernaut.
With Wolves Peters and Hammer finding their stride, the score tightened, but the Falcons maintained a tenuous lead. Thornley crashed to the court following a hard-won two points inside the paint, but with 2:50 left, the Wolves were behind by just two.
Stallman scored and was fouled to add four, Brasko kept the clock ticking with some well-planned stall tactics, Newman got fouled to add to the total and suddenly it was over; 58-50, South Whidbey on top.
“Everybody contributed on defensive stops, rebounds and scoring,” Newman said. “Hammer is a big kid with a nice touch on the rim. But when we play as a team, all four quarters, we can beat anyone.”
Thornley noted that the Wolves had beaten King’s in overtime the night before.
“We shared the ball, played together as a team and the score showed the result,” he said.
Collins said it was one of the team’s better efforts on defense.
“Our kids were aggressive, took away passing lanes and really worked hard at it all game long,” Collins said.
“Jeff Brasko and Jordan Thornley guarded Hammer and they really did a good job of not giving him easy catches; when he did catch we doubled-teamed him as much as we could. Riley did a great job of recognizing that his shot wasn’t there tonight, and in the second half he attacked the rim and got a lot of points on drives to the baskets.
“I am extremely proud of our kids for their willingness to compete tonight. Basketball is not fun, it’s a lot of hard work with tons of adverse moments and tough situations. Basketball becomes fun when you are competitive and win games.
“We had fun tonight,” the coach said.
Riley Newman led with 22 points; he’s third in the conference with 202 for the season. Thornley added 13, Stallman eight, Cortes six, Brasko five and Erikson, a fine three-pointer.
