Spartan win over Monroe clinches district for cagers
By JOHN GALBREATH Sports Editor
Zack Johnson, Spartan senior post player, continues to lead Stanwood’s boys in points scored and rebounds retrieved. Johnson had 19 points and 15 rebounds in Friday’s win over Monroe. PHOTO BY JOHN GALBREATH | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS
By beating Monroe 64-52 and thereby clinching a 4A District I playoff berth last Friday night, the Spartan boys’ hoops squad (10-2 in league, 10-6 overall) now looks forward to facing the last team that defeated them – the Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks. That contest will take place tonight, Tues., Feb. 2, at
7:30 p.m. at M-P High School.
The Sparts’ current seven-game win streak began two nights after the local cagers lost 51-49 to the upstart Tommies a month ago. Stanwood’s only other league loss was avenged with a heart-thumping 64-63 victory over the Lake Stevens Vikings January 19.
Against the Bearcats, the Spartan boys raced to a 17-8 first quarter lead. That margin was, not surprisingly, the result of the scoring of Drew Haugstad, Zack Johnson and Kale Schmidt on the offensive end.
Even more important, however, was the defensive effort shown by the Stanwood five on the other end of the court.
Regrettably, the Sparts were never able to close out the Cats as they tallied 17 counters in each of the second and fourth periods.
Even though the visitors located the iron more consistently during those 16 minutes, the Cats’ two principal offensive threats – junior guard Joey Roppo and 6-foot-6 junior post Cole Parker – only managed nine points between them for the night.
“I thought the kids played pretty well for having a week off,” said Spartan head coach Zach Ward. “I was very pleased with the defensive effort on Roppo and Parker, but I think we are still lacking the ability to put teams away, which can be a bit scary. When we have a team down, we need to be able to extend our lead.
“We were up by 19 (56-37) in the fourth quarter Friday night, but let up a bit and allowed it to be a 10-12 point game the rest of the way. Our defense also needs to be more consistent. I think we gave up too many points in the second and fourth quarters.”
The local trio of Haugstad (18 points), Schmidt (17) and Johnson (19 counters to go with 15 rebounds) found the bottom of the net consistently all night long.
“They’ve been playing well all season long,” Ward noted, “but I love it when reserves like Ryan Schroyer play with a lot of intensity. That really gets us going when we need an energy boost.”
Schroyer’s presence was evident in all aspects of the game. He played good defense, rebounded well and kept Bearcat defenders busy even though he scored only two points.
Other Spartans who scored were Brock Reinecke 3, Michael McCune 3 and Austin Cook 2.
“We are on the road for both of our games this week,” Ward said. These two teams (M-P and Oak Harbor) are below us in the standings but represent interesting challenges for us. The loss to Marysville earlier in the season was disappointing for us and we need to be able to deal with that and beat them in their house.
“Oak Harbor has one of the better players in the league and a couple of decent guards. Though their record isn’t stellar, anything can happen when you have talent and good guard play.”
